James Mullen
@jameswmullen
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Doctor of Legal Practice ; rugby fan, ex player and member of the front row union; Yorkshireman in exile. Owed a "debt of gratitude" by the country.
London, England
Joined May 2015
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Pinned Tweet
Today is the final day of
@HeadwayUK
's
#ABIWeek
"Action for Brain Injury" week and this year's theme has been "A Life Re-written". Today I want to thank all of you have read, liked, retweeted or commented. I hope you've all found something you can take from these. 1/11
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@brianmoore666
To be fair, if anyone is an expert in not being a brilliant woman in politics...
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@fasc1nate
This has been comprehensively debunked as a myth. See for example this link, which even uses the same illustration.
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Whilst this was, obviously, incredibly sad for the families I don't understand their assertion that justice has neither been done nor seen to be done. 1/2
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You cannot criminalise someone who doesn't have a recent history of active seizures for the death of someone as a result of a seizure they couldn't have expected might happen. That is not justice.
Sometimes bad things happen and it isn't anybody's fault. 2/2
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I almost never appeal to authority, but it is relevant just this once. I straddle legal practice and legal academia. I have a doctorate, I have presented at conferences, I practise law, I have acted as an expert consultant. I regard Michael as an expert in his field. 1/2
Robin Moira White very rarely engages with me on the substance of the law, usually preferring to just assert that I'm wrong and then make some ad hominem attack or say something about how academic lawyers shouldn't be trusted as experts on the law.
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This isn't a question of the public interest test. It is a question of whether or not a person who is rendered suddenly unconscious, through no fault of their own, and with no indication they're at risk, as committed an offence. 2/2
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@PippaCrerar
The contempt charge on inadvertently misleading must be that the record wasn't corrected at the earliest opportunity. To say that would muzzle ministers is nonsense.
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Sometimes I disagree with him on a point of law. Where I do, it is usually because it is something which can be interpreted in more than one way and I simply prefer a contrary view. It is never because I think his analysis is weak or that his incapable at law. 2/2
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This makes no sense at all. There are things that are clearly within the law, things that are clearly not, and things which are untested and at the margins. You know you might lose, but you might also win. That is "stretching the boundary" and is totally normal behaviour.
There is no such thing as “stretching the boundaries” of the law. Either you act within the law, or you don’t.
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@RishiSunak
How will you staff it with 91,000 fewer civil servants? If it will be staffed by those left, what other work will you stop to deal with this work?
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The whole HS2 thing shows maybe when we build something that is connecting to London we should start at the other end.
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@acatfromgreece
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury. I appear on behalf of the Crown on this serious matter. As I take you through the evidence, I very much hope it will show this prosecution is proper. You'll be pleased to know I will be right beside you on this voyage of evidential discovery."
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Another day, another MP that doesn't understand the Government accounting rules require a ministerial direction when value for money tests (set by treasury) are failed. It has nothing to do with refusing to deliver policy, it is simply about meeting the accounting rules.
Elected ministers decide policy, not civil servants. It’s completely unacceptable to refuse to deliver a policy which commands democratic support. Plenty of jobs in the private sector for those who feel unable to carry out their orders.
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@ludawinthesky
Ah yes - my memory problems are actually an ABILITY to forget, and the seizures I had before they were controlled were an ABILITY to break dance for extended periods of time. So,so glad I now see the error of my ways🤬
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It is not unusual to instruct barristers in the same chambers, what with them being self employed. Sometimes (relatively often) barristers from the same chambers appear on opposite sides in the same case.
This is nonsense.
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@teresamaryclark
@Scott_Wortley
People who draft legislation:
1) parliamentary counsel
2) departmental/contract lawyers (secondary legislation)
3) roll A parliamentary agents.
Which one were you again?
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This from the prosecutor is particularly unhelpful
"“Because there is nothing to suggest the driver could have done anything to predict or prevent this tragedy, it is not in the public interest to pursue a criminal prosecution," she said." 1/2
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@ANNVYSHINSKY
There is a surprising number of adults who have had such a sheltered life they can't/don't comprehend the significant levels of criminality and criminal economy in all countries. It's like they subconsciously airbrush it out of the world around them.
