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| Wednesday March 20 2019 |
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By Jonathan Ames
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Good morning.
Ministers faced a flurry of criticism about 18 months ago over an advice line for its much trumpeted universal credit scheme, which cost punters 55p a minute. A free line was quickly put in place.
But now they are in danger of repeating the mistake with an a helpline that provides advice and referrals for those struggling to come to terms with the brave new world of online courts.
In another blast from the past, remember the damp squib that was the millennium bug? Now it seems that highly touted fears over beefed up EU data rules were somewhat “overblown” as a year after implementation no fines are in sight.
Meanwhile, lawyers back calls for cyclists to carry mandatory insurance to stop harm caused by “hoodlums in hoodies”; and MPs have said that developers must stop bribing homebuyers to use specific solicitors.
And see our Blue Bag diary for details of the demise of a renowned media law barristers’ chambers.
All that and more in this morning’s must-read of all things legal, including news, comment and gossip.
Catherine Baksi, a freelance legal affairs journalist, contributed to today’s bulletin.
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Today
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ONLINE COURTS ADVICE SCHEME HELPS ONLY 14 PEOPLE A YEAR
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Firms face random money laundering checks
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Gauke begins personal injury discount rate review
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Comment: Investigators must be given the tools to tackle bribery
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| Tweet us @timeslaw with your views. |
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Story of the Day
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Online courts advice scheme helps only 14 people in a year
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A government telephone helpline has referred only 14 people for advice on how to use online court services despite having a target of 3,500 and being part of a contract worth up to £1 million. MPs and campaigners have criticised ministers for implementing a mobile helpline that costs up to 55p a minute that they say is discouraging people from taking full advantage of the service.
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Read the full story
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Comment
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Investigators must be given the tools needed to tackle bribery
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Long delays when companies or individuals are under investigation must be stopped, writes Neil Swift
Peers gave their verdict on the Bribery Act last week, almost eight years after the legislation came into force. A House of Lords committee looked at extensive evidence to determine whether the act’s implementation and enforcement had been commensurate with its “gold standard” promise. The act has fostered a wide culture of corporate compliance to limit opportunity for, and improve detection of, bribery – essential given that by its nature bribery is a secret crime, whose victims may never know it has happened.
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Read the full story
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News round-up
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Firms face random money laundering checks
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Law firms will face a series of spot checks to ensure that they are not breaching beefed up anti-money laundering rules, regulators have said. Some 400 practices across England and Wales will be the first to be hit, as part of a crackdown by the solicitors’ watchdog. Officials at the Solicitors Regulation Authority said that they were determined “to make sure that firms have a money laundering risk assessment in place and are implementing it”.
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Read the full story
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Gauke begins personal injury discount rate review
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The first review of the personal injury discount rate since legislation hit the statute books setting out the procedure was started yesterday by the lord chancellor.
The Civil Liability Act 2018, which received Royal Assent in December, required the justice secretary to review the rate, which is used to calculate the sums for damages in personal injury cases within 90 days. In a written statement on the deadline yesterday David Gauke, the justice secretary, notified the London Stock Exchange that he would begin the review.
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Read the full story
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Fears over EU data rules ‘overblown’
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Apocalyptic warnings over the risk of million-pound sanctions for breaching toughened EU data protection rules were overblown as not a single British company has been fined. Almost a year after the regulations came into force the UK’s independent authority that polices data privacy has issued no “notices of intent” to serve a single fine for breaching the regulations.
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Read the full story
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Insure cyclists to ‘stop harm caused by hoodlums in hoodies’
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Lawyers have backed calls in parliament for cyclists to have compulsory insurance to compensate other road users injured by “extremely aggressive” cycling. Lord Winston, the doctor and television presenter, raised the issue in the House of Lords this week after becoming concerned about cyclists riding dangerously in London.
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Read the full story
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Developers ‘must stop bribing’ homebuyers to use specific solicitors
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Developers must be stopped from offering financial incentives to homebuyers to persuade them to use specific solicitors, MPs told the government yesterday. A report that described the leasehold system as flawed said that the practice of encouraging purchasers to use certain law firms risked serious conflicts of interest.
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Read the full story
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In Brief
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- Judge walks out amid chaos at hearing of activist who called Anna Soubry a Nazi – The Times
- Court service steps up video hearing push with county court first – Law Gazette
- The firms with the most expensive office space in the City – The Lawyer
- As a law professor, I am convinced Bercow’s Brexit decision is correct – The Independent
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Comment
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Law firm incentives are encouraging bad behaviour
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Greater transparency is needed to make sure ambitious lawyers don’t overcharge clients to make it to the partnership, writes George Bisnought
Sometimes, the enormous competitive pressure at law firm partnerships to grow revenue year after year can have unfortunate consequences.
