More than 3,000 people have signed a Law Society petition calling for more government investment in the criminal justice system. It warns that urgent action is needed to keep the system functioning, due to growing shortages of duty solicitors—in five to ten years’ time there are likely to be no duty solicitors in some areas due to an ageing criminal duty solicitor population. Since 2010, 162 of 323 magistrates’ courts have shut, and the legal aid means test holds back funding for most people earning more than £12,475 per year. Sign the petition here.
09 April 2019
Save the criminal justice system
MOVERS & SHAKERS
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 boosts Southampton commercial property team with addition of partner Lee Edwards
Lime Solicitors—four promotions
Lime Solicitors announces four promotions
NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
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
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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