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01 February 2021 / Brice Dickson
Issue: 7918 / Categories: In court , Features , In Court , Profession
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Annual report: The Supreme Court in 2020

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Brice Dickson reports on the Supreme Court in 2020
  • The Justices & judgment writing.
  • Prominent cases.
  • Institutional issues.

The Justices

At the end of 2020 the Supreme Court looked very different from how it did a year earlier. In January it acquired both a new president (Lord Reed, who was also made a life peer, replaced Lady Hale) and a new deputy president (Lord Hodge, replacing Lord Reed). As well as Lady Hale, Lords Carnwath, Wilson and Kerr all retired, the four new Justices being Lords Hamblen, Leggatt, Burrows and Stephens.

Statistical overview

In 2020 the Supreme Court gave judgment in just 53 cases, the lowest annual number to date and a considerable drop from the average of 68 cases per year. 23 of the cases had been heard by the court in 2019. It’s not clear whether Covid-19 restrictions had any bearing on the throughput of cases. The cases embraced one reference (by the attorney general for Northern Ireland) and 59 appeals (including four cross-appeals).

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth

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NEWS
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Five years after the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force, concerns remain that the family courts continue to minimise allegations of abuse in child contact disputes
NLJ this week: Uber’s legal shield faces scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic
Uber has built a formidable strategy for insulating itself from liability for drivers’ conduct, but the legal terrain differs sharply between the US and England and Wales
NLJ this week: Is it finally time to scrap Part III?
The Civil Justice Council’s review of Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 could mark the end of what one commentator calls an ‘outdated’ and overly technical regime governing solicitor-client fee disputes
NLJ this week: Hereditary peers era finally comes to an end
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 marks a constitutional watershed by severing the centuries-old link between hereditary titles and automatic membership of the upper chamber
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