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NLJ this week: A decade of LASPO devastation

26 May 2023
Issue: 8026 / Categories: Legal News , Legal aid focus , Rule of law , Legal services
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Ten years after LASPO—what’s the damage? In his column in this week’s NLJ, Jon Robins, vice chair of the Legal Action Group, assesses the state of access to justice in England and Wales, and finds it wanting. 

This is particularly true for Wales, where the whole of Wales apart from the very south and one practitioner in the north is ‘now devoid of publicly-funded help’.

Robins tracks the impact of the cuts, which have been devastating; driving legal aid lawyers out of the sector and leaving large gaps in provision where people with a clear need are simply unable to obtain legal advice, losing homes or employment or suffering some other injustice as a result. 

Read Robins' assessment in full here.

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
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
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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