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Departures & arrivals at the MoJ as Johnson flails but stays

08 July 2022
Categories: Legal News , Profession , Constitutional law
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The Attorney General, Suella Braverman has thrown her hat in the ring for job of Prime Minister, while the Solicitor General, Alex Chalk and Justice ministers, barrister Victoria Atkins and former entrepreneur James Cartlidge resigned, as Downing Street descended into political turmoil

Braverman, a barrister, told ITV journalist Robert Peston, in a live interview, she thought PM Boris Johnson should step down and announced her intention to stand for the leadership. She retained her job.

Chalk, Atkins and Cartlidge were among more than 50 members of the government to resign as Conservative MPs struggled to persuade Johnson to leave office this week. Since Johnson’s apparent resignation speech outside Downing Street, Chalk has since been replaced by former family law barrister Edward Timpson while Atkins has been replaced by non-lawyer Tom Pursglove. A successor to legal aid minister Cartlidge has not yet been appointed.

Elsewhere, former Lord Chancellor Sir Robert Buckland, who was sacked by Johnson a year ago, has returned to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary. Former justice minister under David Cameron’s and then Theresa May’s government Shailesh Vara has been appointed Northern Ireland Secretary.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Russell-Cooke—Susanna Heley

Russell-Cooke—Susanna Heley

Legal director appointment bolsters public and regulatory team

Slater Heelis—five appointments

Slater Heelis—five appointments

Firm appoints training partner and four new trainees

Bolt Burdon Kemp—Natasha Orr

Bolt Burdon Kemp—Natasha Orr

Firm strengthens military claims team with senior associate hire

NEWS
Government plans for offender ‘restriction zones’ risk creating ‘digital cages’ that blur punishment with surveillance, warns Henrietta Ronson, partner at Corker Binning, in this week's issue of NLJ
Louise Uphill, senior associate at Moore Barlow LLP, dissects the faltering rollout of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 in this week's NLJ
Judgments are ‘worthless without enforcement’, says HHJ Karen Walden-Smith, senior circuit judge and chair of the Civil Justice Council’s enforcement working group. In this week's NLJ, she breaks down the CJC’s April 2025 report, which identified systemic flaws and proposed 39 reforms, from modernising procedures to protecting vulnerable debtors
Writing in NLJ this week, Katherine Harding and Charlotte Finley of Penningtons Manches Cooper examine Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court ruling that narrowed what counts as matrimonial property, and its potential impact upon claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975
In this week's NLJ, Dr Jon Robins, editor of The Justice Gap and lecturer at Brighton University, reports on a campaign to posthumously exonerate Christine Keeler. 60 years after her perjury conviction, Keeler’s son Seymour Platt has petitioned the king to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy, arguing she was a victim of violence and moral hypocrisy, not deceit. Supported by Felicity Gerry KC, the dossier brands the conviction 'the ultimate in slut-shaming'
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