Sunny side of the street?

The summer holidays have arrived. Incredibly, the sun is shining, albeit briefly between thunder storms, hail showers, lightening strikes and flash floods.

For those about to head out of the country, or enjoy the glorious British weather on a 'staycation', have a wonderful time.

Don't forget that your legal news from SJ
can be delivered to your inbox for browsing
on the beach or from the shelter of your tent
in the Dordogne. There is no accounting for how some people try to relax.

For those of you who have already spent your holiday allowance, the summer 'break' offers us a time to do the jobs that we never quite get round to. The unopened pile of letters from CPD course providers, filing
(of the paper and electronic kind), reading articles that you have been bookmarking,
and making expenses claims with receipts
you thought had been lost.

It will also be a time to rediscover what colour veneer the top of your desk is from under the piles of files, papers and general detritus that has accumulated over recent months. Usually this comes with a huge sense of satisfaction, quickly followed by smugness and even more quickly by new piles of papers, work and unopened circulars. And so the
world keeps turning.

For some of us, the summer months also provide an opportunity for quiet reflection,
to take stock, consider the future and set
new goals. News came this week that the former politically neutral director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, is looking
to further his career in parliament in
Frank Dobson's current seat of Holborn
and St Pancras.

Standing as a Labour candidate, if successful, we may see another lawyer sitting alongside the career politicians in the Cabinet some
time in the future. Perhaps we might even
have a future lord chancellor in the making?

Meanwhile, Alison Saunders has an interesting dilemma to deal with as she continues to settle in to Starmer's shoes as
the DPP. This week, the House of Lords Communications Committee declared that
the current criminal law is fit for purpose in
the social media age, but tasked Saunders
with providing direction on how police and prosecutors should be securing convictions, particularly in cases of 'revenge porn'.

For the more innocent among us, revenge porn is the act of posting explicit images of ex-partners online, typically on social media sites, often anonymously. Explicit imagery has been synonymous with the world wide web from day one, but now the battle lines have been drawn. Yet tackling this issue is likely to
be beyond the power of the UK parliament.

Which brings us, tenuously, to Dominic Grieve QC. Recently evicted from the attorney general's office, he has been appointed as
vice chair of the Global Law Summit, coming
to London early next year.

Maybe with revenge porn on the home agenda, some international agreement about internet anonymity could be addressed at this meeting of legal minds from around the world. If not, there is always the 'right to be forgotten'.

Kevin Poulter

Editor at large @SJ_Weekly #SJPOULTER
editorial@solicitorsjournal.co.uk

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