Printer FriendlySocialist Lawyer
Socialist Lawyer is the journal of the Haldane Society and is published three times a year. It is available by subscription (download form as pdf - 148kb) or is sent free to Haldane society members (join here). Some older issues are available in PDF format below
Socialist Lawyer: No 59. October 2011
In this issue we cast a considered look back at the tempestuous events of August 2011. Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder and director of Kids Company, offers her insight into the root causes of the riots. Connor Johnston of Young Legal Aid Lawyers gives his take on these events from what he witnessed in Hackney.
The riots are also an issue discussed with Len McCluskey, the new Unite General Secretary, in one of two engaging interviews in this edition. Geoffrey Bindman is our other interviewee. He will be the key guest speaker at the next of The Haldane Society's upcoming Autumn lectures on 8th November 2011.
Within the print issue there is analysis of recent legal developments in Colombia, the educational benefits of law clinics at British universities, and the judgments handed down by the European Court of Human rights in the cases of Al-Skeini and Al-Jedda.
Last but not least, the late, great Haldane Vice-President Kader Asmal is remembered for his career as a radical lawyer, academic and one of the architects of post-apartheid South Africa.
Socialist Lawyer: No 58. May 2011
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We call on lawyers to support the possible public sector strikes on 30 June. Kat Craig, Anna Morris and Russell Fraser report on their fact-finding delegation to Tunisia, shortly after the revolution. Rights of Women on why cuts to legal aid will hit women hardest. “Ricin: the inside story of the terror plot that never was”, including an account by the jury's foreman, is reviewed.
In the print issue, the current legal status of kettling is analysed along with our usual features: Young Legal Aid Lawyers column, news and reviews.
Socialist Lawyer: No 57. January 2011
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In this issue our editorial condemns the cuts to tuition fees, legal aid and other public services. We call on lawyers and law students to join the TUC Day of Action to Stop the Cuts on Saturday 26 March. Professor Conor Gearty looks at the Coalition government's record on civil liberties. The Lib Dems promised during the general election to "scrap controls", to reduce the maximum pre-charge detention in terrorist cases from 28 days to 14 days, and to allow intercept evidence in criminal trials becuase "the best way to combat terrorism" was "to prosecute terrorists". In government, they have been tamed by the Tories and possibly by the security services.
Connor Johnston, from Young Legal Aid Lawyers, analyses the Green Paper on Legal Aid and reminds us that the availability of legal aid is a necessary part for the rule of law. "There can be no semblance of equality before the law when only the rich can defend their rights". We also report on an international lawyers' delegation to Colombia, on trade unionists blacklisted and victimised by their employers and on the UN Investigation into who assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.
Socialist Lawyer: No 56. October 2010
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Socialist Lawyer No 56 is packed with informative articles. We are stepping our campaign to save legal aid, along with other public services.Tony Gifford QC analyses the Saville Inquiry report into Bloody Sunday and concloudes "it was worth every pound and day spent on it". But did it bring justice for the victims and their families?
Richard Harvey discusses the wrongful conviction of the "Tokyo Two", Greenpeace anti-whaling activists in Japan. Marina Sergides and Marcela Navarrette interview Frances Webber, Haldane Society Vice-President and Peter Kandler, founder of North Kensington Law Centre the very first law centre to be established, reflects on 40 years of the law centre movement.
Socialist Lawyer 55, June 2010
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Socialist Lawyer No 55 asks why no justice in Gaza? Haldane President Mike Mansfield QC reports on the deliberations of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and its call for universal jurisdiction to be applied. Marina Sergides explains the concept and why members of Israel's government can face prosecution in Britain for war crimes.
Socialist Lawyer also interviews our new Vice-President, John Hendy QC, who believes that calling himself a left-wing barrister is an "absurdity". And Haldane Vice-Chair Anna Morris explains the legal arguments that led to a jury acquitting Claire Finch of brothel-keeping, in a victory for the health and safety of sex workers.
Socialist Lawyer 54, March 2010
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Socialist Lawyer No 54 is on the theme of climate change and environmental struggle. The articles excerpted on the web are an analysis of the failure of the Copenhagan summit, by Polly Higgins, barrister, and Richard Harvey on “climate change in the courtroom”.
Other articles, available in the magazine and not yet on the website, include James Thornton on the threat of legal costs deterring environmental litigation, a discussion of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal and analysis by Professor Keith Ewing of the BA-Unite litigation.
Socialist Lawyer 53, October 2009
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Socialist Lawyer No 53 is on the theme of the right to self-determination. We examine the struggles of the Basque people, the Kurds and the Palestinians.
