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25 November 2022
Issue: 8004 / Categories: Legal News , Risk management , Profession , Legal services
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NLJ this week: How solicitors can protect themselves during a recession

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With economic storm clouds brewing, lawyers need to identify where they are exposed and how best to mitigate any weak spots. 

DAC Beachcroft partners Clare Hughes-Williams and Patrick Hill, writing in this week’s NLJ outline some of the difficulties typically encountered by law firms during a recession and advise on potential safeguards.

Hughes-Williams and Hill look at the need for strong financial governance (particularly in the wake of the collapse of Hodders Solicitors in September) and also warn of the possibility of ‘another round of claims by mortgage lenders, as we have seen during the last two recessions’. Equity release claims, which solicitors should treat with caution due to the potential risk of abuse, are reportedly on the rise again. Finally, the authors give advice on what to do in the event of cyber and ransomware attacks. 

See the full article here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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