Legal Updates

The question of whether or not UK human rights law should be watered down has now reached the point of very serious discussion, in the wake of the worst riots in England for over thirty years. Even before these violent outbursts in our cities, many people were claiming that human rights law had already gone too far. With the Prime Minister now advocating a serious departure from our existing human rights commitments, the next couple of years are likely to prove to be extremely interesting in this area of law.

For three years, only two companies were approved by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service to carry out telephone hearings. In April 2011 the conference call company Kidatu Ltd. received its approval and now offers free telephone hearings for pro bono cases. Finance Director Paul Thompson said: “Our values are very important to us. We’re delighted to be able to contribute in such a tangible and meaningful way, and once a fee earner has tried our service, they’re happy to use us for non pro bono work.”

We consider when it is right to take a small claim and look at a number of tips to help you succeed.

In last month’s journal we considered the impact of the proposed increase to the small claims regime. One major effect is that it will be more important than ever to have a good understanding of civil litigation. If you have completed the Diploma course, you will be aware of the principles of litigation and this article may be a timely reminder. If you are yet to complete your Diploma, we will outline some top tips to consider when dealing with a potential claim.

Following a mystery shopping exercise and report from Dr Dianne Hayter (Chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel), some extraordinary and frightening statistics have emerged regarding the validity of wills – be this through a will writing service or even a Solicitor – all types of providers are often supplying a totally substandard service in this regard. In fact, it has been reported that as many as one in five wills that were thought to have been prepared professionally, may actually be invalid. Even the firms of Solicitors that were assessed showed an equal rate of invalidity to the will writing services, and these findings are quite rightly thought to be completely unsatisfactory.

The coalition government has recently announced that there will be a brief consultation period over the prospect of criminalising squatting in England. This has brought a very controversial subject to the table for deliberation, and we are already tending to notice how strong opinions are from each side of this argument.

We need to be very clear here, whether a civil or criminal matter, squatting is the unlawful occupation of property or land that does not belong to the “squatter”. Whichever way you choose to look at this issue, squatters will always be breaking the law if they choose to reside in accommodation or on land that is not theirs. However, those people stringently opposed to the criminalisation of squatting are quick to point out that there are a number of issues that are much broader here and that need to be considered.

Well now, it would seem that this really is the $64,000 question! Ever since the UK joined the European Community (the name at that time) back in 1973, many citizens of this country have been outraged by the way in which they feel that ‘Europe’ has continually interfered with their lives. From the ‘Metric Martyrs’ to being told what  the shape of our bananas should be, it appears that very few UK citizens have much time, or respect, for the workings of the European Union.

Does this sound like a supermarket special offer to you, too? The Government had recently proposed that when defendants plead guilty straight away to an offence they committed, in court, they should be entitled to receive a 50% reduction on their tariff of imprisonment. This was just one of the ways the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, was attempting to reduce the significant numbers within our prisons at the moment. As the Government is investigating ways in which money can be saved in all areas of the country’s expenditure, prison reform is definitely a burden on the taxpayer that is very high on the list.

Will the proposed increase of the small claims limit spell trouble for the ‘man in the street’?

Ever since the highest court in the country changed from its title of the House of Lords to The Supreme Court, back in October 2009, it would seem that there has been a concerted effort to modernise our judicial system from the top down. This could certainly be said of the fact that on 16 May 2011, Supreme Court judgments were televised for the first time through Sky News.

Is this merely copying the United States of America, with their propensity to glamorise and televise their judicial system, or is there a genuine requirement for the hearings of the Supreme Court to be aired to the general population as a whole? This is an issue we will attempt to address within this article.

One of the main observations made by the Pope on his visit to the United Kingdom last year was that our country is becoming more and more secular in nature. He expressed concern that we are departing from religious teachings and stated that he believed this to be potentially damaging to our society in the long term.

On the other hand, a growing proportion of our society adamantly does not believe in any religious order in the first place, least of all in those of the Roman Catholic Church. They believe that all religions have failed to evolve with the world in which they still exist. There is no denying the fact that today there is a battle within our legal system between those who would prefer our laws not to be based on outdated religious beliefs and those who still insist on following all the lessons to be found within the Bible.