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NLJ this week: A judge’s perspective on safeguards in the assisted dying bill

18 April 2025
Issue: 8113 / Categories: Legal News , Health , Procedure & practice , Human rights
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The safeguarding role of a High Court judge in the assisted dying bill currently before Parliament has been replaced by the oversight of a panel comprising a psychiatrist, social worker and lawyer. In this week’s NLJ, Sir Mark Hedley, a retired High Court judge, shares his reflections on the loss of the judicial role itself.

Sir Mark does so ‘from the perspective of 11 years’ service as a High Court judge of the Family Division, who heard some ten cases in which my decision led (or was expected to lead) to the death of a child or an adult. Each case remains seared in my memory even after 12 years of retirement’.

While Sir Mark emphasises that he offers no comment on the merits of the Bill itself, he makes several observations on the operation and consequences of the Bill, which the legislators may not have appreciated and from the point of view of an experienced judge. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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