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NLJ this week: The curious case of Lord Hermer & the missing speech

28 March 2025
Issue: 8110 / Categories: Legal News , Rule of law
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What is the reason behind the cancellation of a speech this month by the attorney general, Lord Hermer? In this week’s column, Roger Smith, former director of JUSTICE, investigates a mysterious absence and delves into the grey area between politics and law.

He looks at Lord Hermer’s and Sir Keir Starmer’s recent utterings regarding the rule of law and human rights. He ponders whether government ought not to talk the talk about maintaining the rule of law as well as walking the walk. Otherwise, as with a tree that falls in a forest, who notices?

Smith writes: ‘If a state adheres to the rule of law, what value does it have if the state does not explain itself?’ 
Issue: 8110 / Categories: Legal News , Rule of 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
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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
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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