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Principle players

25 May 2012 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7515 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights
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Roger Smith rounds up recent human rights developments

The UN inches towards a statement of the principles and guidelines on access to justice in criminal matters. Its Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice adopted draft provisions in Vienna at the end of April. The Commission’s recommendation should be enough to see the guidelines formally agreed by the UN itself.

Criminal legal aid

The principles, which might become helpful to defenders of criminal legal aid from domestic cuts, require prompt access to legal aid at all stages of the criminal justice process. Paragraph 21 states that this is to be done: “Regardless of means, if the interests of justice so require, for example, given the urgency or complexity of the case or the severity of the potential penalty.”

Such a provision inhibits attempts by government to cut the police station duty solicitor scheme or to impose charges, as originally suggested in the Bill that became the Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Act (LASPO).

Interestingly, the process was led by two countries both

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NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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