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News in brief

01 January 2009
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Legal News , Landlord&tenant , Profession , Intellectual property , Employment
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Musicians take note; Working time; Bar nursery

Musicians take note
Copyright protection for performers and producers could be extended from 50 to 70 years in the UK, under recommendations announced by culture secretary Andy Burnham last month. The proposals are a compromise on EU proposals—EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy favours
extending the term to 95 years.

Working time
The European Parliament has voted to end member states’ ability to opt out of the EU’s Working Time Directive, which prevents employers asking people to work for more than 48 hours per week. The UK currently retains the right to allow employees to opt out. However, the vote has no binding force unless adopted as a decision of the Council of Ministers.

Bar nursery
A chief objective of the new Bar Council chairman Desmond Browne QC is to ensure that more women practitioners are retained in the legal profession. “There is too much evidence of heads banging against glass ceilings,” he says. Browne adds that a Bar nursery would be one “concrete step” in the right direction.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
Is a suspect’s state of mind a ‘fact’ capable of triggering adverse inferences? Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Smith of Corker Binning examines how R v Leslie reshapes the debate
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
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