Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label business

From Legal Aid To Lethal Aid... The Crisis In Access To Justice

Following the July Court of Appeal's decision to allow Shamima Begum to appear in court to argue her case in person, Boris has railed against the judiciary, calling the decision to grant Begum legal aid "odd and perverse", and committing the government to review not just the legal aid policy, but the entire system of judicial review. This article will set out the case for protecting and expanding legal aid provision in Great Britain, and examine the effects of an absence of legal aid on the justice system as a whole.  The case of Shamima Begum It is likely that you will already be familiar with Ms Begum - the infamous ISIS fighter who left the UK aged 15 to fight alongside the terrorist organisation in Syria. Following her discovery in 2019 by a journalist, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship. Begum had married a Dutch jihadist a week after arriving in Syria, with whom she had three children, none of whom survived infancy. According to reports in the T

The Flaw In The Law... How A Lack Of Diversity Damages The Legal Profession

Lady Hale, the first female President of the UK Supreme Court, has long been an advocate for increased diversity at the bench. A self-avowed feminist, it is unlikely that she would have taken a different viewpoint, but when one of the finest legal minds in the United Kingdom says something, it is important to listen.  There are different kinds of diversity, Lady Hale reminds us - from race and ethnicity, to gender, socio-economic class and legal specialism. A family lawyer, Hale took the lead on some of the most significant family law cases in modern legal history, from Stack v Dowden , which established that factors other than financial contributions can be taken into account when dividing a property, to R (Gentle and Or) v The Prime Minister & Ors , where although the applicant was ultimately unsuccessful in her attempt to open an independent inquiry into the Iraq War, the position of Lady Hale as a judicial force was cemented, crediting her family specialism with her unique empa