This is my review of what I have found interesting in the law (and related) blogosphere. It’s been an explosive time for legal bloggers, and I hope that this blogpost is a true reflection of a part of what’s currently exciting at the moment. I strongly encourage you to look further at these blogs, for example while enjoying sherry, roast turkey or chicken and chestnuts over a log fire. We do not have a log fire in the log cabin for ‘elf and safety reasons.
Krish recently had a piece in the Guardian, also posted on his blog here. It’s particularly pertinent for me as I probably will resume my hunt for a good training contract next year. In the meantime, I will do some vacation scheme placements. Actually, given that I am not panicking about training contracts now, I feel a weight has been lifted from my mind, and I can actually begin to enjoy my life again. I found applying for a training contract very nauseating this year, especially since one top firm failed to implement my reasonable adjustments the first time around and wasted a fortnight of my time before not calling me for interview, and another simply did not bother to write to me at all as to whether I’d be coming for interview or not. I therefore have a contempt for the recruitment process, and feel with such behaviour I am better off enjoying my study of the LPC which begins at the BPP Law School on January 3rd 2012.
In the face of such impressive ineptitude, I have found solace in the substantive issues of the law. I believe strongly that the law should be necessary, balanced and proportionate, and I feel that the police and the criminal justice system should be there to solve the problems of society not to create them. Natasha Philips mentioned her ‘Researching Reform’ activities concerning the London riots in a quick blogpost. The reader’s comment demonstrates graphically how the balance must be struck correctly, for the public to have faith in the reputation of the criminal justice system. The legal doctrine of proportionality is a pervasive one throughout English and European law.
Will Van Zwanenberg is a student at the Bar, and his blog ‘Propping up the Bar’ is a very elegantly presented explanation of critical issues for barristers, including of course human rights. Will took a fascinating look recently at the eviction at Dale Farm in a very readable critical analysis. Will felt that the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex raised the question of whether Basildon Council’s actions will be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, as directly applied in the UK via The Human Rights Act 1998.
The thing about the legal blogs is that they make the law come to life in a way that the GDL, LPC or LLM do not seem able to. For example, a compulsory component of the LPC is Business Law Practice, and towards the end students are guided through insolvency law as it happens in England. In an amusing but highly educational way, the Legal Bizzle has been charting the events leading to the ultimate administration of the Santa Claus Group (fictional). Legal Bizzle’s blogs are exceptional, and I look forward to coming back to some from the ‘archives’ in the next few months.
If the last few weeks are anything to go by, 2012 should be a sensational year for legal blogs here in the UK!
