By Julius Melnitzer | January 4, 2026
RATES HIT NEW BOTTOM FOR LEGAL AID LAWYERS
$193.20 for 15 hours: that’s what the UK government paid an experienced lawyer for publicly-funded family law work. And according to a recent Bar Council report, that news doesn’t come close to revealing the personal cost of taking on legal aid work. Many tasks are unpaid: one family lawyer, asked to draft an eight-page argument overnight, received nothing for her work – “This is not an unusual occurrence”, the report says. Lawyers blamed legal aid cases for “serious” medical events, burnout, and unhealthy work-life balance. Fees for family lawyers have not gone up since 1996, and were reduced by 10% in 2011, The Law Gazette notes.
Related Article: Legal Aid can’t refuse to pay for 90% of firm’s document review
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING LAWYERS
An American advocacy group, Al Otro Lado, has discovered a covert “watch list” of numerous immigration lawyers on an ICE website. According to Practice Source, the lawyers are “overwhelmingly Latino, Asian, or with African-sounding names”. Al Otro Lado claims the database raises serious issues of “political targeting and professional intimidation”. Doubtless preparing for its inevitable deniability claims, ICE removed the online list after its discovery.
Related Article: Trump punishes immigration lawyers
UK PROPOSES 25% REDUCTION IN CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS
In early December, Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced drastic measures to cut down jury trials in criminal cases. The measures included giving judges alone the power to handle cases involving sentences of three years or less; granting courts the power to decide where cases would be heard by way of “no longer allowing criminals to game the system and torment their victims”; judge-only trials for “technical and lengthy” fraud and financial offences; and giving magistrates power to impose sentences of up to 18 months.
Related Article: COVID-19 puts courts, integrity of Ontario’s civil jury system on trial
PERU FIRST TO GRANT LEGAL RIGHTS TO INSECTS
Two Peruvian regions have become the first jurisdictions in the world to grant legal rights to insects. The beneficiaries are the Peruvian Amazon rainforest’s native stingless bees, who pollinate more than 80% of the flora in their habitat, including crops such as cacao, coffee, and avocados. Indeed, researchers were able to map links between deforestation and stingless bees’ decline. Under the new laws, the bees will have the right to exist and thrive, to maintain healthy populations, to a healthy habitat free from pollution that maintains stable climatic conditions, and to have legal representation when threatened or harmed.
Related Article: FBI criminalizes environmental groups
DISBARRED LAWYER’S NOVEL REFLECTED HIS SINS
Ravi Sidhu, a UK lawyer who authored a book about a rule-breaking prosecutor, has been disbarred for cutting referring solicitors out of a case without the knowledge of his client, marking the days he spent on the project as vacation time. Although Sidhu’s brother, Jo, A former chair of the criminal bar, had also been disbarred for unrelated conduct, he managed his decline without the aid of a predictive work of art.
RELATED ARTICLE: Lawyer disbarred for extramarital affairs
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at julius@legalwriter.net or on his website.