Features

Expect the Unexpected 

 One of the great joys of my life is returning home after a hard day’s gossiping in Chambers: shoes off, feet on the stool and a stiff gin and tonic. Or should I say “some gin with tonic”?  

A friend of mine at university once over-reached himself by taking out a girl called Jane, whose family was from the deepest Shires: the sort that disdains titles, never double-barrels and considers the Royal Family to be parvenus. He was invited for a weekend. Jane later told him in the Kardomah Café (she was a girl of simple tastes) that, after his departure, her mother had listed in order the ten social solecisms of his visit. Top of the list was that he had asked for “a gin and tonic” and not “some gin with tonic”. How we laughed when he told us until I next ordered a combination drink and heard myself asking for some whisky with soda.  

In this article David Murphy reviews the principal risks that collateralisation brings both to the parties involved and to the financial system as a whole.  

Collateral has a central role in the post-crisis financial system. Unsecured interbank markets have declined, so secured funding transactions whether private or with central banks have become the most important conduit of liquidity to the financial system. At the same time, collateral became a key feature of the post-crisis regulatory reforms: it will be mandatory for many bilateral OTC derivatives and is already required for centrally cleared transactions. 

On 28 October 2013 a trial began in Court 12 of the Central Criminal Court concerning the conduct of certain members of the British press. Two days later, the Privy Council approved a royal charter on press regulation.  

Last autumn two senior judges gave speeches concerning the relationship between law and morality, thus reigniting the embers of a debate which has flared up repeatedly over the last two centuries.  

A reflection on the way life for a barrister on the circuits used to be. 

Listening to (Lord) Jeremy Hutchinson on Desert Island Discs led me to recall life at independent criminal bar at its best. Anyone charged with a serious offence could walk into a High Street firm and any High Street firm could call on the services of Jeremy. The public money involved was well spent and never really questioned. Good quality advocates got to the real points in a case and addressed them directly. Time was saved. Justice is always done when high quality barristers oppose each other.  

In November 2012, Lord Sumption observed that “The judiciary is recruited from a pool of highly educated and experienced legal practitioners. This pool is itself dominated by white males”. Coinciding with a progress report, his view was that diversity in the judiciary could take 50 years so, how was 2013 for women in the law … ? 

Many employers bemoan the employability gap between education and work. Sarah Thwaites talks about one initiative to help bridge the gap in the legal sector.  

With youth unemployment still hovering just under the one million mark, we all have a role to play in ensuring we don’t leave the next generation behind. 

Andrew Bruce discusses the recent decision in Walker & Scott v Burton & Bamford relating to rectification of the Land Register.  

Ireby (population 60) is a tiny village in Lancashire. It is situated at the highest point in Lancashire and close to the county boundary with West Yorkshire. For the past eight years it has been the site of “a rather old fashioned un-neighbourly dispute with some unusual feudal bits and some land registration bits tacked on”. This dispute culminated in the Court of Appeal’s decision in Walker & Scott v Burton & Bamford [2013] EWCA Civ 1228, [2013] All ER (D) 146 (Oct) on 14 October 2013. This article considers the land registration issues associated with the dispute. 

Theatre company Clean Break presented  Billy the Girl, written by Katie Hims, directed by Lucy Morrison and played at Soho Theatre from 29 October to 24 November. Nigel Pascoe QC reviews the play for  Counsel. 

Good research is rarely wasted. True certainly for prize winning playwright Katie Hims, having tutored in womens’ prisons in drama and completely absorbed the language. In this haunting piece, she reproduces it to perfection. Insecurity, hope and always the fear of rejection in the air, she set out nevertheless to achieve, quite deliberately, a happy ending. The result is a compelling and uplifting quasi-comedy, adding effortlessly to the excellent reputation that Clean Break has gained. For this is purposeful theatre, helping female offenders develop their potential through drama. But absent entirely from the play is any sense of polemic messaging. The picture is true because the playwright has listened and allowed us with considerable skill both to learn and to share. It is some achievement.