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30 September 2010 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7435 / Categories: Opinion , Media , Defamation
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All change?

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Libel lawyers might well take a more nuanced view than some press commentators of the news that Mr Justice Eady is to be replaced as the judge responsible for the Queen’s Bench jury lists which hear the major defamation and privacy cases.

Will replacing Mr Justice Eady improve press-judiciary relations, asks Jon Robins

Libel lawyers might well take a more nuanced view than some press commentators of the news that Mr Justice Eady is to be replaced as the judge responsible for the Queen’s Bench jury lists which hear the major defamation and privacy cases. Certainly, more so than the Daily Mail columnist who memorably accused Eady J of being “as cold as a frozen haddock”.

Criticising judges for a lack of emotion seems to be missing the point, but Eady J’s many journalist critics will be hoping that his departure, and the appointment of his successor, Mr Justice Tugendhat, might mark a thawing of relations between judiciary and the press.

Attack

It was the case brought by Formula One boss

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

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
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
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’ 
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