Team Justice? Independent Reviews

The PO Scandal is marked by a number of supposedly independent reviews from lawyers and others. Those reviews did, or were used to, play up the positives and play down the negatives. The latest one to emerge into the public gaze was conducted by a leading KC, Brian Altman, in 2013. I have written a …

Thematic credibility

The SRA have published a very interesting document. A Thematic Review into In-House lawyers. You can read it here. And you can expect your heart to sing because the CEO of the SRA says the results are generally encouraging. Here is what the estimable Ben White, of Crafty Counsel, said about it on LinkedIn: Some …

Continuing the conversation on SLAPPs

I have taken a closer look at the SRA’s thematic review on conduct in disputes, slightly oddly named as it centres SLAPPS. It is the first of at least two such reviews. Having spoken to 25 heads of department and 24 fee earners in firms dealing with “reputation management” matters, the central, but largely hidden, …

SRA on SLAPPs

The SRA's first SLAPPs thematic review is out. It’s not very convincing as a piece of work, but my sense if this is the first foray, and its good that the SRA tried it. "We spoke to a few lawyers about their own practices and said everything was super (save occasional rum behaviour from one …

Round up – Feb03

I thought it would be a good idea to try and round up interesting lawyers' ethics related stories from time to time. Pressure on NDAs, the BSB, and the SRA With the BSB receiving a very poor report card from the Legal services Board on its regulatory performance recently, the BSB indicated an independent review …

What may Zahawi’s lawyers have got wrong?

I hesitate to be another person to drawing attention to Dan Neidle's allegations about Nadim Zahawi, but it seems to me the finer, but important, points about what Neidle thinks the lawyers have got wrong have not been clearly identified in the commentary I have seen in several places. Lawyers and the legal press tend …

A lesson in conventional unfairness

In the light of yesterday's PO Inquiry hearings on compensation, I looked back at something I wrote in July, on my Post Office devoted substack, and thought the analysis there pretty much stands the test of time. The Post Office and Government have adopted an adversarial approach, containing a conflict of interest. When one side …

SLAPP guidance: a quick comment

The SRA has issued welcome guidance on the conduct of SLAPP cases. It can be seen as part of their broader thrust to wean solicitors, and their firms, off the idea that they can act for clients as hired guns no matter what. In broad terms, and the Code is a bit more nuanced than …

What’s wrong with SRA Guidance on Confidential Information

Graeme Johnston, Jenifer Swallow and I have written a paper on this topic which we have submitted to the SRA and can be downloaded here. It begins like this... The issue of lawyer involvement in wrongdoing has risen up in the public consciousness. A critical issue for lawyers is what to do when they face …

The Home Office: Collective failure, individual insouciance?

One of the issues I am interested in is whether the courts take ethical failure in legal proceedings seriously enough. This week brings forth an interesting example to consider.  The case is an immigration one, R (HM, MA & KH) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 2729 (Admin), and it concerns the Home Office's admitted breach of its …