James Thornton

This book offers a timely and detailed examination of the reality of criminal legal practice today. Drawing upon extensive anonymous interviews with criminal lawyers in England and Wales, it illuminates how financial pressures arise within the criminal justice system and how lawyers seek to navigate them.The work of criminal lawyers is frequently depicted in the news and media as exciting, well-paid and worthwhile, with prosecutors aiming to convict the guilty and defence lawyers fighting against miscarriages of justice. In contrast, the picture reported by many is of an already creaking and under-resourced system, now exacerbated by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the book considers whether the criminal legal aid system really can continue to provide those unable to afford a lawyer with access to justice and whether the Crown Prosecution Service can provide justice to victims of crime. The book presents detailed findings about the work and experiences of both prosecutors and defence lawyers, how financial pressures influence this and to what extent this has changed with the new ways of working brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Essential Criminal Law and Criminal Practice for SQE1 explains the key principles of criminal law, criminal practice and ethics in a clear, concise and easy-to-follow style. Principles are introduced and illustrated with reference to practical examples. It is split into three parts: 1) the criminal law 2) criminal practice and 3) useful/illustrative cases which have established or illustrated an important part of the criminal law.The book provides a clear and structured approach with opportunities to apply the relevant principles to the law. It also includes a range of interactive features, including:Revision points: each chapter concludes with a concise list of key revision pointsKey terms to progressively build and consolidate your understandingMultiple choice questions: each section of the book provides multiple choice questions following the SQE1 question format (with answers to enable you to test your knowledge). Further multiple choice questions and answers are also provided on the companion websitePart of a series of books aimed at those who are preparing for SQE1, this concise and accessible text provides a clear understanding of the Criminal Law and Criminal Practice elements of SQE1, including the standard of ethical and professional conduct that you will need to adhere to as a solicitor, and enables you to test your assessment skills

Essential Criminal Law and Criminal Practice for SQE1 explains the key principles of criminal law, criminal practice and ethics in a clear, concise and easy-to-follow style. Principles are introduced and illustrated with reference to practical examples. It is split into three parts: 1) the criminal law 2) criminal practice and 3) useful/illustrative cases which have established or illustrated an important part of the criminal law.The book provides a clear and structured approach with opportunities to apply the relevant principles to the law. It also includes a range of interactive features, including:Revision points: each chapter concludes with a concise list of key revision pointsKey terms to progressively build and consolidate your understandingMultiple choice questions: each section of the book provides multiple choice questions following the SQE1 question format (with answers to enable you to test your knowledge). Further multiple choice questions and answers are also provided on the companion websitePart of a series of books aimed at those who are preparing for SQE1, this concise and accessible text provides a clear understanding of the Criminal Law and Criminal Practice elements of SQE1, including the standard of ethical and professional conduct that you will need to adhere to as a solicitor, and enables you to test your assessment skills

This book offers a timely and detailed examination of the reality of criminal legal practice today. Drawing upon extensive anonymous interviews with criminal lawyers in England and Wales, it illuminates how financial pressures arise within the criminal justice system and how lawyers seek to navigate them.The work of criminal lawyers is frequently depicted in the news and media as exciting, well-paid and worthwhile, with prosecutors aiming to convict the guilty and defence lawyers fighting against miscarriages of justice. In contrast, the picture reported by many is of an already creaking and under-resourced system, now exacerbated by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the book considers whether the criminal legal aid system really can continue to provide those unable to afford a lawyer with access to justice and whether the Crown Prosecution Service can provide justice to victims of crime. The book presents detailed findings about the work and experiences of both prosecutors and defence lawyers, how financial pressures influence this and to what extent this has changed with the new ways of working brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waymarks tracks one man through significant encounters with the natural world, around the globe.An Ethiopian lake, an Australian rainforest, an American desert, an English beach: the stage keeps changing, but the intent stays the same. A poet enters a deep dialogue with birds, animals, people, plants, seas, and all the forces that threaten and churn this mix of life.James Thornton is a zen priest, and Waymarks sits alongside other classics of metaphysical writing in which poets bare their soul. Teachings from great figures along the way permeate the collection: a West Coast poet, a Japanese Zen Master, a spiritual leader, and the Dalai Lama.

The Irish-American poet James Thornton is known globally as a world-leading environmental lawyer working to save the planet. In this second poetry collection he returns to the same French Pyrenean village every Spring. Over 25 years he has settled at his desk, the flanks of hillsides beyond his window, and captured in verse the life and nature of the French Pyrenean village that is his second home. James’s poetry conjures the lives of ancient villagers. snakes, turtles, fish, birds, flowers, crops, insects, hogs and children.

Cassin leads a simple life. Someone has a problem with a monster. Cassin solves it. Far from easy work, but it pays better than the alternative.A letter addressed to his name arrives while on a job, strange enough for a person in his field but for him, more so. With only a map, a request, and the promise of riches, Cassin's next job is decided.Not long after his arrival, he learns that things in this isolated village are not as simple as he's used to. With events only becoming more bizarre, Cassin is brought eye to eye with his own morals. Or the lack thereof.What is a monster? Who gets to decide? And does it matter if you're getting paid?

Ecological disaster across the globe is being averted by the skillful, strategic deployment of idealistic and dogged environmental lawyers enforcing existing laws (and working to improve them).Environmental lawyer James Thornton sees the Earth as his client. The organisation he founded in 2007, ClientEarth, uses advocacy, litigation, and research to address the greatest challenges of our time - including biodiversity loss, climate change, and toxic chemicals. It now has sixty lawyers working full-time - finding, taking on, and winning cases across a broad spectrum. They are, for instance, blocking Scandinavian attempts to recommence whaling, winning against the UK government for breach of the Air Quality laws, reforming the European Fisheries Policy, stopping new coal-fired stations being built in Poland, and shutting down illegal forestry in central Africa.Client Earth draws on a wide range of interviews with leading lawyers, scholars, European Commissioners, government ministers, business leaders, fisheries specialists, environmental activists, philanthropists, and many regular stakeholders who have learned to use the law to protect their own environments. It provides inspiration from the chain of victories already won in what may be the most compelling legal drama ever played out in the courts: the Earth and its people versus the major polluters and fossil-fuel giants.

The U.S. wine industry is growing rapidly and wine consumption is an increasingly important part of American culture. American Wine Economics is intended for students of economics, wine professionals, and general readers who seek to gain a unified and systematic understanding of the economic organization of the wine trade. The wine industry possesses unique characteristics that make it interesting to study from an economic perspective. This volume delivers up-to-date information about complex attributes of wine; grape growing, wine production, and wine distribution activities; wine firms and consumers; grape and wine markets; and wine globalization. Thornton employs economic principles to explain how grape growers, wine producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers interact and influence the wine market. The volume includes a summary of findings and presents insights from the growing body of studies related to wine economics. Economic concepts, supplemented by numerous examples and anecdotes, are used to gain insight into wine firm behavior and the importance of contractual arrangements in the industry. Thornton also provides a detailed analysis of wine consumer behavior and what studies reveal about the factors that dictate wine-buying decisions.