Baines Law

Following a revenge attack between rival groups in October 2004, 17-year-old Sam Hallam was convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and violent disorder, and sentenced to  life imprisonment. His appeal was dismissed.  Years later the Criminal Cases Review Commission took up the case and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal.  Sam's case had always been that he was not present when the events took place.  Hear how the identification evidence was shown to be unreliable, how mobile phones had not been interrogated and how the conviction was undermined.

An experienced commercial litigation solicitor, representing himself as an appellant against a decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, was unsuccessful in the Administrative Court in his attempt to overturn findings which resulted in his being struck off the Roll of Solicitors in respect of unauthorised transfers of money.

In this appeal by way of Case Stated against the decision of a District Judge, the Court of Appeal was asked whether the offence of encouraging or assisting the commission of an either way offence contrary to section 45 Serious Crime Act 2007 applied in relation to the possession of a mobile phone in prison when the phone was already in possession of the principal offender before any conduct was carried out by the defendant.  It also considered whether the District Judge was wrong to conclude that the conduct of the defendant was capable of encouraging or assisting the offence of possession of a mobile phone in prison on the facts of the case.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, delivers the judgment of the Court of Appeal overturning a High Court Judge's decision to allow a claim for judicial review against the Minister for the Cabinet Office.  The decision concerned the award of a contract to Public First Limited in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. The judge had held that the decision to award the contract gave rise to apparent bias contrary to common law principles, based on a combination of the personal association between Dominic cummings and the directors and owners of Public First.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman explains his combined complaints service against government and public organisations compared with those against the National Health Service.  He speaks of the inevitable backlog created by the Covid pandemic and how his organisation expects to tackle it, as well as explaining the Venice Principles designed to promote and protect the institution of the Ombudsman.  Also discussed is the provision of a safe space in the Health and Care Bill which fundamentally affects the Ombudsman's primary powers of investigation, and the condemnation of that proposal by the Venice Commission.

Solicitors Regulation Authority v Soophia Khan & ors [2022] EWHC 45 (Ch) is a case in which a solicitor was sentenced to a term of six months' imprisonment for failing to comply with two court orders to deliver up court documents to her regulator following intervention into her law practice.

The Court of Appeal Civil Division considers the applicable principles for judicial review of decisions made by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.  In this case the Applicant had been convicted of murder and unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division in 1973.  After five unsuccessful applications to the Home Secretary for a reference to the Court of Appeal he later applied to the CCRC who, ultimately referred his case to the Court of Appeal which again refused his appeal.  He made 8 applications to the Commission between the dismissal of his appeal in 2002 and the application for judicial review in 2019 which resulted in the present appeal.

Maurice MacSweeney from Harbour Litigation Funding explains litigation funding, damages based agreements and the help that is available for litigants.  He talks about the availability of funding for solicitors' firms, who may be handling a number of cases, as well as for the litigants involved in the proceedings, the types of cases that are suitable for such funding and those that are not.

Ian Forrester QC LLD, born in Glasgow and the United Kingdom's last judge at the General Court of the European Union before Brexit, has practised law in New York, London and Brussels.  

He arrived in Brussels in 1973 as one of the first generation of UK lawyers as the UK joined the European Union.

As an advocate he participated in many leading cases concerning EU law such as Bosman, Bullock (Distillers), GlaxoSmithKline, Servier, Pfizer, Magill, IMS Health and Microsoft.

In this episode with Baines Law he compares and contrasts the different approaches of the EU and UK Courts, the reasons in the EU for the preference for a largely written as compared with oral procedure in the UK, the time permitted for oral advocacy in the EU and the approach to questioning of the advocates.

He gives a deeper insight into the way decisions are reached and talks about the merits, or otherwise, of delivering a unanimous judgment in all cases rather than permitting minority opinions.

And he has a word to say, too, about the difficulties which have emerged and those who have been forgotten by Britain's hasty exit from the Union.

The tale of Christopher Craig (aged 16) who shot a policeman in 1952 in the course of burgling a warehouse, and Derek Bentley (aged 19) who suffered the death penalty for the act his friend committed.

In this case the Lord Chief Justice misdirected the jury about the law and appeared to act as prosecutor rather than impartial judge.  A public outcry and a petition from members of parliament was not enough to make the Home Secretary commute the sentence.  But this case paved the way for the abolition of the death penalty in 1965.  It was not until, rather too late, in 1998 Bentley's conviction was quashed.

His Honour Nigel Lithman QC retired as a Circuit Judge just a few months ago and has just released his book "Nothing Like the Truth: The Trials and Tribulations."

In his engaging style, Nigel Lithman tells Baines Law about the crisis facing the Criminal Bar and the Criminal Justice System: the lack of investment in the  decaying court systems and the reasons why trials do not go ahead.  He talks of the 60,000 backlog in criminal cases yet to be tried and suggests remedies of his own.

He explains that barristers are leaving the profession because they are grossly underpaid and, all too often, they are subject to bullying from some members of the judiciary who suffer from "judgitis".  

What were the swinging sixties like?  Was it all drugs and rock'n'roll, and did the leading pop groups at the time engender a culture of loose living?  Discover how the establishment sought to defend the perceived morals of the time and how a police raid on Keith Richard's West Sussex mansion led to the discovery of a naked woman in a fur rug and the subsequent drug trial of Mick Jagger and Keith Richard on drugs charges.  
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How was it that the death of a great dane in a remote part of the West Country sparked a political scandal and led to the Old Bailey trial of Jeremy Thorpe, then leader of the Liberal Party.  Was a gunman hired to frighten or kill Jeremy Scott who had been a thorn in the side of Thorpe?  Who was involved in this political intrigue?  And was there, as the BBC has since implied, a political cover up to keep the true facts from the public?
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Listen in this episode to the tale of the Italian Banker linked with the Vatican and notorious P2 Masonic Lodge found hanging at London's Blackfriars Bridge. Was it suicide or was it murder?  The first inquest recorded a verdict of suicide, but when that was set aside, a second inquest returned an Open Verdict.  Was Roberto Calvi's death linked with the Vatican?  Or was it linked with the Sicilian Mafia?  
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In this introduction to our podcasts on Baines Law you will get a flavour of the first few podcasts and the guests we have in store.