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04 May 2017 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7744 / Categories: Opinion
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Election blues

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Jon Robins considers the impact of the snap General Election on the UK justice system

In the countdown to the Brexit election, justice issues are likely to have even less of a look in than recent elections. That’s not to say that the snap poll is not already having an impact on lawyers and indeed non-lawyers.

Ta-ra to Truss?

Newspapers on the right have been rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of an early exit for our third non-lawyer lord chancellor after Chris Grayling and Michael Gove. Earlier last month the Daily Telegraph, before the election announcement, claimed that ‘senior government sources’ reported that cabinet ministers were piling on the pressure on Theresa May to strip Liz Truss of her role as Lord Chancellor.

A landslide win for the Conservatives on 8 June sharply increases the odds of that happening. According to The Sun, the PM is presently ‘sharpening her blade’ in anticipation of a post-election reshuffle.

Lord Thomas last month castigated Truss for her failure to stand up for the

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NEWS

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
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