News

HEALTH & SAFETY

A company convicted of corporate manslaughter has been fined 116 per cent of its annual turnover.

Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd (CGH) was fined £385,000 last week at Winchester Crown Court, after becoming the first to be convicted of the new offence under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Legal training

All criminal advocates, including QCs, will be subject to compulsory re-accreditation every five years, the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) has confirmed.
JAG has published its analysis of responses to its proposals for the scheme, which is due to begin in July. Some respondents had argued against re-accreditation on the basis it was cumbersome and unnecessary.

EU law

The Bar Council has called on the European Commission to show restraint on controversial proposals to harmonise contract law. The European Commission has set out seven options for change, including full harmonisation of national contract laws through an EU Regulation. Its goal is to boost cross-border trade by bringing more legal certainty on contract law for businesses and simpler rules for consumers.

Civil litigation

Proposals to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations on civil costs could lead to “acute” problems for litigants.

Mediation matters

Separating couples will need to consider mediation before they can divorce in future, the Ministry of Justice has announced. The new policy could potentially lower the cost of divorce for the couples involved, as well as reducing the burden on the family courts. There will be exceptions where there are domestic violence or child protection issues.

JUSTICE SYSTEM

Lord Phillips has called for greater security of funding for the Supreme Court.

Legal Education 

Solicitors and barristers are generating far too many graduate lawyers, according to the former Bar Chairman Nicholas Greene QC. 

Bar code of conduct

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, has backed new equality and diversity provisions that are to be included in the Bar Code of Conduct and Practising Rules.

Legal aid cuts

The Bar Council has accused the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of getting its sums wrong over its “crude and brutal” legal aid cuts.

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