Joshua Rozenberg's blog

Who'd be a TLA?

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:29:34 +0000

When is it in the public interest to disclose the details of a TLA's sexual relationships? My latest column for the bumper print edition of Standpoint. http://bit.ly/iTetSa

Told You So

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:57:04 +0000

Belatedly, the Prime Minister has caught up with the announcement I made on March 24 by confirming that Jonathan Sumption QC and Sir Nicholas Wilson will be appointed to the Supreme Court.

Sumption plays hard to get

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:09:24 +0000

The revelation that Jonathan Sumption QC will not be taking up his expected appointment to the Supreme Court until he has a window in his diary has infuriated his future colleagues.

Supreme Court: runners, riders and delays

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:26:11 +0000

I understand that five candidates were interviewed for the two vacancies in the UK Supreme Court. They are (in alphabetical order):

Gaddafi has little to fear from ICC

Joshua Rozenberg — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:35:03 +0000

The UN Security Council resolution referring the situation in Libya since 15 February to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is, of course, to be welcomed. But I don't suppose Muammar Gaddafi will lose much sleep over resolution 1970, adopted unanimously last night.

Dictators' Justice

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:53:07 +0000

What are the chances that dictators such as Mubarak and Gaddafi will stand trial? See my piece in the new print edition of Standpoint.

Twitter

Joshua Rozenberg — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:05:34 +0000

I have recently joined Twitter. This allows me me to alert readers to new messages posted here and elsewhere.

You can click the button below to read my tweets or "follow" me on Twitter. If that sounds a bit too daring, click here instead.

Judge shows poor judgment once again

Joshua Rozenberg — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:03:40 +0000

Mr Justice Peter Smith has been taken off a case after expressing strong views about a defendant law firm - and not for the first time.

Judge goes on too long

Joshua Rozenberg — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:56:28 +0000

A High Court judge has been criticised by the Court of Appeal for writing a judgment that was "far too long, too discursive and too unwieldy".

A victory for free speech

Joshua Rozenberg — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:42:08 +0000

The Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) has abandoned its attempts to stop complainants from releasing its findings to reporters, according to the body that supervises its work.

Prosecutor's abuse of process leads to unfair trial

Joshua Rozenberg — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:02:29 +0000

A senior prosecutor was responsible for a "deliberate conscious decision to flout the rules of disclosure" that led to the collapse of a major trial, a judge has ruled.

Kingsley Hyland, head of the Complex Casework Unit at the Northumbria branch of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), was to blame for "a gross failure which has undoubtedly prejudiced the defendants and has resulted in an unfair trial," Mr Justice Cooke said in a judgment just released.

All political careers end in failure

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:59:30 +0000

My column in today's Law Society Gazette explains how the careers of two former Labour MPs came to an end at different courts within the course of an hour last Friday.

Universal Nonsense

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:56:45 +0000

Campaign groups lost no time in condemning government plans intended to protect foreign visitors from being arrested on charges that will never come to court. Their concerns are fundamentally misguided.

New 'Sumption

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:40:40 +0000

I hear that Jonathan Sumption QC is, once again, in line for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court. Rumours swirling around the Bar say that solicitors enquiring about instructing him next year have been told that he may not be available.

Politicians can't lie? Whatever next!

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 08:15:48 +0000

My column in the new print edition of Standpoint examines the case of Phil Woolas, whose election to parliament was declared void by a specially-convened court. After the piece was written, Woolas applied for judicial review of the election court's decision. Judgment has been reserved.

Today's column in the Law Society Gazette is about threats to trial by jury.

Quangos (Bonfire) Bill

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:27:50 +0000

Today's column in the Law Society Gazette is my attack on the Quangos (Bonfire) Bill. I also speculated accurately, before yesterday's announcement, that Judge Peter Thornton QC would be asked to run a high-profile inquest.

The last programme in the current series of Law in Action is repeated tonight. You can catch up with all of them through my website here.

Yes, I'm still here

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:32:31 +0000

My piece in the latest print edition of Standpoint explores the structural failures of the International Criminal Court in the light of its most notorious trial.

My article in today's Law Society Gazette reviews a new book on feminist judgments and mentions one of the reasons why people of the opposite sex are now campaigning for the right to register a civil partnership in preference to marriage -- something that the law does not, at present, permit.

Most of them are good here

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:17:44 +0000

My piece today in the Law Society Gazette concludes that we still have a judiciary in Britain that we can be proud of, despite the reprimand for His Honour George Bathurst Norman.

Prosecutor survives, but only just

Joshua Rozenberg — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:04:39 +0000

An appeals chamber at the International Criminal Court has just overturned the decision of the trial chamber to release Thomas Lubanga, the alleged Congolese warlord who was the first defendant to stand trial.

The judgment is available here.

CPS responds to "Hell on Earth" judge

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 22:26:47 +0000

The Crown Prosecution Service has denied accepting the conclusions of the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, Israel's military action in Gaza nearly two years ago.

Bathurst Norman reprimanded

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:59:49 +0000

George Bathurst Norman, the part-time judge who expressed his personal view of Israel's actions in Gaza to a jury when summing up in a trial for criminal damage, has been reprimanded for this error by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and the Lord Chancellor, Ken Clarke.

Lord Bingham and the court he never joined

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:27:19 +0000

My piece in the print edition of Standpoint this month is a tribute to Lord Bingham. In today’s Law Society Gazette, I speculate on what may happen to the court he never joined.

Supreme Scam

Joshua Rozenberg — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:06:27 +0000

The UK Supreme Court has become the victim of on-line fraudsters. Scammers have been sending out emails claiming to be from the court and requesting payments - a variant on the notorious Nigerian 419 scam.

Lord Goldsmith Back at the Bar

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 05:28:34 +0000

I am pleased to report that Lord Goldsmith QC is a barrister again.

Law Students Need Help to Rescue Charity Ball

Joshua Rozenberg — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:40:16 +0000

A group of law students need support to help them make a success of a charity ball in aid of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity.

Lord Bingham dies

Joshua Rozenberg — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:15:17 +0000

I am sad to report that Lord Bingham died this afternoon. The former senior law lord was the outstanding judge of his generation with a superb mind and a fierce independence.

Top Lawyer to Retire

Joshua Rozenberg — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:21:54 +0000

Stuart Popham, senior partner of the leading international law firm Clifford Chance, is to stand down at the end of his second four-year term in December and will retire from the firm next April.

ICC Prosecutor Still Faces Censure

Joshua Rozenberg — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:14:17 +0000

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is still in trouble over an ill-judged article he wrote for the Guardian about Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan.

A New Voice on the Law

Joshua Rozenberg — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:28:54 +0000

I have been invited to chair Halsbury's Law Exchange, an independent and politically neutral think-tank that will be launched shortly. You can read more about its aims here.

Political judgments

Joshua Rozenberg — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:04:14 +0000

Readers will have gathered that I am on holiday. But my piece in the latest print edition of Standpoint explores the delicate relationship between judges and politics.