律师何以成讼棍

律师向法官行贿并非新闻，暗地里向审判官行贿是诉棍们的祖传秘术。让人们拍案惊奇的是，这位律师竟然将历来暗地里进行的潜规则公开化，合了一句成语一行贿公行。诉棍并非是我们时代的新产品．它是专制权利的“传家宝”。宋人在(戒诉录)中曾以歌谣的形式唱道：“些小言辞莫若休，不须经县与经州，衙头府底陪茶酒．赢得猫儿卖了牛。”为何赢了猫儿卖了牛？因为牛被诉棍和贪官污吏们合伙吃了去。     

“每个倒下的法官背后都站着一个律师”

在我国，律师行贿法官犯罪案件并非个案。仅最近几年，就有武汉中院、深圳中院、天津高院以及吉林高院先后曝光法官收受律师贿赂的丑闻。这些法官们都有利用审判案件捞取好处的经历，其中都有律师行贿法官的身影。     

简论讼师——从李庄案入手

李庄案的诸多评论中频繁出现＂讼棍＂一词,首先要对所谓＂讼棍＂进行分析,通过对中国古代讼师的研究,结合现行律师制度,简要分析讼师与律师的区别,对律师制度作了简要的论述。     

看清“麻将贿赂”的实质

报载:为防止“人情”风,确保司法公正和司法廉洁,深圳市中级人民法院日前推出《关于加强对干警业余活动监督管理的若干规定(试行)》和《关于规范诉讼期间法官、律师若干行为的规定》。根据《规定》,法官不得与案件代理律师以打麻将等形式,变相获取不当利益或受贿和行贿,对于违反《规定》的,将视情况对违规人员分别作出警告、记过、记大过、降级、撤职、免除法官职务、辞退、开除等处分。读完此报道,笔者在欣慰之余也觉得有些缺憾。欣慰之情不必多言:司法部门终于意识到打麻将可以成为“变相获取不当利益或行贿和受贿”的一种形式,并严厉禁止…     

浅析刑法分则特别自首制度

我国《刑法》第一百六十四条(对公司,企业人员行贿罪)第三款规定:“行贿人在被追诉前主动 交待行贿行为的,可以减轻处罚或者免除处罚。”刑法第三百九十条(行贿罪)第二款规定:“行贿人在被追诉前主动交待行贿行为的,可以减轻处罚或者免除处罚。”《刑法》第三百九十二条(介绍贿     

关于《律师法》第45条的法律思考

对律师泄露国家机密、行贿或者提供虚假证据的行为实施行政处罚,主要依据是《中华人民共和国律师法》(以下简称《律师法》)第45条、司法部1997年1月颁布的《律师违法行为处罚办法》(以下简称《处罚办法》)。但无论是《律师法》还是《处罚办法》,有关规定都过于原则,实践中较难操作,语义前后矛盾,另外在处罚尺度的设定上也存在一定问题。本文拟从立法原则、立法技巧     

论律师的职业属性

关于律师的职业属性问题,各国《律师法》有不同的表述。我国对律师性质的立法界定,经历了从“国家的法律工作者”到“依法取得执业证书,为社会提供法律服务的执业人员”的认识过程。在《律师法》中准确界定律师的职业属性,是科学安排律师制度、合理设计律师行业发展的前提。值此《律师法》修改之际,本刊特邀请几位专家学者就律师的职业属性问题进行了一次笔谈:     

北京市律师协会会员纪律处分规则

第一章总则第一条为维护北京市律师执业秩序,加强北京市律师协会(下称“律师协会”)行业管理职能;为保障律师协会会员(包括个人会员和团体会员,下称“会员”)依法执业的权利和规范对会员的处分程序,根据《中华人民共和国律师法》、《中华全国律师协会章程》、《北京市律师执业规范》和《北京市律师协会纪律委员会规则》,特制定律师协会会员纪律处分规则(下称“本规则”)。第二条律师协会纪律委员会(下称“纪律委员会”)是律师协会设立的律师执业监督机构,行使对会员执业的监督权和对违规会员的调查处分权,其权力来自律师协会全体会员通过律…     

完善《律师法》是时代要求

“‘天伦律师杯’我来修改《律师法》征文大赛”“‘天伦律师杯’我来修改《律师法》征文大赛”已于年初正式开锣。自从年初征文启事刊出后,不少律师本着从中国律师业长远发展着眼,提出自己对《律师法》修改的见解,见仁见智,其中不乏精彩之处。根据有关部门透露的消息,《律师法》修改经过反复酝酿,已经进入最高司法行政机关的工作日程,在可以预见的时间里,将提交国务院法制办,并由其提交全国人大常委会审议。本刊和广东天伦律师事务所共同举办的“‘天伦律师杯’我来修改《律师法》征文大赛”,旨在希望通过征文的方式,将律师中,带有普遍性的意见传递给相关部门,以期在《律师法》修改中得到回应。修改《律师法》是推进中国法制建设的要求,关乎12万中国律师的根本,欢迎广大律师和关心律师事业的读者踊跃参加大赛,详情见本刊第2、3期征文启事。———编者     

