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NLJ this week: Protest and be damned? Dilemmas for healthcare professionals & their regulators

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Doctors with placards—what is the law? In this week’s NLJ, barrister Amy Woolfson, of 5 St Andrew’s Hill, analyses the legal position where healthcare professionals take part in climate activism

Woolfson writes: ‘The record-breaking heat in summer 2022 led to cancelled operations, staff and bed shortages, and hospital overheating. It is understandable that many medical professionals, who were trained to promote and protect health, feel compelled to speak up.’

Extinction Rebellion has a specific group for healthcare professionals, Health for XR, and provides support for those who face regulatory or criminal action. However, the array of legal tools used to curb protest has expanded. This means healthcare regulators are being faced with professionals who have committed contempt of court or been convicted of protest offences. At what point does their fitness to practise become impaired? 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Set creates new client and business development role amid growth

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Sports disputes practice launchedwith partner appointment

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

Tax and succession planning offering expands with returning partner

NEWS
The rank of King’s Counsel (KC) has been awarded to 96 barristers, and no solicitors, in the latest silk round
Can a chief constable be held responsible for disobedient officers? Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth, professor of public law at De Montfort University, examines a Court of Appeal ruling that answers firmly: yes
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
The Ministry of Justice is once again in the dock as access to justice continues to deteriorate. NLJ consultant editor David Greene warns in this week's issue that neither public legal aid nor private litigation funding looks set for a revival in 2026
Civil justice lurches onward with characteristic eccentricity. In his latest Civil Way column, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist, surveys a procedural landscape featuring 19-page bundle rules, digital possession claims, and rent laws he labels ‘bonkers’
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