News & Views

Garden Court Chambers | Friday 8 February 2008

Poker players dealt a poor hand by the Court of Appeal

Thousands of poker enthusiasts will have been disappointed by today's appeal court decision in R v Kelly.

Garden Court Chambers | Thursday 7 February 2008

Jan Luba QC Wins Landmark Homeless Case

An important Court of Appeal decision determines Birmingham Council's housing allocation policy to be unlawful. Jan Luba QC appeared as leading counsel for the families, instructed by Mike McIlvaney, Community Law Partnership, Birmingham.

Garden Court Chambers | Wednesday 6 February 2008

Encountering Human Rights:Gender/Sexuality, Activism and the Promise of Law’.

This two-day conference brought together activists, academics and practitioners to assess how human rights law and practice in the UK interacts with issues concerning gender and sexuality. The conference was organised by the Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality, Liberty and the Legal Action Group. It was funded by the Modern Law Review and keynote […]

Garden Court Chambers | Tuesday 5 February 2008

Petra Blanksby Inquest: Coroner urges changes in the prison service

The inquest lasted three weeks before the Wakefield Coroner Mr David Hinchliff, returning a verdict that noted prison was 'not a suitable place' for Petra and that the sexual and emotional abuse she suffered while in the care of social services had contr

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 4 February 2008

Issue 84 – 4 February 2008

Last week On 30 January 2008 more information was published about the condition of rented and owner-occupied housing in England. The figures from the 2006 condition survey indicate that there are 1.3 million social sector non-decent homes and 1.4 million private sector vulnerable households living in non-decent homes. Some 4.8 million homes (22%) have category […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 4 February 2008

Issue 74 – 4th February 2008

News The Border and Immigration Agency has published new guidance, entitled "Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children", for the handling of claims made by unaccompanied minors. More info The BIA has changed its fee scheme as of 31st January 2008. Fees for most applications have remained the same or have had […]

Garden Court Chambers | Thursday 31 January 2008

Ministry of Justice to Review Bail Guidance to Judges following police officer’s suicide

The tragic consequences of the death of Gary Weddell, due to stand trial in May for killing his mother-in-law, will lead to a review of guidance given to judges on bail applications, Ministry of Justice sources have revealed.

Garden Court Chambers | Wednesday 30 January 2008

Resounding victory in the case of Payir: Earning right to work after entry as a student

When does a foreign student or au pair get an EU right to work? Nicola Rogers of Garden Court Chambers represented Mr Ozturk and Mr Akyuz before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, instructed by Rachel Meates of Irving & Co solicitors.

The

Garden Court Chambers | Tuesday 29 January 2008

Issue 83 – 28 January 2008

Last week On 22 January 2008, Karen Buck MP tabled an Early Day Motion on the issue of retaliatory eviction in the private rented sector. The Motion is now available for other MPs to sign. For the text of the motion click here On 23 January 2008, the Government announced the appointment of a team […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 28 January 2008

Issue 73 – 28th January 2008

News Unified contract: Society to issue second judicial review The Law Society is about to issue further judicial review proceedings to oblige the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to comply with the declaration of the Court of Appeal. Read more The Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) have announced a consultation on a new Code of Practice […]

Garden Court Chambers | Wednesday 23 January 2008

Anthony Jennings QC

Members of chambers and staff at Garden Court were greatly saddened to learn of the death of Tony Jennings, who was a tenant here until 2000.

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 21 January 2008

Issue 82 – 21 January 2008

Last week On 14 January 2008 the Government announced the injection of a further £11.5million into the funds for Disabled Facilities Grants for the current financial year (2007/08). Anyone thinking of making a housing adaptation to deal with a disability might be advised to make a swift application. For the details of the Government statement […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 21 January 2008

Issue 46 – 21st January 2008

COURT OF APPEAL Disability discrimination Richmond Adult Community College v McDougall [2008] EWCA Civ 4When deciding whether someone is disabled as the effect of their impairment "is likely to recur" in paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 1 to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 the Tribunal must only look at the evidence available at the time of […]

Garden Court Chambers | Friday 18 January 2008

Issue 72 – 21st January 2008

News In a speech to Border and Immigration Agency staff, the Immigration Minister Liam Byrne set out a timetable for rolling out this year’s priorities for the agency including the provisions of the 2007 UK Borders Act. The timetable is : within 15 days to check fingerprints before a visa is issued anywhere in the […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 14 January 2008

Issue 71 – 14th January 2008

News An audit report of race relations across the immigration detention estate conducted by Focus Consultancy Ltd showed highlighted areas for improvement with regards to race relations. Concerns were raised about procedures in ten per cent of detention centres. More info The Legal Services Commission announced an intention to write to the Law Society’s lawyers […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 7 January 2008

Issue 81 – 7 January 2008

Recent Cases Complaint against Ealing LBC Ombudsman Investigation 06B5370, 6 December 2007. The local government ombudsman upheld a complaint that the council had wrongly failed to implement an appeal tribunal decision that the complainant was entitled to housing benefit. The claim was only processed after the ombudsman had become involved and some 10 months after […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 7 January 2008

Issue 45 – 7th January 2008

HOUSE OF LORDS Watt v Ashan [2007] UKHL 51The Labour Party is not a qualifying body for the purposes of section 12 Race Relations Act 1976 however it is an association under s25 and proceedings against it can be taken in the County Court. Nevertheless an earlier decision by the EAT that s12 did apply […]

Garden Court Chambers | Monday 7 January 2008

Issue 70 – 7th January 2008

News The new panel of independent experts under chair Professor David Metcalf met in December for the first time to discuss where the United Kingdom labour market needs migration and where it does not. The two committees are designed to help the Government strike a ‘new balance’ in setting the number of points a migrant […]

Garden Court Chambers | Friday 4 January 2008

Kieran Vaughan in landmark Omagh bombing verdict

- evidence valueless and police lied, says murder case judge

Garden Court Chambers | Thursday 13 December 2007

Joanne Harris appointed new Circuit Judge

Garden Court Chambers is delighted to announce the appointment of Joanne Harris as a circuit judge, sitting on the South Eastern Circuit based in Watford with effect from 23rd November.