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24 May 2013
Issue: 7561 / Categories: Features
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Book review: Judicial Review Handbook (Sixth edition)

"To say that the handbook is indispensable is merely to repeat what we all know"

Author: Michael Fordham QC
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781849461597
Price: £125

Michael Fordham QC may well be an iconoclast at heart, but it will surely be no disappointment to him that his Judicial Review Handbook has become part of the orthodoxy. It is of itself an establishment figure, to be found right next to the White Book on the benches of the Administrative Courts and the desks of all serious judicial review practitioners.

To say that the handbook is indispensable is merely to repeat what we all know; its central role in administrative law is subject of the very highest authorities, from the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. But what can we say for the sixth edition?

It is self-evident that a book such as this is utterly reliant on its comprehensiveness and currency. Fordham’s self-imposed task of surveying the whole gamut of judicial review cases is a mammoth task, and one that he still undertakes single-handedly.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Chief information officer appointment strengthens technology leadership

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Firm strengthens Wilmslow team with two solicitor appointments

DWF—Ian Plumley

DWF—Ian Plumley

Londoninsurance and reinsurance practice announces partner appointment

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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