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17 November 2017 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7770 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Profession
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Time to do better

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The Government should heed calls to make legal aid available for bereaved families at inquests, says Jon Robins

The former Bishop of Liverpool pulled no punches when he published his review of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster earlier this month under the unequivocal if slightly unwieldy title: ‘The patronising disposition of unaccountable power’.

Margaret Aspinall, who lost her 18-year-old son James was killed in the tragedy, welcomed the Right Reverend James Jones’s 122-page report which had 25 recommendations including making legal aid available for bereaved families at inquests. ‘Implementing these reforms will mean that the Grenfell families and others will never have to go through what we did, and we hope they will get justice and accountability for the deaths of their loved ones. For us, this is the legacy of the 96 people who died, that changes will be made for the future good of the country,’ she said.

The Bishop also stressed the importance that the families and loved ones of the 96 fans who died attached to ensuring others

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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