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04 February 2026
Issue: 8148 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
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MPs bear witness to justice on the frontline

Barristers met with 19 of their local MPs at ten Crown Courts in all six circuits last week, as part of a Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association initiative to defend juries and explain the factors behind the backlog of nearly 80,000 cases

They told MPs delays are often caused by defendants being brought to court late, with one barrister describing how a whole week was lost this way in one trial.

They showed MPs court rooms sitting empty due to the cap on the number of days courts can hear cases—on the day of the visit, 59 out of the 516 Crown Courts were empty. 

Issue: 8148 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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