Legal News

Divorce lawyers in the UK may have to consider paying out compensation to hundreds of thousands of disgruntled divorcees, because possibly as many as half of all divorce settlements in the UK since the law was changed in 2000 may have had the pension undervalued when the divorce settlement was reached. That is according to Divorce LifeLine, a specialist divorce and pension consultancy which has been investigating the situation.

The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has called on the Government to set up a "robust licensing and registration system" of private investigators.

The report of an inquiry into private investigators by the committee says that private investigators and their companies should be governed by a new Code of Conduct. Under the system a criminal record for breach of section 55 should disqualify individual from operating as private investigators. It concludes that it is getting easier for anyone to advertise themselves as a private investigator and while the industry remains unregulated a number of serious risks remain.

While recognising the honest contribution made by most private investigators, the report highlights the involvement of some private investigators in an illegal market in personal data and calls again on the Government to strength the penalties for data offences.

The committee chair, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, (pictured) said: "Recent high profile events, such as the phone hacking scandal, have thrown light on the sometimes shady world of private investigators. We have found that rogue private investigators are the brokers in a black market in information. They illegally snoop on our data, cash in on our private lives and only get away with a paltry fine.

Nominations are currently being invited by the Ministry of Justice of people for appointment as Queen's Counsel honoris causa (honorary silk). The Ministry of Justice intends to recommend a number of people to Her Majesty for appointment next spring. The legal sector and the wider public are invited to make nominations.

To suggest someone for appointment, the nominator should give reasons for believing that the person nominated has made a major contribution to the law of England and Wales outside practice in the courts, including what the person has done, where and how that amounts to a major contribution, beyond what might normally be expected for someone in that person's position.

Nomination forms are available from the Ministry of Justice website, at www.justice.gov.uk and must be returned by 31 July.

Forcing someone to marry will become a criminal offence in England and Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced. The announcement was made on 8 June at a meeting of stakeholders, experts and campaigners at the Foreign Office.

The decision to create a specific offence of forced marriage follows a 12-week consultation which took views from the public, victims, charities and frontline agencies. The Prime Minister said: "Forced marriage is abhorrent and is little more than slavery. To force anyone into marriage against their will is simply wrong and that is why we have taken decisive action to make it illegal.