从宪政实施看《律师法》修改——修改律师法的目标和原则思考

修改《律师法》是建设中国特色律师制度的需要修改《律师法》,中国律师与其主管部门(包括行业协会)近年来达成高度一致的共识。但是《律师法》修改的重心在何处,关键要改什么,一段时间以来却似乎有些模糊。简短回顾一下自1996年《律师法》通过以来的8年,特别是近期中国政治生活发生的那些重大事件,或许对整理我们的思路有所帮助。1998年3月,九届全国人大常委会一次会议决定在任期内“初步形成中国特色社会主义的法律体系”。1999年3月,九届全国人大二次会议将“依法治国,建设社会主义法治国家”写入宪法;11月,国务院发布《关于全面推进依法…     

Can a hyphen substitute a space in a domain name?

A recent decision of the Danish Complaints Board for DomainNames addressed the issue of hyphenating words in domain namesto get around the word spacing problem, where the domain namein question conflicted with rights in a personal name.     

Why a Jury Trial is More Like a Movie Than a Novel

This essay is concerned to note the way in which successful trial advocacy seems to stem from the ability to convert legal discourse into a story form. These stories need to be ones with which a jury is familiar. These increasingly come from visual media, particularly film. It looks in detail at one trial where this process of relating a defence to the jury employed the structure of a Mafia film. The essay concludes by examining the reasons why the nature of the novel differs significantly from that of the film and how in the novel-to-film adaptation process a certain simplification is bound to occur.     

From a Civil Libertarian to a Sanitarian

This article is a contribution to the occasional series dealing with a major book that influenced the author. Previous contributors include Stewart Macaulay, John Griffith, William Twining, Carol Harlow, Geoffrey Bindman, Harry Arthurs, André-Jean Arnaud, Alan Hunt, and Michael Adler.     

Wind-drag estimation in a traffic accident involving a motor scooter and a tractor-trailer

This case report describes a noncontact traffic accident involving a motor scooter and a tractor-trailer with a focus on the wind-drag effect. We used load cells to measure the drag force acting on a substantially similar motor scooter when a substantially similar tractor-trailer passes by it, taking into consideration various speeds of the tractor-trailer and distances between the two vehicles. A three-dimensional steady-state flow analysis was also performed by using the CFX program for computational fluid dynamics to examine the streamlines and the pressure distribution around the tractor-trailer at various speeds. From the experiment, for a separation distance of 1.0 m (3.28 ft) and a speed of 90 km/h (55.9 mph), the maximum resultant drag force is 124.5 N (28 lb); this constitutes a degree of force that could abruptly disrupt the stability in maneuvering by an operator who is unaware of the approaching tractor-trailer. In addition, a single equation that relates the tractor-trailer speed to the drag force that acts on the motor scooter was derived on the basis of the Reynolds number (Re) and the wind-drag coefficient (C(d)): C(d) = 1.298 × 10(-7) Re.     

Toolmark Identification of a Mattock to a Clod of Soil from a Grave

Abstract: At a recent bushland gravesite that contained a deceased male, a clod of soil displaying a striated toolmark was collected during the excavation of the grave. This clod was preserved, and the mark was cast using Mikrosil?. Shovels and a mattock, which had been discarded by the suspects, were subsequently found at another location. A toolmark comparison identified the hoe end of the mattock head as having produced the striated toolmark.     

Calculating likelihood ratios for a mixed DNA profile when a contribution from a genetic relative of a suspect is proposed

This technical note describes a practical method for evaluating evidence in the case of a two person conditioned DNA mixture where the defence proposition is that the unknown contributor is genetically related to the suspect. A conditioned mixture is one where the presence of DNA from one of two individuals is accepted by both prosecution and defence. A typical example would be a vaginal swab in an alleged rape case, where the presence of the complainant's DNA would be expected and samples have been taken from the complainant and a suspect. Much has been written about the interpretation of such mixtures and the calculation of the conditional genotype probabilities that must be carried out. In general, such treatments assume that the unknown contributor, under the defence proposition, is unrelated to the known individuals. In this paper, we consider the case where the defence proposition is that the unknown contributor is genetically related to the suspect. We describe a method, incorporating a flow chart and reference tables that facilitate manual calculations of the likelihood ratio for several postulated genetic relationships.