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06 February 2015 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7639 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights
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Texas hold’em

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Roger Smith reports on a busy start to 2015

The Legal Services Corporation (the federal US legal aid funder) held its 15th annual Technology Initiatives Grant conference in San Antonio this year. The town is best known for the Alamo; the death of Davy Crockett (whose most memorable quote is celebrated on widely available fridge magnets—“You can all go to hell, I am going to Texas”); and as a tourist destination. During the cheap season in January, 290 techies and interested managers turned up to discuss the latest advances in the use of technology in delivering legal services to the poor. To their great credit, the organisers began with an international session—dominated by the two jurisdictions most at the cutting edge of developments—the Netherlands and British Columbia. Thus, there was a presentation of the impressive latest version (2.0) of the Dutch Rechtwijzer project and British Columbia’s online end to end, advice to resolution programme—the civil resolution tribunal—both of which are due to go fully live this year.

The core of the conference was provided by presentations

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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