A concerted effort is being made within the UK and EU to crack down on money laundering. This is reflected by the European Money Laundering Directives, which led to changes in the UK legislation, in particular the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations (MLR). Solicitors are usually unwittingly involved in a money laundering scheme. They can avoid this by being conversant with the requirements of the money laundering legislation and fully complying with it. This chapter explains the process of money laundering; the primary legislation and offences; and the relevance of the legislation to solicitors.
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Clare Firth, Jennifer Seymour, Lucy Crompton, Helen Fox, Frances Seabridge, Jennifer Seymour, and Elizabeth Smart
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Scott Slorach, Judith Embley, Peter Goodchild, and Catherine Shephard
This chapter examines the development of the legal profession in the UK. It discusses lawyers as professionals; the importance of legal services and their regulation; the legal profession in England & Wales; the role of ethics in lawyers’ work and the changing face of the legal profession within society.
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This chapter introduces some fundamentals that will underpin the understanding of law and ‘legal method’. It explains those core principles and techniques that underpin the process of legal reasoning. Topics discussed include the concept of law; functions of law, and some of the major functions of law; and the concept of regulation, which extends our understanding of law to forms of delegated legislation and ‘soft’ law and case law as it is developed by the courts. The chapter also discusses Parliament and legislation; the structure and role of the courts; the importance of procedural law; English law and the European Convention on Human Rights; and English law and the European Union.
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This chapter introduces some fundamentals that will underpin the understanding of law and ‘legal method’. It explains those core principles and techniques that underpin the process of legal reasoning. Topics discussed include the concept of law; functions of law, and the concept of regulation, which extends our understanding of law to include forms of delegated legislation and ‘soft’ law, and case law as it is developed by the courts. The chapter also discusses Parliament and legislation as a source of law; the structure and role of the courts; the importance of procedural law; the role of facts in legal decision-making; English law and the European Convention on Human Rights; and English law and the European Union.
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Legal representatives are obliged to give clients the best information possible about the likely costs of pursuing and ultimately resolving disputes, and to discuss with the client the best way of funding the action. This funding advice is inextricably linked to a legal representative’s professional conduct duties highlighted in the Handbook. This chapter focuses on the information clients need to know about costs in accordance with the Handbook’s Principles and its Chapter 1 on Client Care in the Code, as well as the different types of funding options available that may or may not be offered to a client. The chapter considers important recent changes in the application of costs and funding options in litigation.
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Clare Firth, Jennifer Seymour, Lucy Crompton, Helen Fox, Frances Seabridge, Jennifer Seymour, and Elizabeth Smart
This chapter begins with a description of how the legal services market has undergone recent change, with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) Principles and Codes of Conduct within the Standards and Regulations replacing the previous outcomes-focused regulation code (OFR Code). It considers what being a member of the profession and a good solicitor means, the Principles, relevant paragraphs of the Codes of Conduct, the Transparency Rules, and the SRA’s Enforcement Strategy currently in force. It explains how the recent changes have widened legal services provision and introduced further flexibility into how solicitors and firms justify their compliance with the regulations. It then looks at the practical application of the principles and paragraphs which are most relevant to readers at this stage of their legal career as a student (covering practical examples relevant to each core legal practice area) and trainee.
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Legal representatives who are new to practice are expected initially to assist in clients’ cases and ultimately to handle their own files. In every new matter for every client, their professional conduct duties, particularly client care issues, should be at the forefront of their mind as a legal representative before proceeding to undertake any work for the client. This chapter focuses on professional conduct issues; client care; money laundering requirements; the first meeting with the client; and initial investigations. The chapter includes details of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and a range of applicable examples.
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Nicola Lacey and Lucia Zedner
This chapter examines the relationship between legal and criminological constructions of crime and explores how these have changed over time. The chapter sets out the conceptual framework of criminalization within which the two dominant constructions of crime—legal and criminological—are situated. It considers their respective contributions and the close relationship between criminal law and criminal justice. Using the framework of criminalization, the chapter considers the historical contingency of crime by examining its development over the past 300 hundred years. It analyses the normative building blocks of contemporary criminal law to explain how crime is constructed in England and Wales today and it explores some of the most important recent developments in formal criminalization in England and Wales, not least the shifting boundaries and striking expansion of criminal liability. Finally, it considers the valuable contributions made by criminology to understanding the scope of, and limits on, criminalization.
