header-logo header-logo

26 July 2024 / Mary Young
Issue: 8081 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
printer mail-detail

Dear Sir Keir…

183120
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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

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’ 
back-to-top-scroll