24th April 2024 I am not an American lawyer, but here are some thoughts from an English litigation perspective. Trump is adept at what he calls (or his ghost writer called) ‘the art of the deal’ – that is a transactional approach based on exploiting leverage. Such an approach is not unhelpful in pre-trial shenanigans, where it is one party dealing with another party.  Pre-trial litigation is often deal-making by another name.  But when a dispute gets to court (and most Trump-related litigation does not get to a courtroom) then such bilateral game-playing becomes far less important.&n ..read more

22nd April 2024 One theme of my blogging is the relationship between law and lore. By ‘law and lore’ I mean what people believe to be the law to be, as opposed to what the ‘black letter’ law actually is. Few people, if any, regulate their lives by what the law actually is – for no (normal) human being can know the detail of all the laws that apply at every moment of their lives, from statutes and by-laws to contractual terms and conditions. The best that one can do is know as much actual law as you can and hope that what you believe about law corresponds with what the law actually i ..read more

17th April 2024 Hugh Grant has acted in many counter-intuitive scenarios. But the situation he described today on Twitter is perhaps the most counter-intuitive predicament of them all: * Grant has been correctly advised by his lawyers – both as to the legal position and that he should settle. Had Grant’s lawyers not given that advice they would have been negligent: this was the legal advice that had to be given. But it seems wrong – how can this be the position? And what can be done to change it? These are good questions – though the second question does not have an easy answer. * Fir ..read more

25 March 2024 Over at Prospect I have written a piece on the remarkable witness statement of Johnny Mercer MP given to the current Afghan war crimes inquiry. (On that inquiry, see the earlier posts here and here.) But before you read that Prospect commentary, however, please read the following original documents. * First: a typed memorandum, dated 5th April 2011, from a field commander of a UK special forces unit to the director of UK special forces. This is perhaps the most important publicly disclosed document to the inquiry so far. It is hard to over-emphasise the importa ..read more

21st March 2024 Back in December 2022, this Blog picked up on something odd. Click here to read that post. Joshua Rozenberg picked up on the strange development – and he also was kind enough to say that my observations were shrewd. And now it may be becoming more obvious what is behind was seemed such a remarkable move by the government. * The extraordinary thing that happened was that the government suddenly set up a full statutory inquiry into alleged war crimes by the SAS in Afghanistan. Generally the government does not like setting up such inquiries, rega ..read more

8th March 2024 Yesterday over at Prospect I did a post on the curious situation of the Michelle Donelan libel settlement. Please click and read the post here. Here I want to set out some further thoughts on what is, in one way, a remarkable law and policy news story – and what was, in another way, an accident waiting to happen given the practices now common in politics and media. * This is her statement: * Donelan is a Secretary of State and a Member of Parliament – and, as such, she can say and publish whatever she wants in a libel-safe way, as long as she goes about it sens ..read more

10th February 2024 This week Prospect posted something by me on the issue of a potential border poll in Northern Ireland. Please click (and read!) here. This post unpacks that Prospect post – a sort of “behind the scenes” perambulation of how that post came together – and a further discussion of the issues. * The starting point is that a potential referendum in Northern Ireland has been in the news. On one hand: On the other hand: The Sinn Fein quote was: “What I firmly believe is – in this decade – we will have those referendums, and it’s my job and the job ..read more

30th January 2024 The decisions of judges, other than about case and court management, can be divided into two sorts. First, there are rulings. These rulings can be about the substantive law, or they can be rulings on the admissibility of evidence, or they can be rulings on procedural technical points. In each instance, the judge will identify the rule, apply it to the situation before the court, and decide the outcome. Add second, there are findings. These are determinations of fact which are required for the case before the court to be decided at a trial. These facts are, in turn, based on ..read more

29 January 2024 * The next general election in the United Kingdom is now less than a year away. The latest possible date the next general election can be held is 28 January 2025. How is this so? Well, let this blog explain. * The maximum length of any parliamentary term is governed by statute. Historically, the maximum term of a parliament has varied. Once there was no limit. (Imagine that.) Then there was a three year limit. (Imagine that.) And then under the Septennial Act of 1715 the maximum length of a parliament was set at seven years. (Imagine that.) That was then amend ..read more

16th January 2023 Time is a problem for the Post Office, and its government owners, in making any legal claim against Fujitsu. This is because any claim would probably be for breach of contract, and the limitation period for suing for breach of contract is normally six years from the breach. Unless there was concealment – and here it is plain that the Post Office knew there were serious problems by 2013 (and no doubt for a long time before) – it is rare for a court to extend the limitation period. At the House of Commons business select committee hearing today Fujitsu accepted a “moral o ..read more