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Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter deals with the legal control of waste. Waste management law is a good example of mixed regulation, because a wide range of mechanisms is used to address not only the problems of pollution caused by waste disposal, but also positive mechanisms, such as producer responsibility, which attempt to address the causes of waste production. The chapter concentrates on the regulation of the waste chain, from initial production to final disposal. This includes coverage of the difficult question of the definition of ‘waste’ and a brief explanation of the application of the environmental permitting system that now covers waste management. In general, the chapter looks at national law, although the important contribution of European law and the purposive approach to regulation is also considered.
Book
Jonathan Herring
Medical Law and Ethics covers not only the core legal principles, key cases, and statutes that govern medical law, but also explores the key ethical debates and dilemmas that exist in the field to ensure that the law is firmly embedded within its context. The title highlights these debates, drawing angles from other jurisdictions, religious beliefs, and feminist perspectives which influence legal regulations. Other features such as ‘a shock to the system’, ‘public opinion’, and ‘reality check’ introduce further sociological aspects, contributing to the way in which the subject is approached. This new edition also includes a new chapter on the medical law governing children and discussion of the response to the COVID pandemic. It also discusses important developments in the case law governing the Mental Capacity Act, clinical negligence, abortion, and reproduction.
Book
Jonathan Herring
Medical Law and Ethics covers not only the core legal principles, key cases, and statutes that govern medical law, but also explores the key ethical debates and dilemmas that exist in the field to ensure that the law is firmly embedded within its context. The title highlights these debates, drawing out the European angles, religious beliefs, and feminist perspectives which influence legal regulations. Other features such as ‘a shock to the system’, ‘public opinion’, and ‘reality check’ introduce further sociological aspects, contributing to the way in which the subject is approached. This new edition also includes coverage of new Guidance issued by the GMC and the new Protection of Liberty Safeguards. It also outlines important case law developments on the law on mental capacity and euthanasia, including the Alfie Evans and Tafida Raqeeb litigation, case law interpreting the Mental Capacity Act, and the Court of Appeal in Conway.
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This chapter assesses the relationship between international law and municipal law. Though international law deals primarily with inter-State relations, and municipal law addresses relationships between individuals or between individuals and the State, there are many overlapping issues on which both international and national regulation are necessary, such as the environment, trade, and human rights. Though the international legal order asserts its primacy over municipal legislation, it leaves to domestic constitutions the question of how international legal rules should be applied or enforced in municipal orders. Two conflicting doctrines define the relationship between international and municipal legal orders: dualism and monism. Dualism is usually understood as emphasizing the autonomy and distinct nature of municipal legal orders, in which the State is sovereign and supreme. Meanwhile, theories of monism conceive the relationship between international and municipal legal orders as more coherent and in fact unified, their validity deriving from one common source.
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This chapter takes an overall view of the EU legal order and examines its legal system, including the elements which are either different from or similar to member states’ legal systems. It begins by taking an overall view of the EU legal order, the different forms of EU law, and the various sources of law contributing to this legal order, in particular now the rich source of human and fundamental rights in the EU legal order. It considers the non-strictly legally binding rules known as ‘soft law’. It also looks at the ways or processes by which the binding laws are made and reviews alternative decision-making and law-making developments.
Book
Martin Partington
Introduction to the English Legal System 2021–2022 has been fully updated to consider the latest developments in the English legal system. The underlying theme is change and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the underlying approach is holistic. Changes to the criminal system (Chapter 5), the administrative system (Chapter 6), the family justice system (Chapter 7), and the civil and commercial (Chapter 8) justice systems are all considered. Developments in the ways in which the legal profession is regulated are also discussed (Chapter 9). Ways of funding access to justice and controlling the cost of litigating are considered (Chapter 10), as are the purposes and sources of law (Chapters 2 and 3). Chapter 11 offers a final reflection on a system in flux.
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This chapter assesses the relationship between international law and municipal law. Though international law deals primarily with inter-State relations, and municipal law addresses relationships between individuals or between individuals and the State, there are many overlapping issues on which both international and national regulation are necessary, such as the environment, trade, and human rights. Though the international legal order asserts its primacy over municipal legislation, it leaves to domestic constitutions the question of how international legal rules should be applied or enforced in municipal orders. Two conflicting doctrines define the relationship between international and municipal legal orders: dualism and monism. Dualism is usually understood as emphasizing the autonomy and distinct nature of municipal legal orders, in which the State is sovereign and supreme. Meanwhile, theories of monism conceive the relationship between international and municipal legal orders as more coherent and in fact unified, their validity deriving from one common source.
