British rights being dismantled
The Independent (Premium), the Independent, Yahoo! Sport, MSN News and the Gazette cover the report we submitted on human rights to the United Nations' Universal Period Review, stating our fears over proposals to replace the Human Rights Act and criminalise refugees as they "threaten the rule of law".
Law Society of England and Wales president I. Stephanie Boyce said: "The government is taking a sledgehammer to a cornerstone of British justice with its proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act, making life easier for government at great cost to the nation, eroding people's ability to enforce their rights and risking the UK's reputation as a committed member of the international community of rights respecting nations."
Quarterly criminal court stats
Richard Miller, our head of justice, spoke with Sky News about official criminal court statistics for October to December last year. The average time from reporting a crime to conviction is now 708 days.
He said: "We've seen a significant increase in the number of victims losing faith in the process and deciding not to see it all the way through.
"And of course, not all those charged with offences are in fact guilty, so you have innocent suspects who are now having to wait for years to clear their names with their life in limbo."
Our position is also cited by Times Radio, Planet Radio, Radio Essex, Coast FM, Black Country Radio and 11 others.
Crown court backlog
Express & Star covers the mounting Crown Court backlog and spoke with Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce about the issues.
She warned that without "necessary investment", the backlogs will continue.
"The long wait for victims and defendants to get justice continues with a quarter of crown cases (25 per cent) outstanding for a year or more. The average time it takes to go from offence to completion of a crown court case is 697 days. These delays are unacceptable."
Delays in family law courts
The Gazette, Solicitors Journal, New Law Journal and Legal Brief cover our response to the UK government's latest statistics on the family courts, which had 22,683 divorce petitions between October and December 2021 – down 26% compared with the same period in 2020.
I. Stephanie Boyce said: "The family law system is seeing its biggest change in 50 years on 6 April, when so-called 'no fault' divorce comes into effect.
"We will be monitoring closely to see if there is a spike in the number of cases in future statistical reports and will feed this back to our members."
'No fault' divorce
Karen Dovaston, interim chair of our family law committee, spoke with BBC Radio 5 Live (from 52:58) about 'no fault' divorce, which comes into effect on 6 April, in a debate with a critic of the law and argued why it is a positive change for divorcing couples.
The Telegraph (£) examines the divorce law change and cites our webinar on no fault divorce.
Also worth a read:
- Russia accused of genocide & war crimes after civilians killed in Bucha – Times (£)
- More fines over party the night before Prince Philip's funeral – Guardian
- easyJet cancels over 200 flights due to Covid sickness – City AM
- Covid: UK offices empty as infection rates reach record high – FT (£)
- FT view on British judges' exit from HKCFA – FT (£)
- Hong Kong: Carrie Lam will not seek second term – Sky News
- Welsh government seeks legal advice on banning gay conversion therapy – ITV News