England

Russell Brand’s barrister launched a verbal attack on Sunday Times journalist in a courtroom corridor following Mr Brand’s conviction on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. Ian Winter KC said to Sunday Times chief news correspondent

The Lady Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor have issued a Kings Bench Division judge with a reprimand for misconduct following delays in handing down judgments.

The High Court has upheld the disbarment of Navjot ‘Jo’ Sidhu KC, rejecting an appeal by the former chair of the Criminal Bar Association against findings of professional misconduct. Mr Sidhu was struck off by the Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service after being found guilty of inapp

An English court has upheld a sentence imposed on a 16-year-old male for a prolonged assault on an older man recovering from a stroke but quashed six concurrent sentences imposed in respect of other offences considered at the same sentencing diet. It was argued on behalf of the appellant, referred t

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ruled that a party with an express right to terminate a contract could not lose that right in circumstances where it continued to perform following the termination in circumstances where it did not know that it had that contractual right, in an appeal by

AI-powered "nudification" apps should be banned because of their impact on children's safety, wellbeing and participation online, the children's rights watchdog in England has said. A new report from the English children's commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, warns that while creating or sharing a se

Journalists and bloggers can now report from most family court hearings in England and Wales following the introduction of new open reporting provisions. The new rules, which came into effect yesterday, allow journalists and legal bloggers to report on what they see and hear while attending any fami

English prisons are virtually full, according to new figures showing fewer than 100 places now left across the male prison estate. According to the BBC, there were a record 84,596 inmates in the male prison estate as of Friday 23 August.

An English pupil barrister who swore throughout an ethics exam has been fined £500. Jack Henry Sadler told the Bar Standards Board (BSB) that he was unaware – despite being told – that he could be heard and was being recorded during the professional ethics assessment, which he took

Judges can use generative AI technology like ChatGPT to assist in producing judgments but should not use them for legal research, landmark new guidance in England and Wales sets out. The new judicial guidance on AI states: "Judges are not generally obliged to describe the research or preparatory wor

Nearly half of barristers in England and Wales have experienced or witnessed bullying, harassment and discrimination in their legal work, according to new research by the Bar Council. In the most recent survey, 44 per cent of respondents said they had experienced or observed this behaviour while wor

A record number of trials in England and Wales have been delayed because of an inability to find judges. Analysis by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) and The Independent found that 51 trials were delayed on this basis between April and June 2023 – more than double the average in the five yea

Forced marriage "remains rife" in England and Wales in spite of legislation introduced more than 15 years ago in a bid to end the practice, new research shows. The research on Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPOs), a civil injunction designed to prevent forced marriages, uncovers the scale of th

The English barristers' regulator has been asked to discipline Home Secretary Suella Braverman for expressing "racist sentiments and discriminatory narratives". Nine legal and faith organisations have complained to the Bar Standards Board (BSB) about Ms Braverman, who is a qualified barrister but ha

English solicitors could be given more advocacy rights under UK government plans to break the barristers' strike, according to reports. The Daily Mail quotes a government source as saying ministers "are looking to give more solicitors higher rights of audience to broaden the work they can do, increa