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| The
Mythical Compensation Culture?
By Bill Braithwaite
QC, Head of Exchange Chambers, Liverpool
The phrase “compensation culture”
has come to mean dishonesty at worst, or undignified and inappropriate
scrounging at best. It is obviously on the political and legal agenda.
Unfortunately, it is not only the media and politicians who are
banging this particular drum; the courts seem to be very keen on
criticising any claimant, or his lawyers, whose claim fails. 
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| Amnesty
International’s concerns about Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism,
Crime and Security Act 2001
By Livio Zilli,
UK Researcher, Amnesty International
Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security
Act 2001 (ATCSA) allows for detention of non-deportable foreign
nationals certified by the UK Secretary of State as national security
risks and “suspected international terrorists” without
charge or trial, for an unspecified and potentially unlimited period
of time, principally on the basis of secret evidence which the detainees
have never heard nor seen, and which they have, therefore, been
unable to effectively challenge. Prior to the enactment of this
legislation, the UK authorities derogated from Article 5(1) of the
(European) Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ECHR) and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR).
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| Judicial
Diversity: End This Short Sighted Judgement
By Edward Fennell
The Lord Chancellor wants greater diversity amongst the judiciary.
So has the time come to open the gates to Legal Executives?
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Judicial Appointments- Where Now?
By Professor Sir Colin Campbell,
Her Majesty’s First Commissioner for Judicial Appointments
and the Vice-Chancellor of Nottingham University
These are exciting times for those interested in the Judicial
and Queen’s Counsel appointments processes. We have recently
seen proposals for a revised Silk system and the Constitutional
Reform Bill – currently wending its way through Parliament
- presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform public
confidence in the judiciary and open up the system.
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WHERE
NOW CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM?
By Austen Morgan who practises from
3 Temple GardensYou might think it will bring specialist
knowledge, perhaps specialist skills, and in some cases gravitas
or standing. These are all key parts of the good expert’s
role, but you should also include clarity of explanation, greater
experience in a particular field, and a fresh mind and outlook.
While the first group of attributes should be provided by any reputable
professional offering their services, the second set is not as widespread.
You need someone with particular specialist skills.
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Confiscation orders, is it moral and legal to defend them and are
they worthwhile
By Edward Ross-McNairn, Forensic Accounting
Partner, Bishop Fleming
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, consolidating earlier legislation,
and the establishment of the Assets Recovery Agency "ARA"
have created a more structured environment for the raising of confiscation
orders, the defence of which is an area I and my firm are actively
involved in Defending (with some success) these orders has caused
me to be asked the question as set out above, of which the first
part is....
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| Investigating
fraud needn’t be a game of chance
By Paul Carratu FIPI CFE President, UK Chapter,
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Managing
Director, Carratu International PlcWhen it comes to fraud
where do you turn? Fraud is potentially a catastrophic risk for
businesses and we need to change the way we manage that risk and
how we react to instance of fraud. The complex and international
nature of modern frauds requires a whole new skill set from the
investigator.
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| State
support for equalities and human rights cases in the tribunal system
is an essential prerequisite to the creation of a “human rights
culture” in the UK?
By Steve Hynes, Director of the Law Centre’s Federation (LCF)Despite
opposition from the Commission for Racial Equality, the Queens speech
in November 2004 confirmed that the Government is to press ahead
with plans for the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).
The new body, parliamentary time permitting, will come into existence
by the end of 2006. Also, a draft bill on civil claims and the tribunal
system was announced in the Queen’s speech.
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| The
Power of Metadata
By Simon Dawson,
Head of Corporate Investigations, The Risk Advisory Group Limited
This article examines the value in litigation of the hidden
information (known as metadata) encoded into most electronic documents,
illustrates this by a study based on a real case and finally discusses
the circumstances in which an opposing party in litigation might
be compelled to provide it.
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| How
to restore public confidence in expert witnesses
By Eric Glover, Director of Intrabank Expert Witness, former Secretary
General of The Chartered Institute of Bankers and member of the
Education Committee of the Expert Witness Institute
The risk
of losing one’s reputation is greater now than ever, as the
attention of the media has become instant and merciless. The resulting
lack of respect for any sort of authority should lead to greater
scrutiny of expert opinions, and no doubt does in many cases. At
the same time, however, there are pressures to keep down costs and
to speed up procedures, so that prolonged examination of evidence
is not always welcome.
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| Forensic
Accounting Experts in Criminal Cases
By Tim Vogel, committee member
of the ICAEW Litigation support specialist interest group
You might think it will bring specialist knowledge, perhaps
specialist skills, and in some cases gravitas or standing. These
are all key parts of the good expert’s role, but you should
also include clarity of explanation, greater experience in a particular
field, and a fresh mind and outlook. While the first group of attributes
should be provided by any reputable professional offering their
services, the second set is not as widespread. You need someone
with particular specialist skills.
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