This is – as a UK-based foreign football manager might say – a difficult moment for Times Law, which is so committed to austerity that it won’t even stump up the money to cover subscriptions for its contributors...
Tag Archives: Media
Leveson And The Internet: Would Regulation Be A Good Thing For Legal Bloggers?
There was a brilliant cartoon in The Sun over the weekend making light of the fact that the internet was deemed worthy of only a single page of the 2,000 page-long Leveson report. Still, there have been suggestions that a new regime of press regulation could be extended to apply to bloggers, if they voluntarily opt-in...
Observer Hints That Solicitor Called ‘Chris’ May Have Been Involved In Civil Procedure Rules Breach. But Who’s ‘Chris’?
Yesterday may not have been the most relaxing Sunday for a mystery media law partner at Hamlins called "Chris", after a press release in which he was featured caught the attention of The Observer media columnist Peter Preston.
According to Preston, the press release – sent by a PR on behalf of Hamlins – provided notification that "Chris" was about to win a big case against the Mail on Sunday, with the result to be confirmed the next morning when Mr Justice Tugendhat handed down his verdict. The press release also provided quotes from the judge and "Chris" – who Preston refused to name in full but did disclose was a "senior libel partner at 'well-renowned' Hamlins LLP and representative of Hello! magazine among others". In addition, Preston says the PR offered to send out the whole judgment on request.
It turns out that some of this may have been against the rules.
"Hang on!" squawked Preston, "I thought draft judicial verdicts (see Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 40E) couldn't be supplied ahead of publication to "any other person" than the parties involved? Nor be the trigger for anything but "internal" action until then?"
Conflict Of Interest? Leveson Silk Robert Jay QC Is Ed Miliband’s Wife’s Head Of Chambers
As you may or may not know, Ed Miliband’s wife, Justine Thornton (pictured), is a barrister at 39 Essex Street Chambers – which is led by Leveson Inquiry heartthrob Robert Jay QC.
In case you missed it, Miliband spent yesterday afternoon at said inquiry being grilled by Jay.
The political blogger Guido Fawkes reckons this represents an "apparent conflict of interest" which "should see someone else interrogate the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition."
To reinforce his point, Fawkes – who, incidentally, was a surprise attendee at the April legal tweet-up at the Melton Mowbray pub in Holborn – added: "Imagine the fuss if Jay was Sam Cam’s boss…"
Russell Brand Becomes Engrossed By Legal Profession In Wake Of Katy Perry Split
Newly single Russell Brand has turned to Bloomberg Law, the legal TV channel, to take his mind off his recent split from singer Katy Perry – as you can see below.
Radio 4 Legal Show ‘Law in Action’ Hit By BBC Cuts
Law in Action, the long-running Radio 4 legal programme, is to have its funding scaled back as part of a £500,000 cost-saving at the BBC.
The show’s normal schedule – which sees 12 episodes broadcast a year – will continue until at least 2013. From then it had been suggested that fewer episodes will be recorded. However, this now seems unlikely, with the show expected to continue on its current schedule on a reduced budget for the foreseeable future.
Lord Neuberger Slams Judges For Appearing on MasterChef
Never upstage the boss. And that rule applies double when your boss is Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger, who has publicly rounded on members of the judiciary for appearing on BBC show MasterChef when it filmed an episode in Middle Temple.
Muscling his way back into the spotlight with a publicity-grabbing speech to Birmingham University law students – which was placed on the judiciary’s website on Friday and immediately picked up by the Guardian and the Telegraph – Neuberger claimed that senior legal figures of the past would have reacted with "horror" to the MasterChef affair.