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18 January 2018 / David Greene
Issue: 7777 / Categories: Opinion
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New year, new Lord Chancellor

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David Greene hopes David Gauke is allowed to stay in the role long enough to make a difference

A new year; a new team at the Ministry of Justice. The great office of Lord Chancellor appears these days simply to be one stop for the train running up the ministerial track. David Lidington, the last incumbent, for just a few months, has gone on to other (perhaps greater) things which possibly he regrets since he appears to have the role as chief apologist for the Carillion problem.

We rather liked Lidington in comparison to previous incumbents. He seemed sensible and committed, with some knowledge and understanding of the job so it was disappointing to see him go. But hurrah, the King is Dead, Long Live the King, we have at last a lawyer as Lord Chancellor and hurrah hurrah because for the first time in the 1,400 year history of the office he’s a solicitor.

David Gauke was at Macfarlanes; hardly a high street legal aid firm, the business of which is daily fodder

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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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