The Trial – real lawyers and jury on BBC
People in the UK can see this 5-part serial on iPlayer – spoilers ahead. Last week the BBC put on a program showing a fictitious murder trial but with real barristers, judge, court clerk and expert...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is there an alternative to the gavel image?
As I have frequently posted – e.g. here -, the image of a gavel is often used in British and German newspapers to illustrate a court judgment. But UK and German judges don’t use gavels. Judges in the...
View ArticleDonoghue v. Stevenson (almost) rides again
Legal Cheek reports that a case called Donoghue v. Stevens was heard in Manchester today: EXCLUSIVE: There was stifled laughter all round at Manchester County Court this morning when the case of...
View ArticleGerman courts holding commercial cases in English
The subject of German judges holding cases in English has raised its ugly head again and is not likely to go away. I’ve mentioned it several times, from 2010 on. Courts in Paris and Amsterdam as well...
View ArticleDoes Facebook speak German?
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) had to decide whether German documents served on Facebook in Ireland had to be in English, the local language. Facebook refused to accept...
View ArticleiDivorce
It’s only a few months before divorce law in England and Wales becomes more sensible. But currently, if you want a fairly quick divorce, the easiest way is to prove that your spouse’s behaviour is...
View ArticleForensic linguistics in German criminal procedure
The latest edition of Language and Law/Linguagem e Direito is a special issue arising from a one day symposium looking at the way expert evidence is handled in different jurisdictions. It contains an...
View ArticleHow to address a judge
Via Joshua Rozenberg’s newsletter – the free version – at A Lawyer Writes – nowadays most judges can be addressed as “Judge” rather than “Sir” or “Madam”. I suppose this avoids gender problems and...
View ArticleChatGPT in the news for lawyers in Germany too
Great excitement has been caused by the case reported in the New York Times (and elsewhere): Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT – a ten-page pleading submitted by a law firm for its...
View ArticleJudicial Committee of the Privy Council
Here is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in action in 2023. (Brick Court Chambers just call it The Privy Council). privy council quashes a conviction for armed robbery in the bahamas based...
View Article