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Sounding off

30 November 2012 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7540 / Categories: Opinion
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Cometh the autumn: cometh the lecture, says Roger Smith

There is something about autumn that makes it a good time for legal lectures. It may be memories of the start of the academic year; enthusiasm brought on by the opening of the legal year; or just the end of the CPD period, but October and November are good months for academics and judges with a message. This year had the usual good crop.

Down among the dead

First up of the three that I have picked was the chief coroner, Judge Peter Thornton QC. He was promoted to the bench from the position of head of Doughty Street Chambers and moved sideways from the Old Bailey to the new post. As he recounted in his speech to the Howard League for Penal Reform, some uncertainty surrounded his initial appointment. For some inexplicable reason (or maybe just to get the numbers up), the Ministry of Justice put the chief coroner post up for the bonfire of the quangos when the coalition government took office. This infuriated

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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

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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
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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
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