header-logo header-logo

Government gets to work on 40 Bills

24 July 2024
Issue: 8081 / Categories: Legal News , Planning , Employment , Arbitration
printer mail-detail
From planning to arbitration, lawyers welcomed a bumper package of 40 bills in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s first King’s Speech

The Arbitration Bill, introduced in the House of Lords this week, implements Law Commission recommendations to improve the Arbitration Act. Bar Council Chair Sam Townend KC called the Bill an ‘important reform’ that will help London maintain ‘its deserved reputation as the foremost centre for international arbitration. The hard currency and soft power value to the country of the legal services sector, the most liberal and open in the world, and already constituting 10% of the global legal economy, should not be understated’.

On the issue of court delays, the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill will allow associate prosecutors to work on appropriate cases, and create specialist courts at every Crown Court to fast-track rape cases.

Welcoming a Bill to modernise the asylum and immigration system, Katie Newbury, partner, Kingsley Napley, said she hoped it would include ‘repeal of the Illegal Migration Act which inhibits proper consideration of asylum claims and the introduction of safe and legal routes for those wishing to seek international protection in the UK’.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill—key to the government’s growth agenda—will reform compulsory purchase compensation, modernise planning committees and speed up decision-making.

Ben Standing, partner, Browne Jacobson, recommended the government define the ‘grey belt’, simplify the process whereby councils update their local plans and ‘clarify what the planning system will prioritise when giving weight to various considerations’.

Law Society President Nick Emmerson welcomed the Employment Rights Bill’s ‘focus on improving dispute resolution and enforcement’. It aims to deliver a genuine living wage, ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and ‘fire-and-rehire’ practices, and make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one. However, probationary periods for new hires will stay.
Issue: 8081 / Categories: Legal News , Planning , Employment , Arbitration
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll