header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Who decides what the COVID inquiry sees?

30 June 2023
Issue: 8031 / Categories: Legal News , Covid-19 , Public
printer mail-detail
128487
The COVID inquiry, chaired by Baroness Hallett, has been beset by ‘an esoteric dispute’ with the government over the withholding of documents and information, John Gould, senior partner, Russell-Cooke, writes in this week’s NLJ

The dispute centres on the meaning of ‘relevance’, with Cabinet Office determined to hang on to the documents. Meanwhile, Baroness Hallett has a job to do—to examine, consider and report on preparations and the response to the pandemic. Gould asks why Cabinet Office is behaving this way, and on Baroness Hallett’s powers and responsibilities in response. He comments that the Baroness has to date been ’sporting’. 

Gould reminds us of the sobering fact that ‘nearly as many people have died in the UK from COVID as British military personnel died in the six years of World War II’. He writes: ‘It is hard to overestimate the importance of establishing the facts of the pandemic, without doubt or spin—not only for the victims, but also so that hindsight may help us when, inevitably, the next pandemic comes.’ 

Read the article in full here.

Issue: 8031 / Categories: Legal News , Covid-19 , Public
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll