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03 June 2016
Issue: 7701 / Categories: Case law , Law digest , In Court
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Legal aid

Director of Legal Aid Casework and another v IS (a protected party, by his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) [2016] EWCA Civ 464, [2016] All ER (D) 170 (May)

The Court of Appeal, in allowing the appeal of the Director of Legal Aid Casework and the Lord Chancellor, set aside declarations that the exceptional case funding scheme as operated was unlawful as giving rise to an unacceptable risk that an individual would not be able to obtain legal aid where failure to provide it would be a breach of that individual’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (to the extent applied by the Human Rights Act 1998) or under directly enforceable European Union law, and that the Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/104) and the Exceptional Case Funding Guidance (Non-Inquests) were unlawful in certain respects.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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