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John Bercow MP was Speaker of the House of Commons for over 10 years. He became a worldwide celebrity during the parliamentary Brexit debates for his robust and interventionist style of chairmanship. But more recently he was investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and complaints of bullying and harassment against senior employees were upheld.
Michael Mansfield QC, one of our greatest human rights lawyers, talks about the Home Secretary's (Priti Patel's) attitude to the Ukrainian Refugees, the government's proposals to reform human rights and fundamental freedoms, the diminution of legal aid, and the advent of "Supermarket" justice.
The Parliamentary Accounts Committee criticises the Ministry of Justice's meagre ambition to fix the broken Criminal Justice System. Listen to contributions from Chris Daw QC, HH Nigel Lithman QC and William Clegg QC.
The distinguished and highly experienced William Clegg QC who still presides as a Recorder of the Crown Court gives advice to aspiring advocates and discusses the difficulties the criminal justice system is currently facing: underfunding, decaying courts, backlogs and a complex sentencing system in need of overhaul - but for those intent on a rewarding and thrilling career, it is still worth it.
When a teaching establishment and the authorities turned against a 14 year old boy for a momentary indiscretion, it resulted in the boy's permanent exclusion from school. The headteacher's offensive analogy to that of a murderer and the refusal to accept the boy's fulsome and repeated apology reflect badly on the school, the governors and the local authority: YA v Independent Panel of Swansea City Council [2022] EWHC 408 (Admin)
When the body of a missing 11-year-old girl was tragically discovered by the roadside the authorities, keen to hold someone to account for the atrocity, arrested and detained a young man with a mental age of 12. After three days of questioning without the assistance of a solicitor, he admitted the killing and justice appeared to be done. Or was it?
The simple two stage test in Ivey v Genting Casinos [2017] UKSC 67 still seems to be causing confusion. In Maxfield-Martin v Solicitors Regulation Authority recently, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal was reversed on appeal for failing to consider the two limbs of the test separately.
Chris Daw QC discusses the government's proposals to increase the sentencing powers of magistrates, the age of criminal responsibility, decriminalising drugs, the political motivation of the Law Officers for challenging lenient sentences and other criminal and criminological issues
An overview of an attack by The Times newspaper on the Supreme Court judgment in Bloomberg LP v ZXC [2022] UKSC 5 in which it balances the right to privacy and a publisher's right to freedom of expression. A summary of this episode with case citations under the title Media Whine 2022: A Poor Vintage appears in the News Section at www.barrybaines.co.uk
In this appeal by Dr Sawati against the General Medical Council [2022] EWHC 283 (Admin), the court considered a sanction decision of striking off and the so-called "rejected defence" issue where a practitioner charged with dishonesty may be called upon to defend her defence as well as the primary allegation.
A public scandal involving weekend pool parties at Cliveden, a call girl named Christine Keeler, an osteopath, a Russian Naval Attache and the Secretary of State for War. Did the Russian and the Secretary of State share the same services provided by the call girl and was national security threatened? It led to the resignation of John Profumo, the War Secretary, and later Harold MacMillan, the Prime Minister, on health grounds. These are the questions Lord Denning was required to answer in his inquiry.
Sitting in the Court of Appeal, the Master of the Rolls issues a stark warning to parties who fail to appear to prosecute their appeals: Leave.EU Group Ltd & Anor v The Information Commissioner [2022] EWCA Civ 109Read a transcript of this episode at www.barrybaines.co.uk
In what a Lord Justice of Appeal described as a "sort of test case" for dentists, the Court of Appeal decided whether the dentist owed a non-delegable duty of care and whether he was vicariously liable for the negligence of his self-employed associate dentists: Iris Hughes v Rajendra Rattan [2022] EWCA Civ 107
Andrea James is a Solicitor Partner in the Manchester legal firm of Brabners, and for over 15 years has represented healthcare professionals (doctors, dentists, pharmacists, paramedics etc) statutorily regulated by 10 separate bodies. Listen to her views on the length of time it takes to bring professionals before regulatory tribunals, the effect on their mental health and the inadequacies of the current fitness to practise regime.
The Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Lord Hodge, takes the opportunity to explain in this judgment the meaning of statutory interpretation.
With many years' experience as a lawyer in the healthcare regulatory sector, David Gomez talks of the significant changes he has seen: the impracticability of healthcare professionals being regulated by ten different statutory regulators when there is so much interdisciplinary care; the different rules for each of the professions who each have to face their own fitness to practise panels. He also discusses inequality of arms between the regulator and the professional, many of whom cannot afford legal representation, and the role of the Professional Standards Authority which oversees the statutory regulators. Finally, he considers whether a total rethink is necessary about the regulation of healthcare professionals.
Having regard to Article 7 of the European Convention of Human Rights, what was the correct approach to sentencing when the maximum sentence available to the court, if the offender had been convicted at the time of the offences, would by reason of his age have been subject to a restriction which did not apply to an adult? And how was the sentence affected by the Children Guideline which came into effect in 2017?
An orthodontal dental practitioner who had an unblemished career spanning 30 year appealed to the Administrative Court against his suspension with a review, imposed three years after his retirement from practice.
This podcast episode deals with the second part of the Supreme Court's unanimous dismissal of the appeal in this case which considers whether if section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 creates an offence of strict liability, is that compatible with article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
In this episode we consider that aspect of the Supreme Court decision on a certified point of law of general public importance whether the offence created by section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is an offence of strict liability.Were three men carrying flags of a proscribed demonstration in a demonstration in London required to have mens rea that they were committing the offence?