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The Times
Wednesday October 18 2017
The Brief
Frances Gibb Jonathan Ames
By Frances Gibb and Jonathan Ames
This morning’s must-read of all things legal, including news, comment and gossip. For more in-depth coverage, read ...
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Today
JUDGE SUES OVER WHISTLEBLOWING PROTECTION
Resolve disputes out of court 'or face cost sanctions'
Let children speak to judges in family cases, say lawyers
Hate crimes at all-time high after terror attacks
Luxembourg princess ‘confirms London’s divorce capital status’
The Churn: Accountancy firms keep nibbling away …
Blue Bag diary: Now it’s lawyers v computer
premium Analysis: Uber must reform if it wants to operate in London
premium Scalp of the week: Domino effect creates chain of lateral hires
premium Comment: Social media companies must do more to prevent hate crime, says solicitor-general
Tweet us @timeslaw with your views.
 
Story of the Day
Judge sues government over lack of whistleblowing protection
A judge is suing the government over allegations that she was bullied after she complained about overwork and poor courtroom facilities.

Court of Appeal judges will begin hearing a challenge today by Claire Gilham, who argues that the judiciary should be covered by whistleblowing protections.

Gilham, 58, a former deputy director of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, was made a full-time district judge 11 years ago. She was transferred from Runcorn county court to Warrington in 2008 after the former was shut as part of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) court closure programme.

She claims that she informed a senior judge of her concerns over high workloads and poor accommodation and facilities at Warrington, but that instead of her issues being addressed, she faced bullying and was put under additional pressure with longer hours and additional work.

Gilham stopped sitting in 2013. She lost her first instance claim in the employment tribunal and a subsequent appeal. Her claim today will be heard by the appeal court judges Lady Justice Gloster, Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Singh.

Gilham is now suing the MoJ under the Employment Rights Act 1996 for the alleged denial of her whistleblowing rights. Lawyers at the London law firm Bindmans, led by the firm’s partner Emilie Cole, will tell the court that her attempts to raise concerns with the ministry about dangers faced by those working in courtrooms due to an under-resourced justice system were ignored.

The judge says that she wrote to the MoJ with evidence of incidents she claimed to have witnessed during her time as a judge in the family courts system, including death threats, violent defendants and hostage-taking.

Ministry officials have denied that Gilham was subjected to disability discrimination or that she was victimised as a result of making her complaints. They also argue that because judges do not have contractual relationships with the government, but are instead appointed by the Queen, the lord chancellor and the lord chief justice, they are not covered by whistleblowing legislation.

Gilham’s case is supported by Public Concern at Work, a charity that campaigns for the protection of whistleblowers.

“The danger of not affording judges … with access to whistleblowing protection is that they can be ignored when raising genuine concerns and then silenced or discouraged from ever speaking up again,” Roger Easy, head of legal services at the group, said. “When we consider the important role played by district judges in the administration of justice, excluding them from whistleblowing protection is unacceptable.”
Scalp of the week
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Domino effect creates chain of lateral hires
Christopher Field’s move to Dechert can be explained by the old colleagues there to greet him
Read in full
News round-up
Resolve disputes out of court or face cost sanctions, urges justice council
Ministers, judges and lawyers have failed to convince the public of the merits of alternatives to court-based dispute resolution, a group of leading judges and lawyers have claimed.

Courts should do more to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) at the earlier stages of cases, with increased use of costs sanctions on parties that shun these options, according to the report from the Civil Justice Council, the advisory body established under the Civil Procedure Act 1997.

However, financial penalties are only seen as part of the answer, the group said. “ADR has failed to achieve the integral position in the civil justice system that was intended and expected for it,” said Bill Wood, QC, of Brick Court Chambers, who chairs the council working party that produced the report.

Wood and Sir Terence Etherton (pictured), the Master of the Rolls and the council’s overall chairman, said that they wanted to “stimulate a debate between all stakeholders as to the nature of the problem and the possible practical solutions, including the thorny issue of mandatory mediation”.