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@HannahQuirk1
The reference to the public interest test sends completely the wrong message in both senses of the word.
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@kirkkorner
Yet if you pee on a normal street you'll get a fixed penalty notice with no conviction.
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@Joanna__Hardy
@StevePeers
I once wrote in an update to some pretty senior and serious people which included "and unless we are able to do a deal with God and get him to swap our places then, much like Kate Bush, we won't be running up that hill with no problems". Still makes me chuckle now.
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@DanielaNadj
You are correct that I won't be able to teach you, because you are utterly enthralled with your sense of self. I wasn't aiming to teach you, I was aiming to correct you for the people you are misleading. You claimed the court tells Parliament what to do. 1/n
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It's disheartening to know someone who sits in Parliament has such a poor understanding of why ministerial directions exist, the circumstances in which accounting officers ask for them, and the difference between impertinence and doing their job.
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There is a valid argument that lanyards that civil servants wearing lanyards which express support for any particular group of people are in breach of the civil service code. I know that isn't a popular view, but it is the correct one.
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It is a long standing convention, for good reason, that legal advice to government is not published. It's an immeasurably important principle that the same applies to all advice so people can't guess the content of some.
If the government really believes the asylum bill is legal they will publish the legal advice to that effect.
But they don’t and there is none so they won’t.
Barefaced liars the lot of them.
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@teresamaryclark
@knoweuro
@CaraPac46808618
@Scott_Wortley
It doesn't matter what you think the legislation was meant to do. Nothing you wrote in your policy submissions are relevant to the interpretation of legislation. It's simply not how law works.
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Today is my 21st birthday. It is also the 21st anniversary of my death.
Allow me to explain.
A thread...
(The first, and probably last multi-tweet thread I will ever write)
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@JayMitchinson
When the new PM is appointed please just print the tweet as a full front page.
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To call devolution fundamentally flawed because it does not give you "true self-government" is to misunderstand, or misstate, the nature and purpose of devolution.
🧵 Today's judgment confirms beyond doubt that devolution is fundamentally flawed. The Court has confirmed that legislation passed by a majority in Holyrood can be struck down by Westminster.
The only way to guarantee we get true self-government is through independence.
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@Scott_Wortley
@nearlylegal
@teresamaryclark
Even those voting on legislation don't always know what it means.
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Today is my 21st birthday. It is also the 21st anniversary of my death.
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20 ish years ago I had a seizure on a bus. I came round in an empty bus, parked in a depot, with police stood over me because the driver assumed I'd taken drugs. Sad to see awareness still hasn't increased in 20 years.
@epilepsysociety
@epilepsyaction
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Mildly amused at the incredulity I'm seeing from people in the UK at the idea Trump might have complete immunity. Our head of state cannot be prosecuted before our courts for anything, and no eyelids have been batted...
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Today another High Court judgment has been handed down in which a Good Law Project challenge to a Covid related procurement failed.
There is an important point in paragraph 54 which many of those commenting will skip over. 1/6
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Just saw someone having a seizure on a train and, well, it's brought stuff up. The crew dealt with it really well, with much calm and kindness and I have already emailed the customer services to say so. The person is OK. I am sad.
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Those who worked on the Covid response worked hard, tirelessly, in stressful, fast moving, and uncertain conditions with one goal: to keep as many people alive as possible. They did so as they watched the body count mounting. We should all bear that in mind. 6/6
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Today I have written 5000 word instructions on a complex issue of stautory construction that has its root over 150 years ago. If your day is going badly, take comfort you are not the Counsel who will be receiving them later today.
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@BarbaraRich_law
A practising barrister who is regularly corrected by experts in their field and who is so thin skinned and impressed by his own publicity he then blocks them. A deeply biased, unserious, and over promoted individual.
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@DrBenWhitham
@SOAS
Are they deducting tax on the gross? Worth asking HMRC if that is correct? If they are withholding pay, have you really earned the "income"?
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This is misleading. They are convicted for a crime they committed.
Joint Enterprise sentencing allows people to be convicted for a crime that they did not commit or make a significant contribution in.
That is why I am bringing my Bill to Parliament this Friday 2nd February.
