One percent bikers clubs: A description

This paper, through an extensive literature review of biker websites, newspaper articles, popular books, the limited scholarly research, and court cases, as well as interviews and associations with law enforcement officers and 1% bikers, identifies and describes the major 1% biker clubs. The Big 5 clubs—Hell’s Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws, Pagans, and Sons of Silence— are discussed. Their history, number of chapters in the United States and overseas, and a “best guess estimate” of membership numbers are also provided. Similar information is provided on the major independent 1% biker clubs—Warlocks, Mongols and Iron Horsemen. There is also a brief discussion of the role of puppet (support) clubs and the four black or interracial 1% biker clubs. This research, describing the clubs, is the first step needed to stimulate research on this under researched topic.     

Wielding Occam's Razor: Pruning Strategies for Economic Loss

The English Court of Appeal is currently faced with three analyticallydistinct approaches to the question of when one party owes anothera duty of care in respect of her economic interests, all ofwhich bear the authority of the House of Lords. Unable to choosebetween them, it has recently adopted a fourth approach combiningwhich combines them, in the apparent belief that the combinationwill eradicate any individual deficiencies. Against the backgroundof a recent case, the author argues that this is a holding strategyat best and methodologically deficient. He also challenges thecontinuing lip-service paid by courts to models of liabilitybased upon ‘assumptions of responsibility,’ examiningand criticising the causes of their persistence in the law inthe face of widespread academic criticism. Instead, the authorargues, the House of Lords should now clearly endorse a singlereasoning strategy to economic loss cases based on the three-stageapproach in Caparo Industries v Dickman. Properly understood,this approach offers the best prospect of facilitating consistentand transparent decision-making in the longer term.     

Public Charitable Collections: Are they a Worthwhile Cause?

This article examines one of the most long-established methods of fund-raising for charitable causes in the UK – public charitable collections – and looks at changing patterns in this method of fund-raising in recent years. There have been changes both in the method of collection, which now extends beyond cash donations collected by unpaid volunteers to direct debits and credit card donations collected by paid collectors, and also in the chosen locations for collections, with a preference for supermarkets and other off-street sites. These changes have brought with them difficulties in the regulation of such collections. The article gives a brief overview of current legislative provisions in the UK and the proposed new measures for England and Wales. It examines some of the practical problems involved with the implementation of legislative provisions, and considers some alternative ways of combating potential fraud.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the DLA Piper column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

A study of the use of Ephedra in the manufacture of methamphetamine

The Ephedra plant has been identified as an excellent source of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, both of which can be chemically reduced to form the widely abused illicit drug methamphetamine. Ephedra contains several additional alkaloids that undergo analogous reductions to form amphetamine and N,N-dimethylamphetamine (also drugs of abuse). The main alkaloids obtained from the Ephedra plant have been reduced using four common methods used by the clandestine operator. The intermediates and byproducts of these reductions have been identified and/or tentatively assigned and the mechanism of formation discussed.