Wood said that Ministry of Justice moves to promote online courts and pilot local mediation schemes were positive advances. But the report said that a minority of the working party favoured making ADR either a “condition of access to the court in the first place” or later as a condition of progress beyond the cost and case management hearing.
Hate crimes at all-time high after terror attacks
Terror attacks and the EU referendum have fuelled a surge in hate crime in England and Wales, according to official figures published today, Richard Ford writes.

The number of hate crimes recorded by police rose almost a third in the 12 months to March this year, with spikes around the time of the EU referendum in June 2016 and the Westminster Bridge attack on March 22, according to Home Office statistics.

The provisional figures show that the number reached a record of 6,000 incidents a month in July, with the previous peak having been 5,500 in the month of the EU referendum. The figures from 38 police forces also show spikes in incidents after terrorist attacks at the Manchester Arena, London Bridge and Finsbury Park.

The number recorded by police in the year by 29 per cent to 80,393, the highest on record and biggest percentage increase since records began four years ago.
There were increases in all areas of hate crime — race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender — the Home Office bulletin said.

Amber Rudd (pictured), the home secretary, said: “There is absolutely no place for hate crime in our society and this government is taking action to tackle it. “I am heartened that more victims are more confident to come forward and report incidents of hate crime, and that police identification and recording of all crime is improving.

“But no one in Britain should have to suffer violent prejudice, and indications that there was a genuine rise in the number of offences immediately following each of this year’s terror attacks is undoubtedly concerning.”

Yesterday, figures from the Crown Prosecution Service showed that the number of alleged hate criminals being referred by police to be prosecuted fell last year.
Let children speak to judges in family cases, say lawyers
Children at the heart of family cases in England and Wales should be able to talk in private to judges, according to a senior member of the judiciary.

More than 100,000 children were involved in family court cases over the past year, according to the guardian service Cafcass, with some involving bitter fights between their parents or between their families and local authorities.

Yet they do not give evidence directly, nor routinely meet the judges hearing their cases. Instead, Cafcass asks them about their wishes and feelings and reports to the court.

Lord Justice Jackson, a Court of Appeal judge, has called for a change to the law. However, he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 yesterday that any contact between a judge and a child would have to be carefully planned. “You want to make sure that the child leaves the room feeling better than they went in. That the child or young person feels better for knowing who is making decisions about their future,” he said.

“And so therefore you have to think carefully about what the conversation should touch upon, sometimes what it should not touch upon, and prepare yourself properly for a meeting of that kind.”

Lawyers also questioned whether such contact should be automatic, and whether it should be confined to judges despite many family rulings being made by magistrates. Scott Halliday, a solicitor with Irwin Mitchell’s family law team, said: “It is important that children feel they are a part of the process and that their wishes and feelings are heard in proceedings between parents, where sadly the best interests of the child can become lost amidst other concerns such as divorce proceedings and financial matters. Emotions often run high and in some situations parents see the court as an arena of winners and losers.”

He added: “For some children, meeting with a judge will be invaluable so that the child feels their views have been seriously considered and heard in the proceedings.” However, Halliday said that the issue was complex because many children proceedings were heard by the magistrates’ court, “and there are as yet no robust proposals as to whether children should meet with a bench of magistrates”.

He added: “In the courts, children should be front and centre, and their wishes and feelings taken into account. Any reform in the law, however, needs to take account of the age of the child, the context of each case and address broader issues around which section of the judiciary — magistrates or judges — hears such cases.”

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement that “protecting children and the vulnerable” was at the heart of the family justice reforms and it would be discussing proposals with senior judges in coming weeks.
Luxembourg princess ‘confirms London’s divorce capital status’
London’s status as the divorce centre of the world has been confirmed by a member of the Luxembourg royal family choosing the city for a ruling on the break-up of her marriage, lawyers have said.

Prince Louis separated from Princess Tessy (pictured) in 2016 after ten years of marriage, and the princess has asked a High Court judge to decide on how their assets should be split.

Mr Justice MacDonald oversaw a preliminary hearing in the family division of the High Court on Friday at which Prince Louis and Princess Tessy, who are both 31 and had a home in London, were present.