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Read the full story
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Quote of the day
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“The 25th edition [of Erskine May] will be launched in May 2019 to reflect the raft of developments since the last edition in 2011. Recent unprecedented times in parliament because of Brexit have shown just how relevant the book is.”
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Amy Himsworth, the commissioning developer at Lexisnexis, the publisher of the authoritative reference book on parliamentary practice and procedure, bagging points with her bosses for not missing a golden marketing opportunity.
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Media law fellowship
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New generation of media lawyers
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The Times and leading barristers launch a legal fellowship scheme
The Times legal department has expanded its links with leading law firms and barristers chambers to help equip the next generation of lawyers with the specialist skills needed by the fast-moving media industry.
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Read the full story
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Blue Bag
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One brick short of a load
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One Brick Court, the renowned media and defamation chambers led by Lord Garnier, QC, (pictured) the Conservative former solicitor-general, will close in a further indication that niche sets are no longer economically viable.
The chambers is home to some of the biggest names at the media law Bar, including the silks Richard Rampton, Andrew Caldecott and Heather Rogers. It intends to shut its doors in June.
It is understood that up to seven of the set’s heavy hitters, including Mr Caldecott, will move to arch rival media chambers 5RB in Gray’s Inn. There were some suggestions that the two sets briefly flirted with a merger proposal but the plan faltered.
Others refugees from One Brick Court are thought to be headed to another Gray’s Inn set, Matrix Chambers, as well as Doughty Street. Bar observers suggest that the recent departures of several juniors and the retirement of some senior barristers have affected the chambers’ economics.
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Chinese law blossoms in Durham
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Durham University's law school gets points for making a timely announcement yesterday after its opening of a centre for Chinese law and policy was on the same day that Beijing passed a new law opening the door to foreign businesses.
Restrictions on legal practice in China remain tight but the country’s foreign investment law, which comes into force at the start of next year, will open up many previously protected areas to foreign firms and reduce the requirements for local partners.
Linklaters, the “magic circle” law firm in the City of London, predicts that the change will prompt £1.1 trillion in foreign investment to flood into China in the next decade.
All well and good, but back in Durham the centre brings together more than 60 specialists from across the globe to study Chinese law and policy after similar initiatives were set up at some Ivy League universities in the United States.
This year the university will introduce an annual Chinese law summer school. It will be the first of its kind in Britain and the first run in English outside Asia.
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Criminal defence barristers likely to flex muscles over pay
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Cuts to legal aid have driven criminal barristers to the picket lines a couple of times in the past few years. Growing protests were calmed only when the Ministry of Justice announced last year that it had a spare £15 million in its back pocket.
That sum appeared to have been exaggerated and further cuts as well as the promise of a funding review have done nothing to curb a growing militancy by many at the Bar, who say that they are fed up with the long hours, poor pay, crumbling rodent-ridden courts and intrusive security checks.
Then the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it had a magic money tree to fork out a 10 per cent pay rise to some of its senior prosecutors and a 13.5 per cent increase in overtime pay – “What’s that?” independent barristers shout as one.
Speaking at a conference yesterday, Steve Hynes, the former director of the Legal Action Group, reported rumours that the government’s criminal legal aid review, which was announced in December and is scheduled to report next year, may not be published until 2021. He told the audience at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum seminar that he did not think that barristers and their “posh trade union”, the Bar Council, would stomach that. He suggested that the “no returns policy”, which can cause the crown courts to come to a sharp standstill, gave them considerable bargaining power.
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Closing Statement
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Judge tackled over adjournment refusal
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Here is a relatively recent precedent from Australia for any judge looking to refuse an application for an adjournment (James Morton writes).
“The stadium’s been booked,” bellowed the magistrate on receiving the request. “The pies, sausage rolls, fizzy drinks and beer have all been ordered. It’s the Roosters and the Warriors [Australian rugby league teams but British judges can substitute appropriate association football clubs] on Friday night.
“They’re [the Roosters] on the plane yesterday at four o’clock. They’re having breakfast or have had breakfast after they’ve trained this morning [and] everybody’s geared up for Friday night.”
The magistrate then left the applicant in no doubt, adding: “For all intents and purposes this is your Friday night. It’s today.”
The trouble with that entertaining and clearly passionate approach was that it did not go down at all well with the applicant, who thought he was being made to look foolish. Likewise, the ruling did not sit well with the members of the appeal court, none of whom was pleased with the magistrate’s sense of humour. Or perhaps they were simply not rugby league fans.
James Morton is a former criminal law solicitor and now author
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