We also outline threats to human rights defenders in the Philippines and Colombia. Reviews include "Michael Mansfield: Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer" and barrister Terry Munyard welcomes the possible publication of the report into the death of Blair Peach, as long ago as 1979. The whole of the contents of No 53 can be found on the website.
Socialist Lawyer 52, June 2009
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Socialist Lawyer commemorates 25 years since the 1984 - 1985 miners' strike with articles by Davey Hopper, General Secretary of the Durham Miners' Association, Haldane President Mike Mansfield, John Hendy QC standing counsel to the NUM, Haldane Vice-President Michael Seifert, Pragna Patel from Southall Black Sisters, Gerry MacLochlainn from Sinn Fein, and others.
This issue also covers Haldane's delegation to investigate conditions of detention in Turkey in 2008 and the recent publication of our pamphlet, talks to the Haldane Society by Eamonn McCann, Liz Davies, Louise Christian and others, and testimonies from the horror of Gaza.
Socialist Lawyer 51, April 2009
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Issue includes: Justice for Jean Charles? Stockwell inquest verdict; Killing fields of Gaza: Israel's war criminals; Eye-witness reports on the West Bank. Plus: Knife crime, inquest victories, asylum support, Cuba's 50th, plus news and our regular Young Legal Aid Lawyers column and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 50, September 2008
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Socialist Lawyer celebrates its 50th birthday. Mike Mansfield QC looks back at the first issue, in 1986, and ponders how the difficulties facing socialist lawyers in 1986 have become ever more present. SL readers are introduced to our three new Vice-Presidents: Imran Khan, Kate Markus and Gareth Peirce. Phil Shiner and Bill Bowring write on bringing war to account, whilst Richard Harvey asks if international criminal tribunals deliver truth and can they lead to reconcilation.
Socialist Lawyer 49, April 2008
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Issue includes: Human rights and the Kurds; Do children in care have rights?; Peace and multiculturalism; Eqypt: when judges rebel; Nepal on the brink?, Pakistan and the Law; Access to justice for women; Agency workers: second class?; Helen Shaw on inquests and the Counter-Terrorism Bill; plus news, our regular Young Legal Aid Lawyers column and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 48, December 2007
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Issue includes: Iman Khan, solicitor for Stephen Lawrence's parents, and the families of Zahid Mubarek and Victoria Climbie; Human rights in the Ukraine; The horror of human trafficking; Fingerprinting of children; Miami Five case and US justice; Children in prison; plus news, our regular Young Legal Aid Lawyers column and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 47, July 2007
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Issue includes: Special report on the battle for Legal Aid; Tackling Israel through international law; The inquest into Tom Hurndall's death; Moazzam Begg speaks at Haldane's human rights lecture series; BAE and the Saudi corruption case; Report from a Haldane Society delegation to Turkey; plus news, our regular Young Legal Aid Lawyers column and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 46, April 2007
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Issue includes: Keir Starmer QC on the Human Rights Act and the ‘war on terror’; Eye-witness account from the West Bank; Legal struggles facing women today; Attacks on Muslims in the name of ‘anti-terrorism’; Defending legal aid; UN and EU attitudes to human rights guarantees for ‘terrorist’ suspects; plus news, book reviews and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 45, December 2006
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Issue includes: Mike Mansfield QC on the prisons crisis; Are we heading for Gulag Britain?; the rise and fall of legal aid; Young people in custody; the Jean Charles de Menezes family campaign; extracts from Tony Benn's address to the Haldane AGM; plus Guantánamo, book reviews, news and the Young Legal Aid Lawyers column.
Socialist Lawyer 44, July 2006
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Issue includes: 'Foreign Criminals' and the Home Office; Diplomatic Assurances and the issue of deporting people to possible torture; Blair's 'Respect Agenda'; Shoot to Kill one year after Jean Charles de Menezes' death; The Forest Gate anti-terror raid; Young Legal Aid Lawyers column; Guantánamo update; plus news, book reviews and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 43, March 2006
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Issue includes: Guantanamo Bay, Close it Down; Helena Kennedy on the Rights of Women; Israel's Separation Wall - Expansion or Security?; 75 Years of the Haldane Society; Pat Finucane, still no public enquiry; Professor Conor Gearty on the Human Rights Act and national security; Asylum and Immigration - enforcing destitution; news and comment.
Socialist Lawyer 42, November 2005
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Issue includes: Uganda, Time for Justice; Interview with Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti; Folly of 'anti-terror' legislation; Jean Charles de Menezes and deaths by police shooting; Why we need a Trade Union Freedom bill; Interview with Ranjit Kaur of Rights Of Women; plus news, book reviews and comment.