Ask your MP to back my Bill so that we can
#EndGuiltByAssociation
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I want to preserve the right to, and prospect of, a fair trial.
I want to know ALL about the person who murdered a 13 year old boy with a Samurai sword today. Public deserve to know who he is; where he's come from (UK born and raised or otherwise) and how he came to carry out this heinous act.
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@DanielaNadj
Try reading section 6, which exempts Parliament from the application of the Human Rights Act 1998. Oh, and also, the Bill of Rights. The court has no power to order Parliament to do anything.
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@michaelpforan
Prof Tomkins manages to contradict himself early on. He asserts this is mainly aiming to keep the law as it is, then goes on to say it is extending the law (i.e. not keeping it as it is) and then says it includes some changes (i.e. not keeping it as it is).
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Hello
@TejLalvani
– I wanted to talk to you about your tweet. It is nonsense, and here is why – a thread. 1/n
The same boiling water that hardens the egg also softens the potato.
It’s not about your circumstances. It’s about what you’re made of.
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@HoraceSpellman9
@Scott_Wortley
@nearlylegal
@teresamaryclark
Even if they have, statutory construction is a specialist skill which MPs just won't really possess.
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The rule of law in this country is predicated on carrying enough of the population with you, in enough constituencies, to have the majority in parliament and then carrying enough of your MPs to make the changes you want. If you don't like the law, change it properly.
Lawyers who say “the law is wrong” and that by prosecuting or defending someone under an “unjust law” they are “giving credibility to that law” show contempt for the way English law is made and reformed, by an elected Parliament and by decisions of the higher courts, not by them
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@ShivajiShivaLaw
Sure. We could require every building to be protected by a reinforced concrete barrier. That's the job of Parliament, and also utterly irrelevant to the question of whether or not justice has been served.
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Judicial review should not be about "holding Government to account" - that is the role of Parliament. Judicial review should be about ensuring individuals are able to prevent public authorities acting against them/their rights unlawfully.
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@reidoflemanst
2/2 At the end of the hearing he turned to me and said "I hope you found getting to see the workings of a court interesting and you didn't feel like you wasted your time". He reduced in size by a half when I responded "it hasn't really changed since last time I was instructing"
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@BarbaraRich_law
Hahahahahaha. "Leverage the voice of wealthy individuals" but with the funds of the poor. New low.
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@AudreySuffolk
@lfeatherstone
@soniasodha
@michaelpforan
This is a very good demonstration of how poor Parliamentary scrutiny of legislation is.
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Belated lukewarm subtweet:
Being paid out of public funds, for example legal aid, does not make you a public servant. It makes you a service provider paid out of public funds.
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@johnharris1969
Why is he leaning forward and making it look like he's talking down to a group of children?
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@iudicatepauperi
@BarristerSecret
Go one step further: take a table and do a pop up stall. Add some t-shirts, badges, pens and novelty coasters too.
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We should be slow to seek to find a reason to refer people to the SRA or the BSB just because we are sceptical of positions they take or how they conduct themselves. Misconduct should, and does, require more. Always remember there go we but for the grace of God.
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This is a dangerous and disingenuous thing to say. It effectively invites people to conclude our judiciary are biased and in thrall to the government, simply because GLP has yet again lost a case.
From this, and other decisions, it is apparent that (we think disappointingly) the judiciary has little appetite to examine the use of tens or hundreds of billions of pounds in public money in the pandemic.
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Irregular but important public service announcement: your confidence in your unqualified ability to apply the law is not equivalent in weight to an actual qualification in law.
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@FelicityHannah
I don't think there should be homework at any age. All homework does is indoctrinates people to think working on your own time is acceptable. It's the start of instilling a long hours unpaid overtime ethic in the next generation of workers.
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@michaelpforan
On his definition you don't have a right not to be tortured or held in slavery, it's just that it's prohibited...
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@DavidGauke
@NewStatesman
People should also be asking how a whipped party system in the legislature can really be said to serve the public and their interests.
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@paulpowlesland
@FaiselSadiq
@NorthantsPolice
Can you climb a ladder next to a tree then step onto the tree at height? 😆
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For the three of you that will notice when I've gone quiet... Had something a bit weird happen so will be not tweeting until I work out what is behind the weird. I'm ok, and haven't disappeared off the face of the earth.
