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Prisoner – Rehabilitation. Court of Session: Dismissing a judicial review petition by a prisoner who was subject to an order for lifelong restriction with a punishment part of 7 years' imprisonment and who sought judicial review of a failure by the Scottish Ministers to assess him for rehabilitative course work and their associated policy, the court rejected the petitioner's contentions that by failing to assess him for rehabilitative course work and by adopting policy they had in prioritising assessments for such course work the respondents had failed in their duty to provide him with a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate himself and demonstrate to the Parole Board at point of his punishment part expiry date that he no longer represented an unacceptable danger to the public and that those failings constituted breaches of their duties at common law and under arts 5 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Prisoner – Rehabilitation. Court of Session: Dismissing a judicial review petition by a prisoner who was subject to an order for lifelong restriction with a punishment part of 7 years' imprisonment and who sought judicial review of a failure by the Scottish Ministers to assess him for rehabilitative course work and their associated policy, the court rejected the petitioner's contentions that by failing to assess him for rehabilitative course work and by adopting policy they had in prioritising assessments for such course work the respondents had failed in their duty to provide him with a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate himself and demonstrate to the Parole Board at point of his punishment part expiry date that he no longer represented an unacceptable danger to the public and that those failings constituted breaches of their duties at common law and under arts 5 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, Chair of the Bar, sets our course for 2026
What meaningful steps can you take in 2026 to advance your legal career? asks Thomas Cowan of St Pauls Chambers
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, explains why drugs may appear in test results, despite the donor denying use of them
Asks Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
AlphaBiolabs has donated £500 to The Christie Charity through its Giving Back initiative, helping to support cancer care, treatment and research across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and further afield
Q and A with criminal barrister Nick Murphy, who moved to New Park Court Chambers on the North Eastern Circuit in search of a better work-life balance
The appointments of 96 new King’s Counsel (also known as silk) are announced today
Ready for the new way to do tax returns? David Southern KC continues his series explaining the impact on barristers. In part 2, a worked example shows the specific practicalities of adapting to the new system
Resolution of the criminal justice crisis does not lie in reheating old ideas that have been roundly rejected before, say Ed Vickers KC, Faras Baloch and Katie Bacon
With pupillage application season under way, Laura Wright reflects on her route to ‘tech barrister’ and offers advice for those aiming at a career at the Bar
Jury-less trial proposals threaten fairness, legitimacy and democracy without ending the backlog, writes Professor Cheryl Thomas KC (Hon), the UK’s leading expert on juries, judges and courts