Rennard “sex scandal” is a fox that will run and run

 Amongst the 90% of the population who do not wish the Liberal Democrats well, many will have been delighted by the mess they have made of the investigation into the alleged sexist behaviour of the of the party’s former Chief Executive and psephological Svengali, Lord Rennard.

The police quickly completed a criminal investigation into the allegations and decided to bring no charges.

Normally that would have been the end of the matter but the Liberal Democrats have always prided themselves on openness, fairness and justice. The Party therefore carried out its own inquiry, led by the distinguished Liberal Democrat barrister Alistair Webster QC.

It has been been widely criticised as secret, unfair and unjust.

Almost as bad, far from producing finality or “closure” it appears to have set the scene for further legal wrangling for months and perhaps years to come. Continue reading “Rennard “sex scandal” is a fox that will run and run”

10 Reasons Why criminal barristers are right to strike today

 

The Government is right to cut public spending but the legal aid cuts proposed by Chris Grayling, the Lord Chancellor and Minister for Justice, will increase the likelihood criminals going free and of innocent people going to gaol. They will devastate both the barristers’ and solicitors’ professions. The savings to public money – even if they are achieved – are minuscule in comparison to the damage that the cuts will inflict. The cuts in criminal legal aid will be felt most by the poorest: many, perhaps most, defendants in criminal criminal cases are penniless. But a decent criminal justice system is essential for everyone whether rich or poor. Continue reading “10 Reasons Why criminal barristers are right to strike today”

Protecting the innocent is even more important than convicting the guilty

It is depressing enough that the Labour Party has established a “Victims Taskforce” intended to “transform the criminal justice system into a criminal justice service geared towards protecting the public and supporting innocent victims of crime in bringing those guilty to book.” All of us have become used to politically inspired empty gestures, especially in the field of criminal justice. The newly knighted former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer, has agreed to chair it. We should remain optimistic and assume that the Taskforce is just a pointless gimmick because the alternative that it may succeed is much more worrying. Continue reading “Protecting the innocent is even more important than convicting the guilty”

Grillo barristers were right to give Nigella a grilling

Nigella Lawson’s suggestion that she was the real victim in the trial of the Grillo sisters is, unlike most of her carefully crafted recipes, a little hard to swallow. Her central allegation is that having – somewhat reluctantly – performed her civic duty of giving evidence in court, allegations that she was a heavy cocaine user were made against her which were irrelevant, and which the court process did not allow her to rebut:

“I did my civic duty, only to be maliciously vilified without the right to respond. I can only hope that my experience will highlight the need for a reform that will give witnesses some rights to rebut false claims made against them.”

Does she have a point? Continue reading “Grillo barristers were right to give Nigella a grilling”

A cheery Round Robin from the Ministry of Justice Christmas Card

 

Amongst my Christmas post a few days ago was a rather fearsome looking brown envelope. Rather assuming it was the usual threat to send the bailiffs in to collect last year’s tax, I ignored it. In fact, I was about to throw it out with the rest of the recycling when the franking caught my eye. Instead of the usual HMRC it bore a stamp from the Ministry of Justice. I opened it. To my surprise it was not a summons for jury service, but it was the next best thing: a cheery Christmas card from “Chris, Ursula, Damian and family.” Better still, tucked inside the card was a round robin bringing me up to date with all the family news. I thought you might like to read it. Continue reading “A cheery Round Robin from the Ministry of Justice Christmas Card”

Sergeant Blackman’s case shows how much we need courts martial

The Judge Advocate General, Jeffrey Blackett, and his military colleagues faced an extraordinarily difficult task in sentencing Sergeant Alexander Blackman, formerly known only as “Marine A”, for murder. A 10 year minimum term for an offence of murder, especially after a contested trial, is an unusually lenient sentence. On the other hand this was a very unusual case.

Some have questioned the necessity for Courts Martial at all, or argued that they should not try offences as serious as murder. This case illustrates precisely why we need to retain a separate system of military justice. In a case like his, the judgement of a civilian court would have been deeply unsatisfactory.  Judge Advocate Blackett’s sentencing remarks should be required reading for anyone wishing to comment on the case.  Continue reading “Sergeant Blackman’s case shows how much we need courts martial”

Child abuse: Keir’s law didn’t help Gerry Adams’ niece and it won’t help other children either

Should we trust our doctors, teachers and priests?

Keir Starmer QC, who recently stepped down as Director of Public Prosecutions, believes we should not. Instead we should place our trust in the criminal law and the lawyers of the Crown Prosecution Service.

That is the conclusion one is driven to from his demand for a new offence of failing to notify the authorities of a reasonable belief that a child has been sexually abused. Continue reading “Child abuse: Keir’s law didn’t help Gerry Adams’ niece and it won’t help other children either”

Phillip Hollobone and Peter Bone: Could they be the stupidest men in Parliament?

Barristerblogger can’t stand sanctimonious left-wingery and as a result tries hard to be right-wing. But it is very difficult when some Conservative MPs try to pass laws that are mind-bogglingly, catatonically stupid.

Next month (probably on 10th January) a fine example of such a proposal is being debated in Parliament. It is an attempt to amend the criminal law. Surprisingly it emanates not from the Lord Chancellor – a notably practised political buffoon – but from two Northamptonshire Conservative MPs: Messrs Phillip Hollobone (Kettering) and Peter Bone (Wellingborough). Their proposal is characterised by the sort of stupidity, I suppose one could call it bone-headed, that drives one close to despair. Continue reading “Phillip Hollobone and Peter Bone: Could they be the stupidest men in Parliament?”

Home Secretary vows to crack down on annoying children

Theresa May has set herself the breathtakingly ambitious task of making it illegal to be annoying. It would be a difficult enough task if it was confined to adults. After all, a short gaol sentence managed the seemingly impossible task of making Chris Huhne even more annoying than he was before. Be that as it may, her objective is no more and no less than to put a stop to the annoying behaviour not only of adults but of children too. We must hope that her crackdown is successful. Continue reading “Home Secretary vows to crack down on annoying children”

Gray’s Inn honoured Grayling and Brennan. Now they’ve got them for eternity

What do Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ursula Brennan and Chris Grayling have in common?

 The answer is that all of them, though not lawyers, have been elected as honorary benchers of Gray’s Inn. It is a great honour, especially for non-lawyers.

I am grateful to utterbarrister for digging out the Inn’s selection criteria for the appointment of honorary benchers. (The Standing Orders point out that Honorary Benchers should be appointed “sparingly”). Continue reading “Gray’s Inn honoured Grayling and Brennan. Now they’ve got them for eternity”