Legal profession
What’s the news?
Every judge can now have his/her “followers” and indeed, may use Twitter to sample opinion with a view to staying onside any any particularly thorny legal question.
A New Year Resolution
The justification for this notion (that the State should be favoured) is the supposed need for certainty in public administration. This is a peculiar idea in this context; Prohibition, Mandamus, Quo Warranto or Certiorari do not present opportunity for an appeal. They challenge the legal base of the administrative action, not the correctness of the decision. A judge is not asked in these applications to substitute his/her view for that of the Executive. The judge is asked to check a legal error.
Trespassers will be prosecuted, including Tour Groups!
However, the history of Ireland is replete with times and periods when very real domestic threats of terrorism existed. Frequently, the Four Courts was the scene of forensic points of conflict between the State and an irregular armed power.
The Doctors’ Bill
The extent of injury inflicted on hospital patients by clinical negligence is a case in point. We do not know what it is. When it happens the consequences are real. Somebody somewhere pays for the injury. Clearly, the victim suffers the injury and pays in that fashion. The family of the victim may pay in care deployed or care costs paid. Or, if the family consists of children of the victim, the children may suffer diminished life opportunities by being deprived of care they would have got from the victim.
Business is Business
Under the Regulations, the plaintiff client will become liable for fees only if he/she:
a) fails to co-operate with the legal representative;
b) fails to attend any medical or expert examination or court hearing which the legal representative reasonably requests him to attend;
c) fails to give necessary instructions to the legal representative; or
d) withdraws instructions from the legal representative.
The Long Vacation
Following a long-standing tradition, the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Circuit courts are on holiday.
Continuous Professional Development
In the real world, the best form of CPD is to do. Do the work and you know more than any lecture can ever convey.