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Haaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Requiring solicitors to take version of doctors’ Hippocratic oath could help to cement commitment to acting ethically, oversight regulator suggests:
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There should not be two systems of directing and controling law enforcement either. Entirely proper to refuse permission for a pressure group to force police to dedicate resources to investigating someone they don't like.
⚖️This case goes beyond Boris Johnson and the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices. It is about equal treatment under the law.
❌There shouldn’t be one rule for those in power and another rule for us.
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Solicitors would be struck off for this. How is there such a difference in regulation?
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@Dowellenough
@Kirsty_Brimelow
@AdamWagner1
This doesn't remove the potential that they have been subjected to unlawful imprisonment though does it...
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This is a good example of pointless legislation. It is already an offence and people already know that and do it anyway. Creating a specific offence won't suddenly make people think "oh, now it has its own offence I won't punch a shop worker anymore".
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I am increasingly feeling like I have come to the end of the road with law. I can't see any real way to get a new challenge or do something different, and I don't want to do the same thing for another 20+ years.
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Competent to advise? ✅️
Area of genuine specialism? ✅️
That falls within my area of expertise?✅️
That I can do with my eyes closed?✅️
On a matter I have spent hours and hours digging into?✅️
"The consequences of your conclusions are horrendous. We need counsel"😡
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@Nicholas_RL
@yuanyi_z
The RoL doesn't protect the right to do either, it requires the law to be applied equally and fairly so that any offences are charged regardless of the cause in which they are committed and any defences to those charges are available to all regardless of who they are.
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This is already punishable by up to life in prison and does not really need a change in the law. It simply requires the correct offence to be charged.
EXCL: People who defraud the govt will face more than 10 years in jail under plans being considered by Keir Starmer as part of wider cleanup of British politics
@kiranstacey
reveals.
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Never write and send anything in your name which you aren't comfortable with - especially if drafted by committee.
Valuable point for any new lawyers out there - don't be pressured into giving advice in your name that you are not completely in agreement with. Say no.
Singh said the email’s contents had been dictated to him by a ‘collection of people’ and approved by Wilson, adding: 'I would not write anything like that.'
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Sometimes, deep down, in the very essence of my soul, I feel a real coldness when I think of continuing working where I am. Sadly, those times are more frequent and the coldness much, much bleaker.
Today is one such time.
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I think I'm almost at the point where I would support a regulatory prohibition on people identifying themselves as solicitors or barristers on social media. It's being used to give weight to dangerously flawed views of fundamental legal principles.
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@CrimeGirI
Science A-levels
Head injury giving lasting damage
Tried to do science degree
Got transferred to computer science
Dropped out
Worked in a supermarket
Got health better
Did LLB
LPC
Training contract
11 years qualified
Periodically think about swapping
Maybe
#MyRouteToTheBar
?
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Being a solicitor is simply not interesting or rewarding enough to take on this sort of risk. Why would anyone bother?
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Adam is not a KC.
Kevin McCaffery KC has now concluded his opening statement on behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved.
Adam Wagner KC is now delivering an opening statement on behalf of Clinically Vulnerable Families.
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Seems people are going to stick with the idea that judges coming to conclusions they don't like are exhibiting judicial cowardice because that decision didn't overturn the government. Maybe, just maybe, they applied the law as they see it.
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@LevinsLaw
Fantastic advert for self appointment of titles though.
I am now Professor of Mythological Law at the University of The Many Realms.
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@DanielaNadj
It doesn't, because it can't. Section 6 exempts Parliament from any duty to comply with the rights set out in the HRA. Parliament cannot be taken to court for failing to have compliant legislation. Section 4 preserves the effect of incompliant legislation. 2/n
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@DanielaNadj
Where a declaraton of incompatibility is made Parliament can ignore it. It can ignore it to the extent it does not even have to discuss it. No one can force any other outcome. So, in what sense, is the court telling Parliament what to do? 5/5
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This is not a plea for sympathy.
It is not a public service announcement to remind you all that unseen disabilities are all around you.
It is not to prove things can get better, or that, in some ways, they cannot.
It is just a way to mark the day.
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