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24 March 2023 / David Walbank KC
Issue: 8018 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal , Human rights
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Crime brief: 24 March 2023

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David Walbank KC examines the relevance of gender identity within the context of extradition requests
  • Law and politics.
  • Transgender women in the prison estate.
  • Society’s changing mores.

The borderlands between law and politics are endlessly fought over. The front lines are constantly shifting. Similar dilemmas can have very different outcomes, depending on whether battle is joined in a court of law, or in the rather more fickle court of public opinion.

This phenomenon is strikingly illustrated by the controversy which, in the view of many, elevated some embarrassing polling data into a full-scale resignation issue for the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. If nothing else, it seems to prove that in politics, as in life, timing is everything. Having found herself on arguably the wrong side of the debate about the incarceration of transgender women in women’s prisons, the hitherto untouchable leader of the Scottish National Party would doubtless look with a quizzical eye on the recent decision of the Administrative Court in Prusianu

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Workplace law firm expands commercial disputes team with senior consultant hire

EIP—Rob Barker

EIP—Rob Barker

IP firm promotes patent attorney to partner

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Banking and restructuring team bolstered by insolvency specialist

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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