insitelaw

The newswire is designed to focus on legal news and law blogs.

The insitelaw blog
There is a blog to allow participation. Some of the posts on the newswire will be repeated on the blog - to promote comment and the daily podcast will also be published on the blog daily as well as on the newswire.

Links to content rich blogs from the US and UK will follow - and bloggers who wish to draw my attention to a particular post on their blog are very welcome to email me and I shall include a link in this newswire.

Mike Semple Piggot
Email | 020 8994 8976

Index of Contents

The Charon lawcasts are Now fully collated on Lawcasts.net.

The podcasts are all contained on the podcasts page but are also categorised as follows:

Lawcast 120: Paul Marsh, President of The Law Society, on the future of the profession after recession.

Lawcast 119: Access to Justice denied? Legal Aid... or the lack of it.

Lawcast 118: Nottingham Law School on the development in the LPC for Autumn 2009

Lawcast 117: Kevin Brown, Manchester University on doing a Ph.D and a career in academe.

Lawcast 116: Professor Geoffrey Alderman on standards in UK Universities.

Lawcast 115: Dr Paul Mason on the Innocence Network UK

Lawcast 114: Gerry Riskin, founder of Edge International - Law practice in these recessionary times

Lawcast 113: Professor John Flood on the rise in fees for the Legal Practice Course

Lawcast 112: James Welch, Head of Legal for Liberty

Lawcast 111: US lawyer Dan Harris on China

Lawcast 109: The Jack Straw veto on FOI disclosure of Cabinet Minutes relating to the decision to go to war with Iraq

Lawcast 108: Michael Burdett
Today I am talking to Michael Burdett, a solicitor and consultant with HCL Hanne & Co in London. He is a past-president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and founder committee member of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association. In last week’s Law Society Gazette, Michael Burdett wrote an article entitled UNBALANCING THE SCALES OF JUSTICE - the sub headline for which was "The Legal Services Commission is colluding with ministers to undermine the the rights of suspects and defendants…."

Lawcast 107: Peter Crisp, Dean and CEO of BPP Law School on the LPC and legal education today.

Lawcast 106: Roger Smith, Director of Justice, on civil liberties and human rights.

Lawcast 105: Ron Baker on Value pricing, value billing and the billable hour

Lawcast 104: With Ian Parker-Joseph, Leader of The UK Libertarian Party

Lawcast 103: Carl Gardner on the Lords judgment in Qatada

Lawcast 102: Usefully Employed on developments in Employment Law

Lawcast 101: Charon reports on the Geert Wilders affair...

Lawcast 100: Dan Hull, founder of US law firm Hull McGuire on the credit-crunch, law firms and the future

Lawcast 99: Bonfire of more vanities…Charon reports…

Lawcast 98: Neville Hobson on Communication, PR, Twitter and other social media.

Lawcast 97: Ella Shaw, pupil at 4 Brick Court, London on her experience of Family Law pupillage

Lawcast 96: Alexander Learmonth, Chairman, Young Barristers Committee of The Bar Council

Lawcast 95: Law Girl's quest for pupillage and a career at The Bar

Lawcast 94: US lawyer Victoria Pynchon on ADR, mediation and settlement in the USA

Lawcast 93: Judge John L Kane on the war on drugs
Today I am talking to John L. Kane , a senior District Judge in Denver, Colorado, United States. John has very robust views on the War on drugs and the antiquated Rules of Civil Procedure and the extent to which judges have stopped adjudicating in courts in order to meet the Tsunami of data generated in this information age.

Lawcast 92: The Rt Hon Lord Hunt of Wirral - Call for Evidence

Lawcast 91: City Unslicker on the current financial crisis

Podcast 90: Mark Bennett, a criminal defense lawyer from Texas on the jury and the art of advocacy
Today I am talking to Mark Bennett, a lawyer from Houston, Texas who specializes in Criminal defense work. Mark is also the author of the Defending People blog - the art and science of criminal defense trial lawyering.

Podcast 89: In conversation with US attorney Cathy Gellis
Today I’m talking to Cathy Gellis, a US attorney from California, author of the Statements of Interest blog and who is also exploring the delights of twitter.

Podcast 88: Student complaints to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator
Today I am talking to Solicitor Andrew Johnson of Walker Morris in Leeds about the Office of the Independent Adjudicator and the astonishing statistic that over 10% of student complaints referred to the OIA are brought by law student.

