header-logo header-logo

01 January 2009
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Legal News , Landlord&tenant , Profession , Intellectual property , Employment
printer mail-detail

News in brief

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

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

Daniel Burbeary, office managing partner of Michelman Robinson, discusses launching in London, the power of the law, and what the kitchen can teach us about litigating

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Firm welcomes partner with specialist expertise in family and art law

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Dual-qualified partner joins international private client team

NEWS
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
back-to-top-scroll