Regulatory

The Financial Ombudsman is poised for major reform to return it to a simple, impartial dispute resolution service

Monisha Shah, who currently chairs the Kings Counsel Selection Panel, has been selected to lead the Legal Services Board (LSB), subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee

Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design

The law must keep pace with technological change but shouldn’t be reactive, write Alexander Brown & Alexandra Webster

A highly experienced chartered legal executive has been prevented from representing her client in financial remedies proceedings, in a case that highlights the continued fallout from Mazur

The collapse of law firms Axiom Ince and SSB Group demonstrate the need for the Legal Services Board (LSB) to strengthen its oversight of frontline regulators, Law Society president Mark Evans said this week

As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR

Data protection law already provides the tools to tackle intimate image abuse: it is time for those in power to act, says Jon Belcher

The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’

Dominic Regan reports back from a front row seat at the Mazur appeal