Alex Carruthers of the law firm Hughes Fowler Carruthers said that the princess made a wise decision in choosing London for the ruling. “Princess Tessy’s decision to file for divorce in London is a sensible one, as the city, in general, is one of the best jurisdictions in the world for the economically weaker party,” he said.
“It is for this reason that London has earned its title as ‘the divorce capital of the world’.”

Mr Justice MacDonald is expected to oversee a further hearing in the near future. He urged the pair to negotiate to try to settle their differences.

This year another judge signalled the end of the couple’s marriage, which had been solemnised at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg in September 2006. District Judge Richard Robinson granted a decree nisi at a family court in London in February after Princess Tessy complained of the prince’s “unreasonable behaviour”.

Neil Russell, a family partner at the law firm Seddons, said: “Divorce tourism is big business and helps make London the divorce capital of the world. England is often considered to be generous when making awards both in terms of capital and more so with maintenance.

“These drivers will be key factors for why the couple decided to divorce here. Other jurisdictions are often considered less generous in divorce, using a more formulaic approach that limits the judge’s discretion.

“Our judges look at all the circumstances of the case. However, a couple’s conduct is rarely relevant. In some jurisdictions a spouse may lose the right to maintenance for reasons of adultery. In England, adultery is not a relevant circumstance to take into account.”
In Brief
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  • Eversheds Sutherland set for contested election for chairman – Legal Week
  • Monks of Mt Athos fear new gender law could enable women into their all-male sanctuary – Daily Telegraph
  • EU withdrawal bill 'rips the heart out of environmental law' – The Guardian
Analysis
Uber must reform if it wants to operate in London
Premium
Recent rulings on gig economy workers indicate that the company’s tribunal appeal about worker rights is a lost cause. Change is the only way forward, writes Karen Coleman

Recent employment law rulings in favour of gig economy workers make it clear that the tribunal appeal is already a lost cause, suggesting that it is high time for businesses using that model to buckle down and reform.
Read the full story >
Comment
Premium
Social media companies must do more to prevent hate crime
As technology becomes ever more central to our lives, it is down to companies such as Twitter and Facebook to detect and prevent abuse, writes Robert Buckland, QC
Read in full
Twitter
Tweet of the day
Baker J appointed Senior Family Liaison Judge *one to watch (!) https://t.co/wLIqMqnq8T
@FamilyLawBar
Blue Bag
Now it’s lawyers against the machines
Garry Kasparov stared a computer in the red of its electronic eye in Philadelphia in 1996 and beat it at a game of chess; a year later in New York the computer, named Deep Blue, won the rematch. Honours shared.

Now a group of lawyers are going into battle with a distant relative of Deep Blue in what is being billed as the Casecrunch Lawyer Challenge. Hosted by the City of London law firm Kennedys, the event runs for a week from this Friday and will involve the lawyers logging into a website where they will be given the facts of a real payment protection insurance mis-selling case that was submitted to the Financial Services Ombudsman. At the same time, the Casecrunch computer is given the same details.

The side that predicts the outcome of the case with the highest accuracy wins. And if it is the computer, law firms should brace themselves for a wave of redundo parties.
Contrary solicitors back Blackstone’s
What is it about solicitors and barristers that they cannot seem to agree on anything? The two sides of the profession have spent the last quarter century bickering over rights of audience in the higher courts, and now they cannot even find common cause in the great debate of our time: Archbold v Balckstone’s.

Yesterday, we reported that a Criminal Bar Association survey revealed that 75 per cent of crime specialist barristers preferred to go into court armed with Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice.

But now another poll, this time of members of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association, has found 55 per cent support for Blackstone’s Criminal Practice, according to the Law Gazette.

The one person who presumably would like all these lawyer groups to stop talking about the issue is Sir Brian Leveson, president of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court.

The judge who brought us the long-running inquiry into press ethics is in the spotlight over the co-called Game of Tomes row because, as a member of the Judicial Executive Board, he participated in the decision last year that Blackstone’s would replace Archbold as the standard courtroom book used by the judiciary. Leveson is also an editorial adviser to Blackstone’s, but the board insists there was no conflict of interest because his role on the editorial board was well known.
The Churn
Accountancy firms keep nibbling away…
PWC became the latest of the “big four” accountancy practices to creep into what was once exclusive territory for City law firms when it promoted Ed Stacey to head its legal services.

