Justice Matters

From ‘smart’ sanctions to judicial review, closed hearings to the Brexit/Trump effect, Maya Lester QC briefs readers on the varied legal issues surrounding the foreign policy tool of choice: economic sanctions  

Economic sanctions have been a foreign policy tool of choice for some time.  

Last year, a local issue awoke the Bar’s interest in the City of London. Gregory Jones QC urges barristers to dust off their voting rights and reclaim their voice in the City – on the doorstep of the Inns of Court  

Barrister politicians are nothing new. Lincoln’s Inn alone has produced 16 British prime ministers.  

‘Shifting powers’ and an ‘unfair, hostile and resource-driven’ climate are sidelining the needs of vulnerable defendants and witnesses, the ICCA’s ambitious inaugural conference heard. David Wurtzel reports  

The first annual conference of the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) on 29 October 2016, organised by Bernard Richmond QC, chose as its theme the vulnerable client.  

A call for views: Justin Fenwick QC explains how a properly thought-out contingency legal aid fund on a not-for-profit basis could fit into the new landscape of litigation funding  

The idea of a contingency legal aid fund (known for short as ‘CLAF’) has been around for a long time, with the first preliminary feasibility study having been issued by the Bar Council as long ago as January 1998.  

Jonathan Fisher QC briefs readers on the most radical overhaul of law on criminal property since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002  

The Criminal Finances Bill is currently making its way through Parliament with strong all-party support.  

Sir Jeffrey Jowell QC asks whether the Lord Chancellor should have acted to stem the misleading and inflammatory media allegations which continue in the wake of the Miller case  

Visitors from abroad have always been mystified by our uncodified constitution.  

Deciding how we Brexit is not within the government's gift, argues Dominic Grieve QC MP. No Parliament worth its name can abandon input into the biggest and most complex constitutional change in modern times. Discussion is vital 

How will losing passporting rights affect the UK’s financial services sector? Saima Hanif argues that the equivalence regime is not a satisfactory alternative  

As the President of the European Council Donald Tusk remarked, in response to comments from Boris Johnson that the UK could have its cake and eat it by keeping single market access without accepting free movement of persons: ‘There will be no cakes on the table, for anyone. There will be only salt and vinegar…’ 

Professor Michael Zander QC assesses the High Court decision and predicts the government is likely to lose its appeal to the Supreme Court  

Asked on the day for a first assessment of the decision I wrote: ‘The Divisional Court’s unanimous decision is very clear and very strong.  

Ali Naseem Bajwa QC and Eva Niculiu examine the issues raised by use of the complainant’s sexual history in the Ched Evans rape retrial  

On the night of 29-30 May 2011, a professional footballer, Clayton McDonald, on a night out in Rhyl, North Wales, met a 19-year-old waitress who was heavily intoxicated. McDonald took her back to his hotel room.