Save UK Justice....or else...

Criminal barristers earn bugger all.  I know - I'm married to one and spend lots of time with them.  If you get into trouble - you will want one but if HMG gets its way either you'll have to pay lots to get one or you'll get a free one who does not want to do his or her best for you because of the way the State pays them.....

If citizens are not properly represented when the State accuses them of a crime, then society and civilisation breaks down because each innocent person incompetently represented and thereby unjustly convicted is another reason why the population might chose not to obey democratically enacted laws.  Without that obedience....remember the riots of 2 years ago......everything breaks down........You can cut the costs of the public purse, but not the irreducible minimum costs of civilisation itself.  Taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, Justice of US Supreme Court), the Criminal Bar is one of things that has to be included in that price.

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More here

Tory Euro Referendum Bill - scary Henry VIII clause...

Tories have published their 'hoped to be' Private Members' Bill to provide for an In Out, shake it all about, referendum on EU membership.  You can tell they have thought through the detail by the scarily wide Henry VIII clause. I accept that any Order will have to be approved by a joint resolution - but even so... these clauses are the very height of the powers of our Elected Dictatorship:

Conduct of the referendum and further provisions
(1) The Secretary of State shall by order provide for the rules in accordance with which the referendum is to
be conducted.
(2) The Secretary of State may by order make further provisions about the referendum.
(3) An order under this section may make provision modifying or amending this Act or another enactment.
(4) An order under this section may not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before, and approved
by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.

A little bit of legal reform in HMQ' s Speech from The Throne...

The odd nugget of legal reform in the Queen's Speech:

• Exempting from health and safety law those self-employed whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others.  Can't wait to see how they draft this one.....
• Removing a power for employment tribunals to make wider recommendations in successful discrimination cases under the Equality Act 2010.  Stripping the Equality Act back to its bare EU law essentials....
• Implementing the Unified Patent Court, part of which will be based in London. This would introduce a single patent system in almost all EU countries making it possible for British businesses to protect their inventions across countries in a single application. Any disputed applications would be held in the UK.  This is one is beyond my purview....
• Consumer law: Provide clarity in areas where the law has not kept up with technological advances. For example, setting out clearer consumer rights for the quality of digital content like e-books and software.  Easier access to compensation where there have been breaches of consumer or competition law. For example, new powers for enforcers (such as Trading Standards) to seek a court to require compensation to be paid to consumers where consumer law is breached.  More powers for Trading Standards and other enforcement authorities to require traders, through the courts, to compensate consumers where they have breached consumer law.  About time somebody looked at this mish mash of law.
• Mesothelioma - Scheme of last resort funded by a levy on the UK Employers’ Liability market to correct a market failure where insurers failed to keep adequate records of Employers’ Liability insurance during historic times when exposures to asbestos were taking place. I support this.

Not quite as hectic as in previous years...............

Yet more new High Court Judges - including the now famous Robert Jay QC

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Miss Susan Lascelles Carr, Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 14 June 2013 on the retirement of Mr. Justice Stadlen. The Lord Chief Justice will assign Miss Carr to the Queen’s Bench Division. 

Leading Professional Negligence Silk, used to head the Professional Conduct Committee for the Bar and is a welcome common law addition to the QBD. From 4NS, had been their Head of Chambers, successor to Stuart-Smith J in fact.

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Robert Maurice Jay, Esquire, Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 4 June 2013 on the retirement of Mr. Justice Roderick Evans. The Lord Chief Justice will assign Mr. Jay to the Queen’s Bench Division.

Needs absolutely no introduction whatsoever: Leverson's Counsel, 2012 Barrister of the Year and usual choice for MOD and other bits of HMG in tricky cases.

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of His Honour Judge Andrew James Gilbart, Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 29 July 2013 on the elevation of Mr. Justice Fulford to the Court of Appeal. The Lord Chief Justice will assign Judge Gilbart to the Queen’s Bench Division. 

This is part of the trend of promoting Senior Circuit Judges to the High Court bench. The Designated Civil Judge for Manchester, was appointed Stewart J last month. Gilbart J is his criminal counterpart in that City, being Hon. Recorder of Manchester and is in his special Recorder robes on the far right of the picture above (a ceremony for the new High Sheriff of that county).

STOP PRESS -see comments below - 

Is this Gilbart J in his Hon Recorder of Manchester robes?

Making the Employment Justice System Pay - Fees and Penalties

The Employment Tribunal system has been very expensive to run.  Lots of claims have meant lots of Tribunals, staff and judges and the system has been free to use and therefore there has been no income stream to off-set the costs.  This led to some Tribunals like East London shutting their doors because they had run out of cash - i.e. HMG failed in its basic constitutional duty to provide a justice system.  HMG is having no more of that - Employment Tribunals are going to pay their way.

