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15 November 2018 / John Cooper KC
Issue: 7817 / Categories: Features
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Law on the silver screen

John Cooper QC on legal films & the magical ingredients which mean they will always be top of the bill

The British Film Institute’s London Film Festival completed its presentation of films from 75 countries last month, movies which will be hitting our cinemas over the next year and representing many of the important issues facing us in the times ahead. In this respect, it has been a fascinating exercise to consider the films within the Festival which deal with legal themes to try to work out what it is that inspires this year’s crop of movie makers when it comes to the law.

Jeopardy required

Legal themes have always been highly bankable at the box office, and film makers realised from the very early days of celluloid storytelling that movie goers cannot get enough of the genre. Without doubt, that is because all the elements which make up a good story are inherent within the legal process. As new writers, we are always taught that central to any compelling script or story is

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NEWS
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

An engagement ring may symbolise romance, but the courts remain decidedly practical about who keeps it after a split, writes Mark Pawlowski, barrister and professor emeritus of property law at the University of Greenwich, in this week's NLJ

Medical reporting organisation fees have become ‘the final battleground’ in modern costs litigation, says Kris Kilsby, costs lawyer at Peak Costs and council member of the Association of Costs Lawyers, in this week's NLJ
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