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NLJ this week: Social housing, Cafcass, language & the divorce that never was

20 October 2023
Issue: 8045 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice
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Former district judge Stephen Gold is on form in this week’s Civil way, literally as well as figuratively, as he reports on updates to’N181’ as a result of the fixed recoverable costs reforms

Gold predicts a rise in the fees recoverable from debtors by the end of the year. He provides useful insight on the Cafcass ‘allocation hub’ (or the freeze on less urgent cases to allow the system to catch up with demand). He reports on a case concerning the need for a witness statement to be in the maker’s own language.

In a bumper two-page Civil way, Gold also covers the impact of a recent Social Housing Regulation, and shares his reflections on the divorce decree nisi-that-never-was in the case of Cazalet v Abu-Zalaf

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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