Firstly there are going to be fees to pay to use them - for a bog standard unfair dismissal -  £250 to issue, £950 for a hearing, £650 payable by the Respondent if you fancy a bit of judicial mediation, £400 to issue your appeal in the EAT and £1200 for the Appeal Tribunal to hear your appeal   Fees remitted if you are on benefits.

Secondly, if an Employer been found by a Tribunal to have breach someone's Employment Law rights in a manner which can be described as 'aggravated' then they will order 50% the value of the damages up to £5000.  You get a 1/2 price deal if you pay the Treasury within 21 days.  See Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 - awaiting official publication.

Thirdly, HMG would prefer it if you did not trouble the Tribunal at all -  so there will be enforced Conciliation by ACAS before you can actually issue your claim.  Again this is in the new 2013 Act, which is awaiting publication.

Fourthly, the 2013 Act will empower some claims to be determined not by Judges but by Legal Officers - who are cheaper....oh and more often the EAT will be composed of just a Judge - making it cheaper....

Oh and - the Tribunal will be able to make deposit orders on specific allegations and issues to try and stem the 'tide' of crap cases going forward - to save money....

Have you spotted the theme to these reforms yet...........

La Reyne le veult

Forasmuch as We cannot at this time be present in the Higher House of Our said Parliament being the accustomed place for giving Our Royal Assent...HMQ sent her Commissioners to prorogue Parliament and to signify her Royal Assent to various Bills, Her Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster intoning ....My Lords, in obedience to Her Majesty's Commands, and by virtue of the Commission which has been now read, We do declare and notify to you, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, that Her Majesty has given Her Royal Assent to the several Acts in the Commission mentioned

Those Assents Royal brought to an end legislative deliberation on some Bills which have filled much space on this Blog:

Justice and Security Act 2013 - much discussed here and elsewhere and now law - not palatable but necessary....

Crime and Courts Act 2013 - the abolition of the county courts as we know them....more on this blog here. Family Courts also get a thorough reform by this Act....

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 - brings reform to employment law, health and safety law and might facilitate press regulation...

There is also a Defamation Act 2013, which is a little beyond my field and a Succession to the Crown Act 2013 which ensures that a first born Princess of Cambridge will not be trumped by a younger Royal brother.

HMQ will read out the new legislative programme from the throne on May 8th:

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons, by virtue of Her Majesty's Commission which has been now read, we do, in Her Majesty's name, and in obedience to Her Majesty's Commands, prorogue this Parliament to the 8th day of May, to be then here holden, and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Wednesday, the 8th day of May.

& to replace all those new Court of Appeal judges, here's some new High Court Judges:

Appointment of a High Court Judge – Keehan

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Michael Joseph Keehan, Esquire, Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 13 May 2013 on the elevation of Mr. Justice Ryder to the Court of Appeal.

Head of St Ives Chambers - Family law expert

Appointment of a High Court Judge – Rose

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Miss Vivien Judith Rose to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 13 May 2013 on the elevation of Mr. Justice Floyd to the Court of Appeal.

Chair of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and former Government Lawyer - this is a rare appointment of a civil servant to the High Court bench:

Vivien Rose was called to the Bar in 1984 and was a member of Monckton Chambers, London, for ten years specialising in domestic and EU competition law. In 1995 she left private practice and joined the Government Legal Service working for several years in HM Treasury advising on financial services regulation, at the Ministry of Defence advising on international humanitarian law and in the Legal Services Office of the House of Commons.  She joined the Tribunal as a chairman in 2005 and has chaired panels dealing with cases covering the whole range of the Tribunal's work including against findings of competition law infringement, appeals against penalty, telecoms cases and follow-on damages claims.

She was co-editor (with Mr Justice Roth) of the sixth edition of Bellamy & Child European Union Law of Competition (2008) and is co-editor (with David Bailey) of the forthcoming seventh edition of that work (Spring 2013).  She is a judge of the First-Tier Tribunal in the Charity and Environment jurisdictions. In 2009 she was appointed to be a Recorder on the South-Eastern Circuit and in April 2012 was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge, Chancery Division.

Appointment of a High Court Judge – Stewart

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of His Honour Judge Stephen Paul Stewart., Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 7 May 2013 on the elevation of Mrs. Justice Gloster to the Court of Appeal.

Circuit Judge from Liverpool - commercial and TCC experience, who has been sitting in the High Court for some time (including tomorrow).

Appointment of a High Court Judge - Birss

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of His Honour Judge Colin Ian Birss, Q.C., to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 13 May 2013 on the elevation of Mr. Justice Briggs to the Court of Appeal. 

Basically already a High Court Judge - sits in the Patents County Court.