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12 September 2025
Issue: 8130 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
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Law reform ahead

Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission

Its 14th programme of law reform, announced last week, will also cover ownerless land—should it automatically pass to the Crown, and who is responsible for any environmental hazards?—as well as agricultural tenancies, deeds and desecration of a corpse. The role of AI will be debated in a project on public sector automated decision-making, while another project will discuss the potential for giving residents greater control over the management of their housing estates.

As well as these ten projects, the Law Commission will continue work on its existing 17 projects.

Law Commission chair Sir Peter Fraser said: ‘In all our projects, we endeavour to provide high-quality recommendations for law reform for Parliament to consider so that the law remains modern and relevant to our changing society.’

Issue: 8130 / Categories: Legal News , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Haynes Boone—Jeremy Cross

Firm strengthens global fund finance practice with London partner hire.

DWF—Stephen Webb

DWF—Stephen Webb

Partner and head of national planning team appointed

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

mfg Solicitors—Nick Little

Corporate team expands in Birmingham with partner hire

NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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