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Dear Sir Keir…

26 July 2024 / Mary Young
Issue: 8081 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
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Mary Young sets out a lawyer’s wish list for the new prime minister & the Labour government

Overcrowded prisons and an underfunded criminal justice system are already demanding the attention of our new prime minister. However, given his pre-politics career, Sir Keir Starmer will understand better than most several other issues lawyers are currently grappling with which would benefit from government review. While these are unlikely to feature on the public’s priority list, they can only be resolved through government intervention. Here is one lawyer’s wish list for Sir Keir’s first year in office (assuming the first 100 days agenda is already full):

PACCAR & the Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill

The Supreme Court decision in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) (Appellants) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others (Respondents) [2023] UKSC 28, [2023] 4 All ER 675 changed the litigation funding landscape in the UK. The decision held that litigation funding agreements which enabled funders to take a payment based on the amount of damages recovered fell within

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NEWS
Property lawyers have given a cautious welcome to the government’s landmark Bill capping ground rents at £250, banning new leasehold properties and making it easier for leaseholders to switch to commonhold
Four Nightingale courts are to be made permanent, as justice ministers continue to grapple with the record-level Crown Court backlog
The judiciary has set itself a trio of objectives and a trio of focus areas for the next five years, in its Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2026-2030

The Sentencing Act 2026 received royal assent last week, bringing into law the recommendations of David Gauke’s May 2025 Independent Sentencing Review

Victims of crime are to be given free access to transcripts of Crown Court sentencing remarks, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed
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