LORD JUSTICE JACKSON.

On Wednesday Sir Rupert is to deliver his first speech in 15 months.
In Bologna.
To the Australian Bar Association.
Really.

BIG CASES THIS WEEK

Tomorrow the Court of Appeal hears , for a second time , the professional negligence case of PADDEN .What duty is owed by a solicitor giving initial , unpaid advice to a client ? Thank you to Judith Thompson for the tip off.
On wednesday we have the Supreme Court handing down a judgment of colossal importance about battle immunity. What duty does the military owe to personnel in conflict ? 

MOJ SPENDING

I return from lovely Venice in a serene frame of mind. I then open 'The Times ' to see more MOJ lunacy .It paid £4.5 million to taxi drivers in a year to move prisoners around .
The prison service spent £5m in moving the police killer between Preston prison and Manchester for his recent trial. It would have made more sense to hold the trial at Preston prison but it was not secure enough ( except to hold the killer there every night of course).
The SFO is employing the excellent Slaughter and May firm to defend the action for damages brought against it by the innocent Tchenguiz brothers. The SFO is also using 35 (thirty five ) barristers to help with disclosure and appears to be in breach of orders or so the Judge intimated. Does Mr Grayling know about this ? Did Slaughters beat Serco and Stobarts in the tender ?

PRIVATISING JUSTICE

The Chief Inspector of Prisons report , just published , about the privately run Ashfield Young Offenders Institution can only add to the case for the public administration of the Criminal Justice system.
Even though only one third full it was out of control with young people self - harming and , worse still , some being hurt by use of force .
An outrageous state of affairs .

NEW INJURY CLAMPDOWN ?

'The Times ' reported yesterday ( page 4 ) that the MOD paid out compensation of £2,200 to a parrot owner . The poor bird died due to a low flying Hercules plane . Mr Grayling is concerned about cage chasing claimant solicitors . Expect a consultation paper on reform soon , probably .

HH JUDGE SIMON BROWN QC

Since no one else has seen fit to put in context the recent critical Court of Appeal decision in CRINION V IG MARKETS LTD i thought i would.
The trial Judge was criticised aggressively by Underhill LJ for having structured his judgment around the written submissions of a party to the dispute. This was perhaps not clever but it was blindingly obvious to all where the text had come from. It certainly was not laziness ( see below ). The Trial Judge  used those submissions for they were accurate.
1. The judgment was upheld in every single respect.
2.The case was complex.  Fourteen issues were quite properly identified.Trial involved 4 days of evidence and then another day for oral submissions.
3.Those submissions were made on december 13th 2012. Despite complexity and Christmas the judgment was circulated in early January and formally handed down on January 26th.
4. Judgments were entered for £1.3 m and £800,000 in round figures , significant amounts , upheld to the last  penny.
5.The main appellate  judgment was delivered by Underhill LJ a whole 8 days after he had been elevated.He managed to incorporate a reference to another case decided by himself.
6. There is no one but no one out there who has done more to speak , unpaid and at his own expense, about reform and technology in the last year and i include Ramsey J and Sir Rupert in that field. The latter has had the very best of reasons for withdrawing and no criticism is intended. 
7. So there.