LAW IN PRACTICE
Legal professional privilege
The continued use of state powers to erode legal professional privilege must be stopped, as Nicholas Griffin QC and Gordon Nardell QC explain
The state has the power secretly to listen in to the meetings you hold with your clients in chambers, at a solicitors’ firm or elsewhere. This surprising situation – and the troubling cases that have brought it to light – have led the Bar Council’s Law Reform Committee to consider state powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and have prompted the Bar Council to campaign for a change to the law.
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LAW IN PRACTICE
Rape Sentencing
Is rape sentencing unduly lenient? Felicity Gerry and Catarina Sjölin report
A quick click of the Attorney General’s website gives instant access to statistics for unduly lenient sentences up to and including 2010. During 2010, there were nine rape and attempted rape referrals among the total of 78 cases which went to the Court of Appeal. Of those nine, seven sentences were increased and two remained the same. To give an idea of the other offences referred there were 12 sentences involving robbery (of which 10 were increased, two remained the same) and 18 sentences involved non-fatal offences against the person (of which 12 were increased, two remained the same and one had the conviction quashed).
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PROFESSION
Interview
Lord Justice Jackson regrets none of his proposed reforms to the civil justice system, as Professor Dominic Regan reports
“The idea that justice has no price tag is unacceptable in the modern world. Our civil system must mend its ways and provide every court user, whoever they may be, with a dispute resolution system at a proportionate cost. This provision is my objective. I have sought to deliver it by proposing a structured package of integrated rules applicable to the conduct of proceedings, funding, and costs” – this is the Jackson philosopy, as recounted to me by Sir Rupert himself during a fascinating recent interview.
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Rape Sentencing