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13 April 2022
Issue: 7975 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Legal aid focus
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Ministry of Justice strategy

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has made ‘swift access to justice’ one of its key goals, in its Digital Strategy for 2022 to 2025

The strategy, published last week, also sets out to ‘reduce reoffending’, ‘protect the public from serious offenders and improve safety in prisons’. The MoJ proclaims its vision for a ‘justice system that works for everyone’ and a ‘simpler, faster and better for everyone’ user experience of justice.

Other stated goals are to ‘modernise and upgrade courts and tribunals services’, provide ‘straightforward’ access to compensation, improve judiciary confidence in the probation service, create ‘simplified and more reliable access to legal aid’ and support rehabilitation.

Jo Farrar, MoJ Second Permanent Secretary, said the MoJ wanted services ‘designed with the user at their heart’.

View the full document here.
Issue: 7975 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Legal aid focus
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Foot Anstey—Jasmine Olomolaiye

Foot Anstey—Jasmine Olomolaiye

Investigations and corporate crime expert joins as partner

Fieldfisher—Mark Shaw

Fieldfisher—Mark Shaw

Veteran funds specialist joins investment funds team

Taylor Wessing—Stephen Whitfield

Taylor Wessing—Stephen Whitfield

Firm enhances competition practice with London partner hire

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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