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07 November 2016 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7722 / Categories: Opinion , Brexit , EU
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Art 50: the verdict

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Michael Zander QC predicts the government is likely to lose the appeal to the Supreme Court

Asked by NLJ for an immediate assessment of last week’s Brexit decision I wrote: “The Divisional Court’s unanimous decision is very clear and very strong. It completely rejects the arguments advanced by the Attorney General for the government. Triggering Art 50 to start withdrawal from the EU requires parliamentary approval not in the form of a vote but in the form of a statute. It would be extremely surprising if the Supreme Court reversed the decision. The government’s Brexit plans have suffered a major reverse.”

The decision provoked disturbingly offensive front-page newspaper headlines of a kind rarely seen in this country, adorned by large accusing pictures of the three judges: “The judges versus the people” (The Telegraph), “Enemies of the people” (The Daily Mail), “Three judges yesterday blocked Brexit. Now your country really does need you” (Daily Express) and the like. The Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, with statutory

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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