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NLJ this week: Family law focus & looking ahead to 2025

10 January 2025
Issue: 8099 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Divorce , Child law
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202719
Family law moved fast last year, with a renewed focus on non-court dispute resolution, more transparency and new protections for domestic abuse victims. And there’s more to come in 2025, as Ruth Omoregie, associate solicitor, and Lola Ajayi, solicitor at Anthony Gold, write in this week’s NLJ.

Omoregie and Ajayi explore key developments and decisions in the past year, including an important decision on the matrimonialisation of assets, examining their implications for families navigating legal challenges.

As for the year ahead, reforms could be introduced on financial remedies on divorce and the rights of cohabiting couples.

Omoregie and Ajayi write: ‘Some jurisdictions, such as Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand, have implemented reforms to offer better protections for cohabitants, such as laws to protect cohabiting couples or provisions of a de facto legal status after a period of cohabitation/children. There are calls for similar reforms in England and Wales, with expectations of change in the near future.’
Issue: 8099 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Divorce , Child law
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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
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
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
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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
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