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News in brief

01 January 2009
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Legal News , Landlord&tenant , Profession , Intellectual property , Employment
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Musicians take note; Working time; Bar nursery

Musicians take note
Copyright protection for performers and producers could be extended from 50 to 70 years in the UK, under recommendations announced by culture secretary Andy Burnham last month. The proposals are a compromise on EU proposals—EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy favours
extending the term to 95 years.

Working time
The European Parliament has voted to end member states’ ability to opt out of the EU’s Working Time Directive, which prevents employers asking people to work for more than 48 hours per week. The UK currently retains the right to allow employees to opt out. However, the vote has no binding force unless adopted as a decision of the Council of Ministers.

Bar nursery
A chief objective of the new Bar Council chairman Desmond Browne QC is to ensure that more women practitioners are retained in the legal profession. “There is too much evidence of heads banging against glass ceilings,” he says. Browne adds that a Bar nursery would be one “concrete step” in the right direction.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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