Podcast 87: With US lawyer Kevin O’Keefe on Twitter et al.
Today I am talking to US Attorney Kevin O’Keefe. Kevin, CEO of LexBlog, Inc., was a trial lawyer for 17 years. Practicing law in rural Wisconsin, he successfully marketed his own law firm on the Internet in a such a positive way that USA Today said “If O’Keefe isn’t careful, he may wind up giving lawyers a good name.

Podcast 86: Peter Black on Australian plans to censor the net
Today I am talking to Peter Black, a lecturer in law at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia and author of the Freedom to Differ blog which is in the running for an award as best law blog in the annual weblog awards.

Podcast 85: Michael Scutt on the credit-crunch redundancies and the law.
Today I am talking to Michael Scutt, a City employment lawyer with specialist firm Dale Langley. Michael Scutt is also the author of Jobsworth, the employment law blog.

Podcast 84: Brian Tannebaum, US Attorney on Criminal Defense in Miami, Florida
Today I am talking to Brian Tannebaum a US attorney who practises in Miami, Florida as a criminal defense lawyer. Brian is author of the Criminal Defense blog and has written a short book The Truth about hiring a Criminal Defense lawyer.

Podcast 83: With Gerald Bermingham, Barrister on The Menezes shooting verdict

Podcast 82: With ‘Gideon’ - a US Public Defender….
Today I am talking to the author of the “A Public Defender’ blog who writes under the name of Gideon. For British listeners a quick trip to Wikipedia threw some light on the name Gideon “Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history.

Podcast 81: With US Attorney Scott H Greenfield
Today I am talking to US Attorney and Counsellor at Law Scott H. Greenfield. For almost 25 years, Scott Greenfield has represented clients charged with crimes or the targets of investigations in state and federal courts across the United States.
Scott is also a prolific blogger - Simple Justice

Podcast 80: With Carl Gardner on The arrest of Damien Green MP

Podcast 79: Susan Cartier Liebel on the Solo Practice University in the US

Podcast 78: With the author of Anonymous Assistant

Podcast 77: Usefully Employed on Employment Law

Podcast 76: Wood Report on BVC - City Law School response
Today I am talking to Stuart Sime, Barrister and Director of the BVC at The City Law School (Inns of Court School of Law) about his view of The Wood Report. We discuss the content of the proposed Bar Professional Training Course and the way The City Law School approaches the training of bar students.

Podcast 75: Carl Gardner on the Max Mosley judgment, privacy and exemplary damages

Podcast 74: Scott Vine on legal information technology

Podcast 73: Stephen Mason, Barrister - Electronic signatures

Podcast 72: The Wood Report on the changes to the BVC - College of Law response with Richard de Friend, Director Bloomsbury Centre

Podcast 71: Wood Report - The proposed changes to the BVC
Today I am talking to Jon McLeod, Chairman, Public Affairs – Weber Shandwick who acted for the Bar Standards Board in the recent report of the Working Group in relation to Review of The Bar Vocational Course.
Jon McLeod went into public affairs in 1994, having spent six years in financial and legal journalism.

Podcast 70: Stephen Mason, barrister, on Digital Evidence

Podcast 69: Andrew Goodman, barrister, on mediation advocacy and the SCMA

Podcast 68: Ms R - a Woman of Experience
Tonight I am talking to Ms Robinson, the author of the Woman of Experience blog. I am not entirely sure if this podcast should be in my ‘podcast’ series’ or be one of my “Charon After Dark” podcasts. What I can tell you is that Ms R is a good writer, has a great blog [...]

Podcast 67: R v Davis - Witness Anonymity with Andrew Keogh, Barrister

Podcast 66: Dan Hull, US Attorney, author of WAC?, on client service and other matters

Podcast 65: The right of prisoners to vote with Carl Gardner

Podcast 64: With John Hirst - author of Jailhouse Lawyer’s blog
Today I am talking to John Hirst, author of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s blog. John has spent 35 of his 57 years in prison.
John was sent to prison for life after being convicted of the manslaughter of his landlady, in 1979. “He received a tariff of 15 years, but served a total of 25 before [...]

Podcast 63: Pink Tape on Family Law
Today I am talking to Lucy Reed, a barrister and author of the family law blog Pink Tape.
We discuss a range of famiy law issues - why Lucy blogs - combining practice with a young family - advice to students considering a career at The Bar - Pre-nuptial agreements - and end with Lucy’s plans

Podcast 62: A call to The Duke of Edinburgh on a premium rate line

Podcast 61: With Chris Haywood - future barrister and musician…

Podcast 60: Professor Geoffrey Alderman, Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at The University of Buckingham and a former Chairman of the University of London’s academic council

Professor Alderman wrote a fascinating article in The Times on 18th June A grotesque bidding game is undermining university standards - confronting the issue of degree inflation, the pressure on lecturers to mark examinations leniently and the issue of plagiarism.

