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29 July 2019 / Alec Samuels
Categories: Features , Profession , Constitutional law
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Judicial Leadership: A New Strategic Approach (Book review)

“Society is changing, requiring adaptation and resilience on the part of the judiciary”
  • Authors: Sir Ernest Ryder and Stephen Hardy
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • IBSN: 9780198829331
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: £39.99

There was a time when an able and experienced QC became a judge, sat in court, sorted out the relevance and credibility problems in the evidence, ruled on any disputes in law, and gave his ultimate decision, usually sound; and went home. Not anymore. No longer is judging no more than an art, practised by those with requisite experience and a natural talent. Judging has also become a science.

The change principally has come about through the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The role of the lord chancellor virtually disappeared, the lord chief justice became the head of the judiciary, and the senior president of tribunals became the head of the tribunals. The judges—over 5,000 of them—have taken over a significant administrative and management role as well as the judging role in the courts,

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Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

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NEWS
The Legal Action Group (LAG)—the UK charity dedicated to advancing access to justice—has unveiled its calendar of training courses, seminars and conferences designed to support lawyers, advisers and other legal professionals in tackling key areas of public interest law
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
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