A gathering of
interested parties to discuss insurance hardly seems like the most eagerly
awaited appointment of the week, yet the outcome of a high-profile Downing Street insurance summit appears to have
put paid to any hopes among claimant lawyers over any compromise to be reached
on Jackson
reforms. This is particularly grave news for the Association of Personal
Injury Lawyers (APIL) who had made its final
attempt to challenge the reforms by setting out a new negotiating position
that drops outright opposition to the changes. A recent
report published by Deloitte suggests that personal injury firms could
become takeover targets as claims managers
and brokers prepare for the referral fee ban. In its latest insurance market
update, Deloitte stated that the alternative
business structure era had come at the perfect time for companies needing a
legal arm to circumvent the ban. This column notes that at least one enterprising
firm has engaged in an innovative,
albeit legitimate marketing offer of Apple iPads, shopping vouchers or a
cash alternative to file claims. The cash is to be deducted from the
compensation the personal injury claimant would receive.
HM
Courts and Tribunal service has unveiled plans for a secure ‘drop box’ that
would replace the present counters manned by staff to deposit sensitive papers
and payments. Court staff is anticipating widespread chaos when the new system
takes effect in April. Court opening hours would also be reduced. The changes
were part of plans first mooted in 2008 as part of the Framework
for the Provision of Front Office Services in the Civil Courts white paper.
Courts in England
and Wales had recently ceased to use freelance interpreters from a national
register. Now, interpreters are provided by a single agency, Applied Language
Solutions (ALS), which has promised to cut the annual £60m translation bill by
a third. However, the new
service had not been without complications. In one instance, a suspect
charged with perverting the course of justice was told they are accused of
being a pervert and in another it was explained that being charged means they
have to give the police money. In addition to this, a failure to supply the
courts with interpreters at short notice has resulted in the courts
being told to hire their own interpreters. The ALS scheme had only been in
place for two weeks.
The previous
week’s Sunday Law Review mentioned an impending ministerial visit to Jordan
for talks on Abu Qatada. Home Office minister James Brokenshire has visited
Jordan for talks with Jordan's Minister for Legislative Affairs, Ayman
Odeh. After initial discussions, Odeh has assured that Qatada would not be
tortured if he returned to stand trial in Jordan. Home Secretary Theresa
May would also travel to Jordan to continue the talks. The home secretary
is to seek a definite commitment from the Jordanian authorities that the prosecutors
would not use evidence obtained by torture in any retrial. Qatada was convicted
in 1999 in his absence of conspiracy to carry out bomb attacks. The radical
preacher was released
on bail following a European court of human rights (ECHR) ruling. Justice
Secretary Kenneth
Clarke has also voiced his concern about European rulings by insisting that
British courts are best placed to understand British problems and that the ECHR
was never intended to be an appeal court for routine cases.
Two promising youth
initiates have been launched in the week when anti-gang
police made more than 500 arrests in a three-day blitz on London's crime
network. In
London, the charity ‘Just For Kids’
(JFK) Law has teamed up with law firm Hodge
Jones and Allen's criminal defence team. The initiative would look at
issues such as exclusion from school, unstable housing, and mental health problems,
which have an impact on youths after the court case has ended, and could lead
to re-offending in future. In Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford has
launched a new guide to restorative justice for young people. Restorative
justice challenges the behaviour of young offenders, offers them
constructive opportunities to make amends, and most importantly gives a voice
to victims. However its principles are not confined to the criminal justice
sector and can be applied in dispute resolution in other areas such as schools.
Copies of the guide are being distributed as a teaching aid to schools and
youth clubs throughout Northern Ireland and the Youth Justice Agency will
conduct information seminars in schools to further explore opportunities for
promoting a restorative approach to resolving disputes.
