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Good law?

Nicholas Bevan calls out the DfT over arrangements for the victims of uninsured & untraced drivers

Last April the government launched an important campaign under the banner of “Good Law”. It is intended to increase the quality of lawmaking and to drive these improved standards across all the different organs of government. The initiative is the brainchild of Mr Heaton, who occupies the dual role of First Parliamentary Counsel and Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office. There are many of us who wish him luck; he’ll need it.Heaton’s recipe for “Good Law” is premised on the following key ingredients in the mission statement below:

“The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) would like the user to experience good law—law that is: necessary, clear, coherent, effective, accessible.”

The law buffs among us will immediately recognise that these principles share a more than passing acquaintance with Lord Bingham’s seminal speech in 2006 on the rule of law, and rightly so. It is worth quoting directly from Lord Bingham on the need for legal certainty:

“First,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Appointment of former Solicitor General bolsters corporate investigations and white collar practice

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Firm strengthens international strategy with hire of global relations consultant

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Partner and associate join employment practice

NEWS
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
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