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Decisions, decisions

20 May 2020 / John Gould
Issue: 7887 / Categories: Features , Covid-19 , Constitutional law
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John Gould holds the government to account on its (COVID-19) decision making

The virus has made us all decision takers; seldom can a decision to buy a bag of flour have involved the calculation of the risk of death.

The concern of public law is not so much what the decision is, but rather how it is made. When the stakes are high, as they are now, the scientific considerations esoteric, and the evidence uncertain, we need it to be obvious that the way government decisions are taken is at least of the minimum standard required by law. Lawful public decision making should be more like skilful chess than snakes and ladders.

A very senior judge once said to me that judging is a serious business, and so it is. In our present circumstances we need good judgement from our decision makers more than ever. Over the last decades the courts have established, through judicial review, the characteristics of a sound decision. The paradigm is of a rational and reasonable person

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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