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NLJ this week | Archive Civil way: 200 years & still going strong

15 April 2022
Issue: 7975 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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To celebrate 200 years of NLJ’s history former District Judge and NLJ columnist Stephen Gold steps back in time, snuff box in hand, to the cobbled streets of yesteryear to pen a new series of columns from the archive

Some issues of this distant past may strike a chord today. Gold writes: ‘Lawyers were being unfairly attacked by the peers―“It is time to meet the matter gravely, and assume a resolute attitude of defence”, proclaimed an editorial… The profits of lawyers had reduced by one-half since 1825.’

Gold spins the clock to sample the professional worldview of NLJ’s forefathers (no women were allowed back then). He reports back from Victorian times on jealous mutterings between advocates and attorneys, advertised cures for gentlemen’s gout and the regular correspondence of a Mr Stone.

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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