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11 November 2020 / Marian Bloodworth
Issue: 7910 / Categories: Opinion , Employment , Covid-19 , Profession
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Navigating challenging times

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Marian Bloodworth, ELA chair, outlines the current pressures on practitioners & calls for change

As I prepared to take over as chair of the national Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) a few months ago, a number of people asked me what I would like to achieve in the course of the next two years. 

Given that we were in the middle of a pandemic, simply ensuring the organisation makes it through the next two years, keeping the interests of our 6,000 members at front of mind, as we navigate COVID-19, Brexit and the concerning challenges to the rule of law among other things, will be an achievement in itself. 

However, there is more that I would like to do while in post in terms of supporting our members. It has long struck me, and indeed it is generally well recognised, that the legal profession is not as good as it could be in looking after its own. While we may advise others as to their rights, legal remedies and the protections to

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Winckworth Sherwood—Charlotte Coleman & Qaisar Sheikh

Two promoted to partner in property litigation and education teams

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Dorsey & Whitney LLP—Peter Knust

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Powell Gilbert—Callum Beamish-Lacey

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NEWS
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Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
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The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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