NLJ this week: Rwanda flights decision more precarious than it looks

04 August 2023

Issue: 8036 / Categories: Legal News , Immigration & asylum , Human rights

While the Court of Appeal ruling that effectively halted the removal of ten asylum seekers to Rwanda in June was hailed as a victory by campaigners, the reality is less clear-cut, Dr Romit Bhandari writes in this week’s NLJ.

Bhandari looks at the context, background and legal argument of the decision. He explains why the decision is less of a success for asylum seekers than widely believed. In fact, as he notes, the court drew a ‘troubling distinction’.

He writes: ‘The outcome appears to be a vindication of both individual rights and the rule of law… However, it is also rather more precarious than the outcome suggests. To borrow the German idiom, it’s worth looking for the hair in the soup.’

MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Firm grows real estate team with tenth partner hire this financial year

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

NEWS

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NLJ this week: When your brain signs the contract

Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent

NLJ this week: Comparators—how close is close enough?

Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first

NLJ this week: Domicile—more than where you live

In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss

NLJ this week: Arbitration’s fast lane—with guardrails

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

NLJ this week: Justice for some, access for few?

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

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NLJ this week: Rwanda flights decision more precarious than it looks

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr