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Justice: A year in review

26 November 2020 / Amanda Pinto KC
Issue: 7912 / Categories: Opinion , Covid-19 , Profession , Constitutional law
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Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar Council, reflects on the challenges thrust upon the justice system by the pandemic & some unexpected body blows to the profession

When I became Chair of the Bar on 1 January 2020, the profession’s year ahead featured Brexit, televising courts, criminal legal aid reform, the glacial pace of technological innovation in the court service and continued efforts to modernise our profession to make it better reflect society. Life did not quite turn out that way. What an unpredictable year for the Bar and an extraordinary year for me!

It has been a year of extreme contrasts—the events of 2020 have created unprecedented challenges, but they have revealed how resilient and committed the profession is to ensuring justice is delivered. Coronavirus and the manifestations of pressure on the rule of law and access to justice have been a bass-line thrumming, occasionally drowning out higher, more positives notes, but, nonetheless, the melody has shone through. I give three completely different examples: just as

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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