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Sidelining the legal system

04 March 2022 / David Locke
Issue: 7969 / Categories: Opinion , International , Constitutional law
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Never take our liberties for granted, says David Locke

Imagine a hypothetical scenario: In London this week, a demonstration is taking place against a government ‘vaccine passport’ policy arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is causing local inconvenience, but it is peaceful and some of the demonstrators have even brought their children and pets along. A woman watching the news at home is sympathetic to the aims of the protestors, which are neither illegal nor immoral, and contributes a small sum of money to their campaign using a popular online crowdfunding website. For that matter, many other people make contributions and the total donations are reaching £7.5m. A young couple who own a small independent coffee shop in the locality of the demonstration are also sympathetic. They give the protesters free coffee and let some of them huddle inside the premises from time-to-time, because it is bitterly cold outside given the time of year.

Imagine then the response of the government is as follows: legislation which has been on the books

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NEWS
One in five in-house lawyers suffer ‘high’ or ‘severe’ work-related stress, according to a report by global legal body, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
The Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO’s) plea for a budget increase has been rejected by the Law Society and accepted only ‘with reluctance’ by conveyancers
Overcrowded prisons, mental health hospitals and immigration centres are failing to meet international and domestic human rights standards, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has warned
Two speedier and more streamlined qualification routes have been launched for probate and conveyancing professionals
Workplace stress was a contributing factor in almost one in eight cases before the employment tribunal last year, indicating its endemic grip on the UK workplace
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