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02 May 2025
Issue: 8114 / Categories: Legal News , Equality , Discrimination , Human rights , Diversity
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NLJ this week: Exploring the reasoning behind For Women at the Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court’s decision in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers has sparked heated debate and a lot of confusion about what it means exactly in practice. In this week’s NLJ, Nicholas Dobson takes an in-depth look at some of the legal arguments behind the judgment.

As Dobson writes, the unanimous judgment is ‘a major exercise in statutory interpretation’, on the meaning of ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), and the effect on this of a gender recognition certificate. He explores some of the statutory and caselaw background to the decision.

Dobson writes: ‘The court considered the concept of sex to be “of foundational importance” in EqA 2010. It would be surprising if “sex” and “woman” were intended to have different meanings in different parts of EqA 2010.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Ling Ong, London Market FOIL

NLJ Career Profile: Ling Ong, London Market FOIL

Ling Ong, partner at Weightmans and president of London Market FOIL, discusses her biggest inspirations, the challenges of AI and the importance of tackling unconscious bias

DWF—Imogen Francis

DWF—Imogen Francis

Director and head of IP team joins in Birmingham

Penningtons Manches Cooper—five promotions

Penningtons Manches Cooper—five promotions

Firm boosts partnership and costs practice with five senior promotions

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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