A Lawyer Talks

Joshua Rozenberg
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Joshua Rozenberg KC (hon) is Britain's most experienced commentator on the law. This new podcast complements the daily updates he publishes on A Lawyer Writes. rozenberg.substack.com

  1. Suing the Kremlin

    6d ago

    Suing the Kremlin

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com There can’t be many compensation claims with legal costs in the millions and damages in double-digit billions. Perhaps one of them is Trump v BBC — I have updated yesterday’s piece to include the judge’s threat to throw out the case after the president’s lawyers missed a deadline. But not even Donald Trump is claiming as much as arbitrators have awarded the former majority shareholders in Yukos Oil — which was Russia’s largest privately owned energy business until the Putin government appropriated its assets between 2003 and 2007. With interest, the amount they are now owed is more than $66 billion. Risking millions in the hope of recovering billions is not for the faint-hearted. I wrote a detailed account of the Yukos claim at the beginning of 2008 and returned to it in 2016, then in 2021, in 2024 and once again in 2024. But it was not until I read Suing the Kremlin, a new book by the former BBC Moscow correspondent Martin Sixsmith, that I began to understand how a few individuals acquired unimaginable wealth and why some if them paid for it with their lives. Sixsmith shared his insights into the case — and gave me his view of the outcome — when I recorded this week’s episode of A Lawyer Talks at his home in London. My podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    26 sec
  2. Cutting court backlogs

    Jun 1

    Cutting court backlogs

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com While ministers insist that the only way of ending delays in the Crown Court is to limit the use of juries, a judge responsible for non-jury trials has achieved what’s been described as an “inspiring success” in reducing backlogs. Through collaboration across the criminal justice system of Scotland, Aisha Anwar KC (hon), sheriff principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin and president of the Sheriff Appeal Court, has managed to cut the number of cases awaiting trial in the summary sheriff courts from over 30,000 during the pandemic to 9,000 at the last count. Scheduled summary trials are now 27% below the pre-pandemic baseline. It was Lord Pentland, Scotland’s most senior judge, who described the summary case management project led by Anwar as an inspiring success that demonstrated the value of close engagement between the judiciary, prosecutors, defence lawyers, police and the court service. When Anwar joined me to record an episode of A Lawyer Talks last Friday, I asked the sheriff principal whether she thought something similar would work in England and Wales. We also found time to talk about the lighthouses that she had been due to visit that afternoon. My podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    21 sec

  3. May 21

    Bacon at Gray’s

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com Gray’s Inn is paying tribute to an illustrious former member, 400 years after his death. Sir Francis Bacon was one of the most influential figures in British intellectual history and a lawyer whose life and career were deeply intertwined with the inn of court where he felt most at home. At a dinner in hall tonight, Professor Alan Stewart (pictured) — one of the leading experts on the former lord chancellor’s multifaceted achievements — will be speaking about Bacon’s lifelong association with the inn that he joined in 1576 and where he was living shortly before his death 50 years later. Stewart, a professor of literature in New York, kindly agreed to share some of his thoughts with me for the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. He argued that Bacon could properly be regarded as a true Renaissance man. I suggested that his willingness to accept favours and his attempts to live above his means made him sound surprisingly modern. Readers may remember that I previewed tonight’s celebration of the inn’s former treasurer (elected head) in a short film earlier this year. That’s still free to view: My podcast interview, as always, is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. But others can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    21 sec
  4. AI: risks and rewards

    May 18

    AI: risks and rewards

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com In a judgment published last Thursday, a circuit judge sitting in Walsall explained that he was referring two solicitors to their regulator because false AI-generated case citations had been submitted in an appeal he was hearing. “Lawyers who cite fictitious cases must face serious consequences,” said Judge Grimshaw, “and in the current environment, where this is a problem that is significant (and indeed seems to be growing), the guidance in Ayinde indicates that judges should take a robust approach.” Mahmood Hussain, a consultant at AML Legal in Dudley, had acknowledged that documents citing false judgments had been prepared with the help of a paralegal. The judge observed that an appeal bundle and a covering email had apparently been signed by Kossar Qureshi, the firm’s director. It’s a cautionary tale for solicitors. But the perils of using artificial intelligence may be even greater for barristers. To help them balance risks and rewards, their regulator will be launching new guidance later today. Strikingly, it encourages members of the bar to take a risk-based approach when using new technology. To set the scene, I’ve been discussing the new guidance with the Bar Standards Board’s director of strategy, policy and insights, Ewen MacLeod (pictured), on the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. My weekly podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    19 sec
  5. Judges or juries?

