Legal News

Legislation allowing costs lawyers to become judges will be laid this year, the Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has predicted.

Two thirds of people are aware that family mediation is an option to help avoid court in the event of divorce or separation, but only 30% would make a family mediator their first port of call.

History was made this week as journalists and legal bloggers were given effective access to all family courts in England and Wales.

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

Celebrations were taking place across the Bar last week as 105 new silks received the good news.

A test case on extradition has been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. Writing in this week’s NLJ, George Hepburne Scott, barrister at Church Court Chambers, explains the issue—a lack of consensus among High Court judges about the extent to which they can take account of the prospect of early release overseas.

The validity of pre-nuptial agreements remains an inexact science. In this week’s NLJ, Mark Pawlowski, barrister and professor emeritus of property law, School of Law, University of Greenwich, examines recent caselaw, including cases involving foreign pre-nups where parties have subsequently sought divorce in the English courts.

Advances in implantable neurotechnologies could have a profound impact on rehabilitation, with consequent game-changing implications for personal injury and clinical negligence claims, Harry Lambert, barrister at Crown Office Chambers, explains in this week’s NLJ.

Two defendant states, Spain and Zimbabwe, who challenged the registration in English courts of arbitration awards made against them, came a cropper in the Court of Appeal last year. Writing in this week’s NLJ, international arbitration specialists Neil Newing, partner, and Pietro Grassi, senior associate, at Signature Litigation, explore the ruling in the combined case and its implications.

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’.