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18 September 2015 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7668 / Categories: Opinion
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Across the pond

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Roger Smith surveys legal news on the other side of the Atlantic

A summer stay in Saratoga Springs, once famous for its spas and now for its racecourse, has reawakened an interest in US legal developments. This was largely because I was staying on a lake with a fellow lawyer interested in discussing such matters. He also encouraged me to renew my digital subscription to The New York Times, whose coverage of legal—as other—issues puts even the best of the British press in the shade. But, had I been more aware of history at the time, it might also have been—as a judge later pointed out to me—because the city was the birthplace of the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1878. This had from the beginning high aspirations for its members. They were to be “attorneys of unquestionable professional attainments, men who made waves in their community, state and nation”. Certainly, there are enough issues to detain men, and now women, of such eminence—many of them very similar to those over here.

Terrorism & the rule

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

42BR Barristers—4 Brick Court

42BR Barristers—4 Brick Court

42BR Barristers to be joined by leading family law set, 4 Brick Court, this summer

Winckworth Sherwood—Rubianka Winspear

Winckworth Sherwood—Rubianka Winspear

Real estate and construction energy offering boosted by partner hire

Gateley Legal—Daniel Walsh

Gateley Legal—Daniel Walsh

Firm bolsters real estate team with partner hire in Birmingham

NEWS
A wave of housing and procedural reforms is set to test the limits of tribunal capacity. In his latest Civil Way column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold charts sweeping change as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins biting
Plans to reduce jury trials risk missing the real problem in the criminal justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, David Wolchover of Ridgeway Chambers argues the crown court backlog is fuelled not by juries but weak cases slipping through a flawed ‘50%’ prosecution test
Emerging technologies may soon transform how courts determine truth in deeply personal disputes. In this week's NLJ, Madhavi Kabra of 1 Hare Court and Harry Lambert of Outer Temple Chambers explore how neurotechnology could reshape family law
A controversial protest case has reignited debate over the limits of free expression. In NLJ this week, Nicholas Dobson examines a Quran-burning incident testing public order law
The courts have drawn a firm line under attempts to extend arbitration appeals. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed of the University of Leicester highlights that if the High Court refuses permission under s 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, that is the end
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