header-logo header-logo

Use a picture—it’s worth a thousand words

10 February 2021 / Charles Auld , Kate Harrington
Issue: 7920 / Categories: Features , Covid-19
printer mail-detail
38843
Coronavirus regulations: out with impenetrable legalese & in with pictures, graphs & diagrams, say Charles Auld & Kate Harrington
  • Current coronavirus regulations are to be found in numerous precisely worded but borderline incomprehensible statutory instruments.
  • The government could ensure far greater understanding and adherence by presenting the regulations in ways that everyone can understand.

As everybody needs to comply with the COVID-19 restrictions, is it too much to ask that they be drafted in such a way that the general public can understand them? Sadly, however, we have been presented with a plethora of statutory instruments so complex that they are barely understandable by lawyers. If the government had recognised that public accessibility was the primary consideration, it would surely have issued the regulations using diagrams and tables, rather than creating a linguistic behemoth that can only be properly understood by someone who has access to a substantial database of statutes and statutory instruments.

For the man on the Clapham omnibus

It is said that the much-maligned

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll