The withdrawal agreement reached with the European Union on 17 October 2019 amounts to a hard Brexit, with Great Britain out of the single market, the customs union and the political arrangements, but with a withdrawal agreement including a transition period until the end of 2020. Legally, the United Kingdom will leave the EU on exit day, which is currently 31 October 2019. But de facto, the UK will remain a member. This is because EU law will continue to apply during the transition period, but the UK will have no role in decision-making. The European Communities Act 1972 will not be repealed until the end of the transition period. Thus, EU law will continue to flow into the UK. The Court of Justice of the European Union will continue to have jurisdiction in respect of the impact of EU law in the UK, and it will be the arbitrator in respect
Brexit: Parliament flexes its muscles
Simon Parsons examines the current state of affairs in Parliament, & warns that even more difficulty lies ahead…
MOVERS & SHAKERS
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Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond
Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands
Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell
Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert
Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green
Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge
NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’
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