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16 January 2020 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7870 / Categories: Opinion
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‘Get online courts done’

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Roger Smith believes the devil is in the detail for  delivering online courts & justice

In the midst of recent momentous political times, the Conservative Party’s mantra ‘Get Brexit done’ won over a majority of voters. Richard Susskind’s latest book has its own intractable mantra: ‘Get online courts done’ (Online Courts and the Future of Justice, Oxford University Press).

Professor Susskind has always been a persuasive writer: now he has perfected a steamroller style that flattens opponents, doubters and waverers in a red hot torrent of argument. It is good fun. Very readable. And very human. Professor Susskind opens by admitting that he often jokes that he writes ‘the same book every four years’. There is a bit of truth in that: he is not alone in making that joke. And, his next book—for which I doubt that we will wait the full four years—should be rather different because the world is moving on from the binary question of whether online courts are good or bad to how and in what

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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