    May 15

    Judges or juries?

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com As presaged in the King’s speech, the government’s Courts and Tribunals Bill was reintroduced in the House of Commons yesterday. It picks up where it left off, though no date has yet been announced for the bill’s report stage and third reading. Will the government’s plans to limit jury trial ever reach the House of Lords? Or will Andy Burnham’s bid for the Labour leadership mean that we end up with a more modest set of reforms? That’s one of the questions I explore in my analysis of the government’s legislative programme for the Law Society Gazette. After writing the piece, I tried out some of my ideas on Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the bar (pictured). Far from exploiting the political turmoil that was deepening even as we spoke yesterday afternoon, the barristers’ leader said stability was to be preferred. I took the opportunity to ask Brimelow about her comments on Rajiv Menon KC, the defence counsel who is waiting to hear whether his remarks to a jury will lead to contempt of court proceedings, a disciplinary investigation or no further action. Readers will recall that I wrote about the issues last week and again this week. Brimelow said on Wednesday that she hoped this “troubling episode” was now at an end. Did that mean she thought barristers in a criminal trial could legitimately ignore directions from a judge on what a jury could be told? You can hear Brimelow’s response in the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. My weekly podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    21 sec
  6. Law in crisis

    Apr 29

    Law in crisis

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com The international legal order is facing profound disruption, a leading lawyer said last night. Professor Lord Verdirame KC said that institutions created or expanded after the end of the Cold War in 1989 had “too often responded with misguided moralistic fervour and interpretative maximalism, stretching mandates beyond what states consented to and thereby inviting the backlash that now jeopardises their legitimacy and survival”. Verdirame, a practising barrister, professor of international law and non-affiliated peer, was delivering a lecture to the Society of Conservative Lawyers in memory of its long-serving member and honorary secretary Pamela Thomas. The society will be publishing his lecture in due course. In an interview yesterday for A Lawyer Talks, Verdirame discussed the pivotal role of the United States and the current limitations of international law. “The international legal order is not falling apart,” he said. But it was now in crisis. My weekly podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    29 sec
  7. What’s in a pronoun?

    Apr 24

    What’s in a pronoun?

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com A year has passed since the UK Supreme Court decided that when parliament used the terms “man” and “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 it was referring to biological sex, not acquired gender. That seemed clear enough, but some academics appear not to have understood it. How can that be? And will things be any clearer next month when the government publishes the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s long-awaited code of practice on services, public functions and associations? To discuss those questions — and the unexpected importance of personal pronouns — I went to see Dr Michael Foran, an associate professor of law at Keble College Oxford. His new book, Sex, Gender Identity and the Law, is formally published by Cambridge University Press on 7 May. You can hear our conversation in the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. My weekly podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page. And my interview with Lord Hodge, the judge who wrote the ruling, is here.

    27 sec
  8. One Man, Two Guvnors

    Apr 13

    One Man, Two Guvnors

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rozenberg.substack.com A former chair of the bar has called for a wide-ranging review of the way that expert evidence is used in the courts of England and Wales. Speaking to one of the City of London livery companies just before Easter, Sam Townend KC said the use of experts had led to “something of a crisis in judicial and public confidence”. He told the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators that the development of the professional expert witness in recent years challenged the principle that such evidence should be independent. As examples, he referred to the trial of Lucy Letby and the use of psychologists in family cases where so-called “parental alienation” has been alleged. Townend has been speaking about his concerns in the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. Update 9 June: his lecture has now been published. My regular podcast is a bonus for paying subscribers to A Lawyer Writes. Everyone else can hear a short taster by clicking the ► symbol on the graphic at the top of this page.

    29 sec
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About

Joshua Rozenberg KC (hon) is Britain's most experienced commentator on the law. This new podcast complements the daily updates he publishes on A Lawyer Writes. rozenberg.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Joshua Rozenberg
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    85
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joshua Rozenberg
  • Show Website
    A Lawyer Talks

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