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08 August 2019 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7852 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Profession , Legal services
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All for one & one for all? Not quite

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Jon Robins salutes SB for shining a light on the dark underbelly of modern legal practice

‘I am Secret Barrister,’ went the cry. The anonymous blogger seemed to speak for the entire beleaguered criminal defence profession. SB’s book was a message that all lawyers could rally behind to protest the government’s wrecking ball.

One book might well prove more effective at explaining the depth of the crisis of our broken justice system than the combined efforts of all the profession’s representative groups in the last 20 years. But because it is very effective public relations doesn’t mean it’s an entirely comfortable read for lawyers.

SB shone an unforgiving light on the dark underbelly of modern legal practice. Not every defence lawyer is a plucky defender of the vulnerable against the overbearing might of the state; not everyone is a legal aid hero. Some are hopeless and others are downright dangerous. Meet Keres & Co: Secret Barrister’s savage depiction of a defence firm whose solicitors (‘amoral

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Browne Jacobson—Vicky Tomlinson

Browne Jacobson—Vicky Tomlinson

Browne Jacobson appoints Vicky Tomlinson as Head of Independent Health and Care

DWF—five appointments

DWF—five appointments

DWF further strengthens major injury and casualty offering with new partner and four directors from DAC Beachcroft

Switalskis—Laura Ornsby

Switalskis—Laura Ornsby

Switalskis strengthens Grimsby child care team

NEWS
The Supreme Court has settled a long-running dispute over part-time workers: unfavourable treatment need be a significant or effective cause, not the sole cause
Arbitration may be private, but its confidentiality is no impenetrable shield. Writing in NLJ this week, James Glaysher of Kingsley Napley examines when courts will permit arbitral material to surface in open litigation
The Financial Reporting Council’s revised Audit Enforcement Procedure will alter the balance of power in corporate investigations
A telecoms operator may be able to hold over under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, yet still be unable to secure a renewal: an outcome described as a legal ‘paradox’

Safety fears do not automatically justify shutting an interested person out of a statutory will application

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