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11 December 2019 / Grania Langdon-Down
Issue: 7868 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Magic circle ‘lifer’ with a heart: Simon Davis

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Law Society President Simon Davis, a career ‘lifer’ in a magic circle firm, tells Grania Langdon-Down why he is keen to demonstrate Chancery Lane’s relevance to all sides of the profession & the public

As the country wakes up to a new government, Simon Davis, the Law Society’s 175th president, has warned against a ‘kneejerk’ reaction to the London Bridge attack that left two young people dead.

During the election campaign, politicians had been polishing up their law and order credentials with promises of extra police officers. But there was little in the party manifestos that presented a coherent set of policy reforms across the justice system in relation to legal aid, prisons, probation or the court estate. And it took the tragic events on London Bridge to expose what practitioners have been warning for years—that the whole justice system has been systematically starved of funds for more than a decade.

Immediately after the attack, party leaders launched into a ‘blame game’ about who was responsible for Usman

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NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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