Skills for Justice, a non-profit
agency is to launch a project
to develop paralegal apprenticeships. It aims to build on existing good
practice in creating
a nationally recognised qualification and expects to have a framework in
place for paralegals working in public prosecution by April 2012, and for the
commercial sector by summer 2013. The agency has enlisted the help of 17 law
firms, including Gordons, Kennedys, Eversheds and DWF in this endeavour. The framework would
create more jobs for young people and provide a benchmark of quality through recognised
paralegal apprenticeships with the ultimate aim of assisting the legal profession
in opening up access to employment in legal services.
Rupert
Murdoch faced fresh crisis as key Sun staff were arrested in a police
corruption probe amid speculation over the future of the newspaper. The
journalists are preparing to launch a legal
challenge to the News Corporation unit that disclosed confidential sources
to the police, leading to the arrest of nine of the paper's current and former
staff. The National Union of Journalists had been contacted by the Sun
employees and former employees with a view to hiring the leading human rights
lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, to question the legality of parent company News
Corporation’s management and standards committee. Perhaps in anticipation,
Rupert Murdoch had put his senior
lawyer on to News Corporation’s internal affairs committee as the media
group comes increasingly under fire. Gerson Zweifach’s addition to the
management and standards committee could be interpreted as an attempt to
galvanise the body.
A mental welfare
watchdog has requested the Law Society of
Scotland to look into guidance surrounding
power of attorney laws. The call comes after a Mental Welfare Commission
investigation uncovered the abuse of a couple with learning difficulties by a
family member. A couple had granted power of attorney to a relative who then
ran up a £10,000 debt in their name. Around 40,000 applications for power of
attorney are granted each year in Scotland.
Equality Commission
chief Trevor Phillips has courted controversy by arguing that Roman Catholic
adoption agencies and other faith groups providing public services must choose
between their religion and obeying the law when their beliefs conflict with
the will of the state. Phillips’ comments
seem to be in sharp contrast to the sentiment
expressed by cabinet minister Baroness Warsi during her trip to the Vatican.
Warsi announced that ‘to create a more just society, people need to feel
stronger in their religious identities and more confident in their creeds. In
practice this means individuals not diluting their faiths and nations not
denying their religious heritages’. She defined the dilution as a threat
from the rising tide of ‘militant secularisation’ reminiscent of ‘totalitarian
regimes’. The boundaries between secular law and the sacred law seems to
have been sharply defined just this week in Italy when, after several years of
scandal in which the Catholic Church had faced allegations of financial impropriety,
the
Vatican is now facing a new €600 million a year tax bill as Rome seeks to
head off European Commission censure over controversial property tax breaks
enjoyed by the Church.
On the
international news and human rights front several stories had caught my
attention. The International Campaign for Tibet has reported the tragic
self-immolation of an 18 year old nun from the Aba prefecture in Sichuan
province as a protest against Chinese occupation. After years of complaints and workers'
suicides in China the technology giant Apple
has finally admitted to the human cost of its gadgets, and agreed to allow
independent inspections of its supply chain. The Centre for Economic and Social
Rights claims that Ireland
had disregarded its commitments under international human rights law in its
implementation of the spending cuts and structural reforms attached to its
€70bn European Union and International Monetary Fund loan.
This weeks two recommended
reading articles are ‘Democracy
for all? Minority rights and democratisation’ by Mark Salter and Catherine
Bowman’s Cracking the Chinese market: What do solicitors need to know about
acting for Chinese clients? Salter’s article from Open Democracy is about ‘the challenge
of accommodating and promoting the rights of ethnic, religious minorities when
a formerly authoritarian country begins to move towards democracy.’ Bowman’s article
from the Law Society Gazette alludes
to the ‘huge potential for London’s financial sector, and the associated
opportunities for lawyers’ in China.
As ever, I thank
the legal professionals, journalists, web editors and publications I have
cited, and linked to for allowing me to compose this week’s Sunday Law Review.
Readers are welcome to highlight any critical omissions, offer factual
corrections or discuss the issues raised in my review.
© TTR
