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26 May 2023
Issue: 8026 / Categories: Legal News , International justice , Equality , Public
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NLJ this week: The case for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade

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Could a legal claim for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade succeed? Thomas Roe KC of 3 Hare Court considers a range of possibilities and potential obstacles to such a claim, in this week’s NLJ.

Roe asks: do states have a tenable claim in public international law against states complicit in the transatlantic slave trade? He covers accounts of the trade itself from a book written by an enslaved man who later managed to buy his freedom, and published in 1789. He considers jurisdiction, the intertemporal rule, and other factors.

The CARICOM Reparations Commission was established in 2013 to prepare the case for reparatory justice for descendants.

However, Roe suggests, the route to justice is far from straightforward—read more 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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