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05 December 2025
Issue: 8142 / Categories: Features , Public , Judicial review , Human rights
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Public law update: December 2025

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The latest human rights & judicial review cases from the team at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
  • In human rights cases, courts are still grappling with the tension between fulfilling their constitutional role of ensuring accountability for executive interference with rights and respecting the judgment of the decision-maker.
  • The extent to which judicial review applies in a contractual context remains a difficult area, with inconsistency between recent case outcomes, showing the context-specific nature of such issues.
  • The courts continue to take a strict approach to delay in commencing judicial review proceedings, particularly in the planning and infrastructure context.

Interference with ECHR rights

In Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs [2025] UKSC 30, the Supreme Court dealt with combined appeals under the sanctions regime (where judicial review principles apply), raising issues under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The focus was the correct approach of both first instance and appellate courts in determining whether interferences with ECHR rights are proportionate.

The Supreme Court confirmed

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen appoints senior legal PR and ex-government communications adviser, Liz Giles

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott boosts Southampton commercial property team with addition of partner Lee Edwards

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors announces four promotions

NEWS
An indemnity costs battle with a £20m gap could reopen an important question: what weight should an approved budget carry?
The Environment Agency can prosecute offences beyond environmental legislation where proceedings support its statutory functions, the Divisional Court has confirmed
Should a conviction stand when a later ruling reveals that the law underpinning it was wrong? The answer exposes a clash between finality and justice
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Possession claims are entering a new digital era, with procedural traps awaiting practitioners who assume familiar rules still govern every step
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