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Stuart Hanson on why mediators should not be celebrating the repeated extension of an inadequate scheme

The justice budget for the coming year, 2025–26, is set to be about one third higher (£13.5bn) in real terms than in 2019–20 (£10bn), according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Creative approaches & daring action can lead to surprisingly positive outcomes for clients, writes Rachel Buckley

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has opened its consultation on a £20m boost for housing and immigration legal aid practitioners.

The Ministry of Justice’s latest review of civil justice has failed to inspire Roger Smith, former director of Justice. In his NLJ column this week, he reveals he read all seven reports over the new year and ‘did so with a heavy heart’.

Reading between the lines of the government’s latest review of the civil legal aid system, Roger Smith unearths the same old fundamental problems at its heart

Solicitors are to receive a criminal legal aid rates rise while Crown Court sitting days will increase in number to tackle the still-rising cases backlog

Lawyers have hailed the first increase in civil legal aid in 30 years—an extra £20m for housing and immigration. The last funding rise was in 1996.

Duty solicitors at police stations will receive an extra £18.5m from 6 December, while legal aid lawyers at youth courts will get a £5.1m boost for the most serious cases, the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood has confirmed.

It feels like civil legal aid has been in crisis forever—so is the current system simply irreparable? In this week’s NLJ, Roger Smith, former director of JUSTICE, argues that we need a radical rethink.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS

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NLJ this week: Big tech for small firms

Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs

NLJ this week: SLAPPed shut?

From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics

NLJ this week: Justice delayed, justice denied

Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly

NLJ this week: Days numbered for upwards-only rent reviews

Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

NLJ this week: The road ahead for employment rights

Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ

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Legal aid focus

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Keoghs—four appointments

Brabners—Ben Lamb