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11 October 2023
Issue: 8044 / Categories: Legal News
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Hope for cohabitation reform

Family lawyers’ group Resolution has welcomed the Labour Party’s commitment to reforming the law for cohabiting couples

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry told Labour Conference this week that Labour, in office, would review the law because, ‘For too long, women in cohabiting couples have been left with no rights when those relationships come to an end’. Thornberry also said women who reported sexual harassment at work should get the same protection as whistleblowers, and the laws protecting women from stalkers would be strengthened.

Jo Edwards, chair of Resolution’s family law reform group, said the announcement ‘should be welcomed by cohabiting couples, together with practitioners who see the significant financial hardship caused by our current, out of date law’.

Also at Labour Conference, in Liverpool this week, shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed never to scapegoat the judiciary or the legal profession, and accused the government of undermining confidence in the rule of law by criticising lawyers.

Issue: 8044 / Categories: Legal News
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Nikki Bowker, Devonshires

NLJ Career Profile: Nikki Bowker, Devonshires

Nikki Bowker, head of dispute resolution at Devonshires, on career resilience, diversity in law and channelling Elle Woods when the pressure is on

Ellisons—Sarah Osborne

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Leasehold enfranchisement specialist joins residential property team

DWF—Chris Air

DWF—Chris Air

Firm strengthens commercial team in Manchester with partner appointment

NEWS
The government will aim to pass legislation banning leasehold for new flats and capping ground rent, introducing non-compulsory digital ID and creating a ‘duty of candour’ for public servants (also known as the Hillsborough law) in the next Parliament

An Italian financier has lost his bid to block his Australian wife from filing divorce papers in England on the basis it was no longer her domicile of choice

Reforms to the disclosure regime in the business and property courts have not achieved their objectives, lawyers have warned
The Law Society has urged ministers to hold a public consultation on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the justice system as a whole
Ministers have proposed bringing inquest work under a single fee scheme for legal help and advocacy legal aid work
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