Stacey is a former CMS Cameron McKenna lawyer who also worked at the in-house legal department of the Royal Bank of Scotland before joining PWC in 2009.

He replaces Shirley Brookes and will lead PWC’s multidisciplinary legal service, which was launched last year, presumably with the aim of sending shivers through the corridors of old-school Square Mile law firms.

For example, this remark from Stacey on the announcement of his promotion: “We will remain committed to building a diverse, national team of lawyers with opportunities to achieve flexibility for both them and our clients in how we deliver our services.”

It is not just the big four that are launching legal departments in a bid to eat the lunch of traditional law firms. RSM, formally at the accountancy practice Baker Tilly, has appointed Sophie St John as a private client partner. She comes with a long law firm pedigree, having done stints at pre-merger Speechly Bircham, the “magic circle” firm Allen & Overy and Bircham Dyson Bell.

But traditional law firms struggle on …

Back at those traditional practices, where you can be confident that everyone in the partners’ lavatories is a lawyer and not an accountant, Simon Wood has returned to the partnership at Addleshaw Goddard after a two-year secondment as a secretary to the Takeover Panel. The firm proudly announced that Wood was the fourth of its lawyers to have been seconded to the panel, “the highest number of any institution in the City”.

The national law firm Irwin Mitchell has promoted Nick Rucker to be head of tax, trusts and estates, as well as also promoting George Merrylees to the partnership.

Howard Kennedy has swept on the relatively recently merged transatlantic firm Eversheds Sutherland to pinch Jonathan Cohen for its partnership; he specialises in renewable energy.

Tracy Evlogidis has joined the partnership at the City firm Withers, where she will head its immigration team. She was previously at the London office of the US firm Morgan Lewis.

Kiran Mehta has moved from the City firm Neumans to the partnership at Hodge Jones & Allen, where he joins the criminal defence team.

All around the world…

The empire is not dead, at least for English law firms. In Germany, Linklaters, the City magic circle player, has lured George Weiand to the partnership in its Frankfurt banking and finance team. And Stateside, the firm has pinched Doug Donahue from Mayer Brown to join the partnerships, structured finance and derivatives gang.

Kennedys, the City insurance law specialist firm, has gone international expansion mad over the last few days. It opened an office in Bangkok, with Suraphon Rittipongchusit moving from the local office of DLA Piper to take the reins.

And the firm has planted a flag in Paris. Christian Bouckaert, founder of the local firm Cabinet BOPS, has merged his firm with the English practice and will run its show in the French capital.

In Chicago, Kennedys has taken three partners from the national firm Sedgwick, including its former managing partner Eric Scheiner. Joining him are Dick Geddes and Jennifer Quinn Broda.

Over to the west coast, where the City of London firm Bird & Bird says it is going to perch a “representative” office in San Francisco from next year. Stefano Silvestri, a partner based in Milan, and Nick Aries, a partner in London, will relocate to California.

Back in Blighty, the Americans are still over here … At the beginning of this month, the Chicago firm Kirkland & Ellis made up a baker’s dozen of partners in the City. Gender diversity monitors take note, just two female names to follow: Andrew Butel, Mark Ingram, Philipp Kurek, Jeremy Leggate, Frazer Money, Jon Newman, Aranpreet Randhawa, James Simpson, Adam Skinner, Mark Thompson, Jacob Traff, Rebecca Villarreal and Christopher Wall.

The firm’s City office also lured Sean Lacey, a restructuring specialist, to its partnership from the magic circle practice Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Quote mark
Quote of the day
“In my judgment, the public interest demanded that these proceedings were heard in public. We operate these courts openly. We do not operate a system of secret justice in which any litigant can demand for his own reasons that his case is determined away from the sterilising glare of the public eye.”
Sir Geoffrey Vos, chancellor of the High Court, in his judgment last week in the case of the funeral arrangements for Ian Brady, the Moors murderer, who died in May
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