What should COVID-19 CEOs do about The Mayson Report Section 4.12, if anything?

This guest post by Ciarán Fenton first appeared on his blog. On the morning of June 11th. 2020 The Centre for Ethics and Law, University College London, published a report written by Professor Stephen Mayson with the title: “REFORMING LEGAL SERVICES – REGULATION BEYOND THE ECHO CHAMBERS – FINAL REPORT of the Independent Review of …

Whoops, I did it again! Online justice design flaw?

Barclays’ solicitors have had to apologise after one of their solicitors was caught by members of the public in an online court room badmouthing their opponent’s witness, Amanda Stavely. It reminded me of some of the parlour tricks one heard Crown Court advocates might try on TV, if not in real life. That it is …

SQE -Underpowered after all these years

There's an interesting story on Legal Cheek about the SQE. Existing evidence, informed readers will recall, suggests there may be an EDI problem with the assessment. They have been warned about this periodically, it is (I believe, and stand to be corrected) a known problem with some of the medical equivalents, and their assessment of …

We need to talk about mental health and pupillage applications (Guest Post)

Malvika Jaganmohan published this really excellent post and, with her permission, I am reposting here. It is a long post, but it is both insightful, honest, worrying, but also ultimately constructive and very powerful. I commend it to all barristers, indeed all recruiters, and all those in law schools engaged in advising or supporting students. …

Lawfest, a reminder

A little conversation on twitter is brewing around Paul Gilbert's immaculate creation, LawFest. I have floated the possibility of a virtual version. @jezhop has taken up the cudgels if anyone might be interested. I was asked by some, what was Lawfest. Here was my take.  Here is Brian Inkster's comprehensive take. Wringing such praise from …

Holding up the mirror on rulers for unlawfulness?

In-house lawyers for Mirror Group Newspapers have hit the news via Legalfutures for their handling of hacking allegations. Coming many years after the original hacking allegations (many blogs here), the case presents some interesting examples of how long ethical problems can remain dormant before bursting into dangerous life for the accused lawyers but also how …

Smith, the SDT and unenlightened majorities

A second sexual misconduct case from the SDT has hit the news: SRA v Richard Daniel Smith. Mr. Smith was alleged to have “touched Person A’s bottom on more than one occasion in circumstances in which: 1.1.1 the Respondent knew or ought to have known that Person A had given no indication that such conduct …

The Beckwith Case

SRA v Beckwith turned on two allegations said to be breaches of the principles under the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, namely that a solicitor must: act with integrity (principle 2) and behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services (principle 6). In …

Cybernetic Contracts

A while back I wrote a post about cybernetic ethics and for some time I have been thinking about cybernetic lawyering. By this I mean lawyering embedded in, responsive to, the social systems it works in, in ways that meaningfully use evidence to improve that social system. And by evidence I mean more than chats …

секреты:does big law have a Russian problem?

Friday's* Guardian had a really interesting and detailed story on money laundering. It is well worth a few minutes of anyone's time. Professional commitment to money laundering regulation has always been somewhat equivocal. I have heard senior, well-respected lawyers say money laundering reporting requirements had signaled the death-knell of professionalism. But I want to concentrate …