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02 December 2022
Issue: 8005 / Categories: Legal News , Human rights , EU
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NLJ this week: Who is driving the assault on our human rights?

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‘Depicting the ECHR and HRA 1998 as alien intrusions undermining British sovereignty is historically illiterate,’ Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC writes in this week’s NLJ. Bindman asks: ‘What is behind this assault on the judiciary, the ECHR and HRA 1998?’

He highlights the influence of thinktanks on a government that is displaying undemocratic and authoritarian tendencies. Current justice Secretary Dominic Raab’s antipathy to the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights is well-documented, and the influence of the thinktank Policy Exchange can be traced in his speeches.

Bindman reminds us that the ECHR came out of a largely British initiative spearheaded by Winston Churchill and embodies principles arising in Britain such as the magna carta.

Read Sir Geoffrey's article in full here
Issue: 8005 / Categories: Legal News , Human rights , EU
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Jonathan Askin

Hugh James—Jonathan Askin

London corporate and commercial team announces partner appointment

Michelman Robinson—Daniel Burbeary

Michelman Robinson—Daniel Burbeary

Firm names partner as London office managing partner

Kingsley Napley—Jonathan Grimes

Kingsley Napley—Jonathan Grimes

Firm appoints new head of criminal litigation team

NEWS
Personal injury lawyers have welcomed a government U-turn on a ‘substantial prejudice’ defence that risked enabling defendants in child sexual abuse civil cases to have proceedings against them dropped
Children can claim for ‘lost years’ damages in personal injury cases, the Supreme Court has held in a landmark judgment
Holiday lets may promise easy returns, but restrictive covenants can swiftly scupper plans. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Francis of Serle Court recounts how covenants limiting use to a ‘private dwelling house’ or ‘private residence’ have repeatedly defeated short-term letting schemes
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already embedded in the civil courts, but regulation lags behind practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ben Roe of Baker McKenzie charts a landscape where AI assists with transcription, case management and document handling, yet raises acute concerns over evidence, advocacy and even judgment-writing
The cab-rank rule remains a bulwark of the rule of law, yet lawyers are increasingly judged by their clients’ causes. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, warns that conflating representation with endorsement is a ‘clear and present danger’
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