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Law digests: 24 January 2025

24 January 2025
Issue: 8101 / Categories: Case law , In Court , Law digest
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Adoption

Re X and Y (Children: Adoption Order: Setting Aside) [2025] EWCA Civ 2

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and held that there is no jurisdiction at first instance for the High Court to revoke validly made adoption orders, even in exceptional circumstances or on welfare grounds. Adoption orders are ‘transformative’ and intended to be permanent and irrevocable for life, as if the child had been born to the adopter. The only way to challenge an adoption order is through an appeal or in exceptional circumstances amounting to a fundamental breach of natural justice.


Arbitration

Collins and others v Wind Energy Holding Ltd [2025] EWHC 40 (Comm)

This is a claim to set aside a final award. The court held that the arbitrator had not breached her duties under s 33 of the Arbitration Act 1996 by refusing to adjourn the evidential hearing to accommodate issues regarding legal representation and health concerns of the claimants, where the claimants had failed to take proper steps to enable legal representation; admitting

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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