Legal News

Judges have, for the first time, been issued with sentencing guidelines on blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment.

An expert panel rather than a High Court judge would provide safeguards under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is now at the committee stage.

Law firms and legal departments may need to do more to bring their workforce up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Future Lawyers Report 2025, published last week.

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.

Lawyers and judges have to embrace artificial intelligence (AI)—‘albeit cautiously and responsibly’—Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, has said. 

Early-stage career and recently qualified solicitors and barristers should have their laptops at the ready this Valentine’s Day, when the much-sought-after High Court Judicial Assistant Scheme opens for applications. 

Intermediate courts and juryless trials are not the answer to the criminal cases backlog, the Law Society and Bar Council have warned.

While rare, the courts can make passport orders to prevent judgment debtors leaving the country. In this week’s NLJ, Chris Bryden and Clara Parry discuss the use of this legal technique and how these orders are enforced.

The government is considering cutting funding for level 7 apprenticeships, which could ‘seriously impact social mobility in the legal profession’, Rhicha Kapila, partner and chief operating officer at Bolt Burdon Kemp, writes in this week’s NLJ. Level 7, the highest level of apprenticeships, ‘create a qualification path for graduates’ that allows them to be paid while they train.

The personal injury discount rate was increased to 0.5% in January, based for the first time on a detailed report by an expert panel. In this week’s NLJ, Julian Chamberlayne wonders whether the decision-making is vulnerable to challenge by judicial review, and uncovers a multitude of weak spots.