Free Love

Long hours and stress drive lawyers to drink

Survey shows that alcohol abuse is 'endemic' and use of drugs is becoming more prevalent, particularly in big City firms

42-day detention bill dropped as unworkable

Government set for an humiliating climbdown over the proposal after being told that it will be defeated in the House of Lords

42-day detention legislation unravelled

No sooner had the measure reached the Lords than it met a considerable obstacle in the form of Baroness Manningham-Buller

UK decides against lower drink-driving limit

Britain to become only European country to allow motorists to have at least one alcoholic drink and be legally fit to drive

No appeals for bus passengers

Bus passengers will have weaker rights than rail passengers, despite government pledge that they would be treated equally

Suicide ban ‘breaches right to privacy’

Debbie Purdy is seeking a landmark ruling to clarify the law on assisted suicide, which is prohibited in Britain

Did Magna Carta die in vain?

Are the principles of the legislation still honoured today, asks Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls

Extradition bid raises fear of 'thought crimes'

The case involving an Australian doctor wanted in Germany is the latest example of the global reach of criminal laws

Judges give up wigs in a case of modernisation

Legal history will be made today when judges in civil courts break with 300 years of tradition and ditch their horsehair wigs

Swiss clinic has helped 100 Britons to die

Figure released by the Dignitas centre for assisted dying ahead of a High Court challenge to laws that ban aiding suicide

Officer had two hours’ sleep before shooting

Senior anti-terrorist policeman tells inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes of force strains during July 2005

IVF watchdog lifts ban on Taranissi

UK’s most successful fertility doctor has been cleared in latest of a string of costly legal embarrassments for the HFEA

De Menezes police 'had no picture' of target

Several officers involved in the surveillance operation had only seen a poor quality image of London bomber Hussain Osman

Most men are winning right to see children

The vast majority of disputes between parents over contact with children end with fathers having access, new research shows

£450m aid for councils to settle pay cases

Local authorities are facing a bill of £3bn across England to cover new pay agreements and back-pay for up to 400,000 women

De Menezes ‘found police to be very polite’

Court told how the Brazilian had found British police polite as his family give evidence at the inquest into his death

Church attacks City 'asset strippers and robbers'

Church leaders launch attack on stock market traders and call for a judicial review into Britain’s financial services

De Menezes jurors retrace his last steps

Large contingent of police officers return to platform two of Stockwell Tube station as jury examines death scene

Jury told: forget media reports and hearsay

Coroner tells jury in Menezes shooting inquiry to resist private research and to concentrate solely on the evidence presented

Cancer patient wins right to last-chance drug

Colin Ross, 55, won his battle against the NHS to be given a drug doctors say could prolong his life by up to three years