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27 July 2017 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7756 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus
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Law centre support post Grenfell: too little, too late?

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The profession’s spontaneous response to Grenfell should be applauded, but demonstrates the dire state of the Law Centres Network, says Jon Robins

Three years ago North Kensington Law Centre moved from its original home at the top end of fashionable Portobello Road to the Baseline Business Centre, formerly the car park underneath the Lancaster West estate and just a few feet from Grenfell Tower.

In the last few weeks, its small team of lawyers, comprising the equivalent of seven full-time posts, plus a small army of volunteers has advised 150 families affected by the fire, a third of that number were formerly residents of the 24-storey tower block.

Much has been said about how the tragedy has revealed the shocking inequality of living conditions of residents in one of the most affluent parts of our capital. It also has much to say about our failing system of publicly funded legal advice. As I pointed out in NLJ earlier this month the experience of the Grenfell tenants has prompted

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The 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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