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Supreme justice: a year in review

17 January 2019 / Brice Dickson
Issue: 7824 / Categories: Features , Profession , In Court
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Brice Dickson outlines the Supreme Court highlights for 2018

 
  • Personnel, appeals and dissent.
  • Appearances and judgments.

In the last 16 months the composition of the Supreme Court has changed significantly. Of the 12 Justices in post on 30 September 2017, only six remain there today: Lady Hale (President), Lord Reed (Deputy President), Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hodge. They have a collective experience of 52 years’ service in the country’s top court, Lady Hale alone having been there for 15 years. Lady Black, Lord Lloyd-Jones and Lord Briggs replaced Lord Toulson, Lord Neuberger and Lord Clarke during October 2017. Lady Arden and Lord Kitchin replaced Lord Mance (Lady Arden’s husband) and Lord Hughes in October 2018. This month Lord Sales has replaced Lord Sumption, who retired in December 2018. When Lord Mance retired, the position of deputy president was granted to Lord Reed.

All being well there should be no changes in personnel during 2019, but Lady

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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