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15 April 2016 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7694 / Categories: Opinion
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​Two steps forward...

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Roger Smith reports on legal developments at home & away

 

Three stories from three continents this month: two relating to the frontiers of the future and the third a throwback to more unfortunate times.

Law Society Legal Aid Conference

The Law Society’s reputation among legal aid practitioners has not been of the highest in recent years. Des Hudson’s exit as chief executive was, of course, hastened by an ill-advised strategy of cosying up to government. The Society’s annual legal aid conference has not, perhaps in consequence, been the highlight of many legal aid practitioners’ recent years. However, its 2016 edition was, to be fair, rather good. My sense was that, having been hit for six, legal aid practitioners were beginning to regroup and that this was reflected in some of the contributions to the conference. For me, the best speakers were two in the last session. One was Corry van Zeeland from The Netherlands. She talked about how the Dutch Rechtwijzer (now rebranded ReWire) project that is developing offshoots in British Columbia, MyLawBC, and here in

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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