BBC: 'Zombie knives' ban to come into force

I'm clearly not down with the street, because I didn't realise that 'Zombie knives' were a thing, or that there was enough of a problem with them that the government was instituting a ban on their sale or import. A friend of mine wonders if this ban would include the Bat'leth, the iconic Klingon multi- ( Read more... )

The rather dramatic denouement to the Mitchell libel trial - or rather trials, because Mitchell was suing News Group Newspapers, and was being sued by PC Rowland - brings to an end a saga that has not only involved stroppy MPs, leaky police and massive legal bills, but has also led indirectly to what any English civil litigation lawyer is going to ( Read more... )

First Jaffa Cakes, then Torq Bars, now Snowballs; is there no end to the confectionary products that the VAT Tribunal has to rule upon?

Clearly not, because following on from the case I posted about a while back we now have a joint appeal by Lees and Tunnocks as to whether their Snowballs are cakes. As before, this is actually a quite important ( Read more... )

Apparently this is a common response to concerns about the Ministry of Justice's cuts to legal aid. At the One Bar, One Voice event yesterday one of the speakers gave a good example of its importance to people who think they're never likely to get into trouble ( Read more... )

Barristers tend to have a reputation for being conservative (indeed Conservative), restrained and traditionalist. It may provide some idea of just how angry the Government's cuts to legal aid and ham-fisted court 'reforms' have made the criminal bar in particular to see the Criminal Bar Association's poster for its next event:

( Comrades of the Bar, Unite! )

 One of the things I enjoy about being a barrister is that I often get a case that involves learning about some area of business I'd not otherwise have anything to do with. This case - The Port of London Authority v Tower Bridge Yacht & Boat Co - is on a much bigger scale than the sort of thing I deal with, but it's clearly one of those cases that ( Read more... )

Once upon a time English law was strewn with Latin. A lot of it was formally thrown out around 1999 when Lord Wolff imposed an updated terminology; alongside plaintiffs becoming claimants, terms such as 'writ of mandamus' and 'subpoena duces tecum' being replaced with 'mandatory injunction' and 'summons to produce evidence'. But many terms have ( Read more... )

I was thumbing through Counsel magazine when I saw a small advert for a product that I immediately saw was being sold to the perfect market:

Archie lever arch file fixersI say this because the following scenario is all too familiar to anyone who does trial advocacy ( Read more... )

Much kudos to my learned friend Tim Sapwell, who becomes the only member of our chambers (or probably any other set) to have prosecuted someone for assaulting Darth Vader's wife.

The prison population in the UK is just under 100,000. This seems to be commonly taken to be too high. But what should it be ( Read more... )