Professor Alderman stated in The Times: “Academic standards are in decline in many British universities. Students who would once have been failed their degrees pass, and students who would once have been awarded respectable lower seconds are now awarded upper seconds and even firsts."

I ask Geoffrey Alderman about the evidence for his statement about declining standards. We also discuss plagiarism, cheating and the rise of essay writing services. For anyone involved in legal or other education, Professor Alderman's discussion with me is well worth listening to. His views are robust, direct and to the point - refreshingly so

Podcast 59: Degree inflation with Norman Baird

Podcast 58: The BVC, pupillage and other matters
A discussion with author of The LawMinx blog on her experience of the BVC, hunting for pupillage and blogging.
Listen to the podcast .

Podcast 57: The Irish Referendum "NO" vote and The EU Lisbon Treaty.
A discussion with Carl Gardner, author of the Head of Legal blog, on the practical implications of the Irish "No" vote.

Podcast 56: With Carl Gardner on 42 days
We discuss: 42 days - The deals - What happens when it gets to the Lords and find time to look at what the Irish are doing with their referendum on The Lisbon Treaty.

Podcast 55: Andrew Keogh, author, barrister and blogger
Today I am talking to Andrew Keogh, a barrister in practice, author of Twenty Twelve and author of the White Rabbit Blog.

Podcast 54: Susan Singleton on being a sole practitioner

Podcast 53: Tricia Chatterton on the new College of Law branch in Manchester

Podcast 52: Mark Rawlinson, partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
The Freshfields Interview panel - How it works - The interview process - What Freshfields is looking for - Universities Freshfields recruits from - Training opportunities at Freshfields - Advice for people who may wish to apply to Freshfields

Podcast 51: Nigel Savage, CEO, College of Law on the rising cost of legal education.
BPP Law School has put LPC fees up by 10% to £11,550. Is this the biggest smash and grab raid since The Great Train Robbery?

Podcast 50: Timothy Dutton QC, Chairman of The Bar Council.
We discuss the likely impact of the Legal Services Act 2007 on the future of The Bar - Direct Access - VHCC contracts - Lord Neugerger and the BVC - and Timothy Dutton's vision for his year as Chairman of The Bar

Podcast 49: Peter Groves on the control of illegal downloading and duration of copyright
A follow up podcast with Dr Peter Groves, consultant with Bircham Dyson Bell to Podcast 48 with Ed Vaizey MP.

Podcast 48: Ed Vaizey MP, Conservative member of Parliament for Wantage, and Didcot about proposals to regulate the internet to prevent illegal downloading of media, including music, television and published works.

Podcast 47: Julie Brannan, OXILP on the LPC

Podcast 46: Nearly Legal on Housing Minister, Caroline Flint’s plans to chuck people out of their houses if they don’t get back to work…

Podcast 45: John Bolch, Family Lore, on the Archbishop and Mucca v Macca…

Podcast 44: Victoria Peckett, partner, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
On the Contracts (Third Party Rights) Act 1999 - "Sustainability" and the qualities needed to be a partner in a leading City law firm.

Podcast 43: Nigel Savage on why The College of Law is taking issue with the SRA

Podcast 42: Professor Gary Slapper, author, columnist and academic. Professor Gary Slapper, is Professor of Law, and Director of the Centre for Law at The Open University.

Podcast 41:with Andrew Holroyd OBE, President of The Law Society

Podcast 40: Carl Gardner, Head of Legal Blog, on Peter Hain, Terrorism, The EU Amendment Bill and the problems about the rule of law in Pakistan…

Podcast 39: Nearly Legal on his Training Contract experience….

Podcast 38: LawMinx on her experiences of the BVC course:

Podcast 37: Nick Holmes founder of Infolaw and the Binary Law Blog on developments in legal publishing, the web and why lawyers and others may find value in blogging

Podcast 36: Katherine Gibson, President of the Junior Lawyers Division of The Law Society about the new help line set up to help students and young lawyers who get into difficulty.

Podcast 35: Geeklawyer, IP lawyer, blogger, mead drinker and biker. No doubt, he will be able to add to the list.

Podcast 34: Podcast on Human Rights with Carl Gardner, author of the Head of Legal blog

Podcast 33: Simon Myerson QC on Pupillage and how to get it.

Podcast 32: Peter Rouse on why you need IMAGE…

Podcast 31: Noel Inge, CEO of ILEX, on the route to practice through ILEX…

Podcast 29: Peter Rouse, Solicitor on stress and pressure…