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30 October 2019
Issue: 7862 / Categories: Legal News , Constitutional law , Legal aid focus
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Justice in Wales

Wales should have powers to appoint its own judges and run its own legal aid system, a major report chaired by former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, has concluded.

The Commission on Justice in Wales report, published last week after a two-year consultation process, also suggested treating the law in Wales as distinct from the law in England, giving the Welsh their own legal system.

Lord Thomas said: ‘The way that responsibilities are split between Westminster and Cardiff has created pointless complexity, confusion and incoherence in justice and policing in Wales.’

The Chartered Institute for Legal Executives said it shared the commission’s concern about the adverse effects of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on the legal aid system. It said its members were ‘increasingly dealing with legislation passed by the Welsh Assembly and judgments from Welsh tribunals which are distinct from their counterparts in Westminster and the courts of England and Wales, and we recognise that this divergence will only increase over time’.  

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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