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23 May 2019 / John Gould
Issue: 7841 / Categories: Features , Regulatory
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Doing what’s right & legal

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
Conduct unbefitting? John Gould weighs up the evidence surrounding legal but anti-social lawyering
  • One person’s moral conviction is not another’s legal obligation.
  • Lawyers must have integrity and comply with professional codes.

Law is the great ethical common denominator. We can disagree with it but we must obey it or take the consequences. It tells us, in a way which matters, what is right and what is wrong. It tells us what is permitted and what is not. It tells us that with compliance comes the freedom to speak or to do as we please.

Individually I may think that failing to stand for the national anthem should be punished by public stoning but, until my lobbying produces a referendum and legislation, you can continue to sit there gesturing disrespectfully in my general direction. A Beefeater will not appear and haul you off to the Bloody Tower.

Fortunately for lawyers, we are not experiencing a shortage of law. Law, like nature, abhors a vacuum and a vast cloud of law

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Kennedys—Milan Devani

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Chief information officer appointment strengthens technology leadership

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Firm strengthens Wilmslow team with two solicitor appointments

DWF—Ian Plumley

DWF—Ian Plumley

Londoninsurance and reinsurance practice announces partner appointment

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Tightening the screws on JCT terminations
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
NLJ this week: Old rules, fresh warnings in employment law
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
NLJ this week: The rise of the ‘ChatGPT client’ rattles the profession
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
NLJ this week: Surrogacy children caught in succession gap
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’
NLJ this week: Online safety law at a crossroads
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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