The "super injunction" they didn't want you to see...

...has now been published by the Guardian. Have a look here.

DNA database - victory for our rights, or foolish lefty hand-wringing?

Looks like the government have dropped plans to retain the DNA data
of innocent people on their database for between 6 and 12 years.

This follows a European Court of Human Rights ruling that keeping such data indefinitely was unlawful in the case of S and Marper v UK (2008).

Current developments are an interesting insight into the passage of a bill through parliament (which we will look at next year as part of Sources of Law) as the government is having to make concessions to its opponents in order to get the majority of the Policing and Crime Bill past Parliament.

Do you think that such data should be kept on people or not, and why? Are we striking the right balance between police powers and civil liberties?

Comments please...

Trafigura and super-injunctions

Can't believe I haven't blogged this yet... this has been a massive week for the law, freedom of speech and social media.

Should a company be allowed to obtain an injunction restricting the press from reporting something, AND restricting the press from reporting the injunction itself?

Oil-trading company Trafigura have been in hot water, accused of dumping potentially toxic waste off the Ivory Coast, which was alleged to have caused illness and injury to many people.

They commissioned a scientific report into the matter, and then attempted to keep it secret, presumably not liking the contents, which included the idea that the dumping of waste could hace caused effects such as severe burns to the skin and lungs, eye damage, permanent ulceration, coma and death (although the report was expressed in cautious terms).

Clearly those people suing Trafigura for personal injury would have liked to see this report!

Last month Trafigura paid residents of Abidjan in Ivory Coast £30m plus costs in a confidential out of court settlement.

Before the settlement announcement, Trafigura's lawyers Carter-Ruck obtained a super-injunction from Court, banning the press not only from revealing the existence of the Minton report, but also from telling anyone about the existence of the injunction. They also attempted to stop reports of questions about this matter that were asked in Parliament.

As a result Trafigura and their lawyers have been accused of trying to gag Parliament and infringe on freedom of speech. Another feature of this case was the pressure applied by people using Twitter, who were outraged by the injunction!

Read Charlie Brooker on this here.

Gwen Henshaw at Loreto

We were privileged today to have a visit from Criminal barrister Gwen Henshaw from Central Chambers in Manchester. We were treated to a fantastic talk about what it means to be an advocate in the criminal courts. The talk was attended by about 100 students - thanks for the turnout everyone! We also had a really interesting question and answer session; Gwen was bombarded with questions and we ended up running out of time!

Miss Standing and I would like to say a really big thankyou to Gwen for giving up her valuable time for coming to speak to us. It provided the students with genuine insight and inspiration. Thanks Gwen!

Law personal statements

Anyone at Loreto who would like any help with their personal statements for law at uni can get in touch with me, Miss Vollam or Miss Standing for advice. In the mean time, here's some sound guidance from the lovely chaps at allaboutlaw: clicky....

Routes into the legal profession

All about law is a really good website for law students that's just had a revamp.

There's a really good interactive diagram of routes into the legal profession. There may well be more ways in than you thought - for AS study with OCR, you only really need to know the graduate path... but for your own life, you need to know that there's more than one way to skin a cat!

Listen...

...to this interview by legal blogger Charon QC with the Chief Executive of BPP law school for an insight into the academic and vocational stages of training to be a solicitor or barrister.

You could even take notes. Should I hold my breath?

Got what it takes?

...to become a top city solicitor?

Listen to this podcast of top legal blogger Charon QC talking with Lynn Johansen of Clifford Chance. A lot of what she says about the application and training process applies to most city law firms.

Meanwhile, there's another podcast here about the College of Law opening a new branch right here in Manchester. Some of you may end up studying there one day! Have a listen to find out what it might be like...

Supreme Court's first case

...watch here.

UK Supreme Court blog

Just noticed that solicitors from Olswang (big London law firm) and barristers from renowned human rights barristers chambers Matrix have set up a blog tracking the new Supreme Court, so you can keep an eye on what they are up to... clicky

A new way of dealing with divorce...

...is called the collaborative approach. Instead of fighting through the courts, the parties are encouraged to settle their differences through a more amicable negotiation process. After success in family law, we may see more of this approach spreading throughout the courts. Divorce does not (apparently) have to be hell on earth...

Shortly we will be looking at ADR on the course - collaborative law is a great example!

You can listen to a Radio 4 programme about collaborative law here.

The future of the legal profession?

The Barristers

...was a fly-on-the-wall documentary made last year with unprecedented access to the Bar. Have a look here - the whole series is on YouTube in 10-minute clips!

Magistrates

Middle aged, middle class and middle minded - or is this just a stereotype?