Juries in complex fraud trials

Friday 30 June 2006 at 8:10 am | In News | Post Comment

In Parliament yesterday the government was called upon to look again at legislation scrapping the use of juries in complex fraud trials. The shadow Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, told the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, should stop using collapse of the £25m Jubilee Line trial. the case as justification for the move. Jurors in that case said they perfectly well understood the evidence and it was the lawyers who failed to make progress with the trial.

ADR, compulsory mediation in the Family Court

Sunday 18 June 2006 at 12:07 pm | In News | Post Comment

The Constitutional Affairs select committee in a report published this week says that the Family Resolutions Pilot Project has been a ‘failure’ in diverting parents away from the courts; because mediation is not compulsory. They said that there should be a compulsory preliminary meeting with a mediator. At the moment those seeking legal aid are expected to use mediation but privately funded couples are not.
The committee took evidence from the President, Sir Mark Potter and other senior judges and officials.
Full report here.

The minimum wage

Tuesday 13 June 2006 at 7:58 pm | In News | Post Comment

From October the adult minimum wage be increased to £5.35, the rate for 18-21 year- olds to £4.45, and the rate for 16-17 year-olds to £3.30.

Concern over discount for guilty plea

Friday 9 June 2006 at 12:56 am | In News | Post Comment

Baby rapistsThe Lord Chief Justice called together a strong Court of Appeal of 5 judges to hear an appeal by the Attorney General against the unduly lenient sentence of a man who raped and indecently assaulted (and took photographs of the acts) a 12-week-old baby.
Alan Webster 40 from Hatfield had his minimum jail term increased from six to eight years. The sentence of his accomplice, Tanya French, will remain the same. Although Webster can apply for parole his depravity was such that it is possible he will die in jail.
The Lord Chief Justice referred to The Sentencing Guidelines Council the court’s misgivings about the discount available when an offender pleads guilty even though – as in this case – he is caught red-handed. 

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^