THIS ISSUE
Former CILEx President Stephen Gowland has become the first Chartered Legal Executive to be appointed to the Legal Services Board (LSB)
Judges are to be given a 2% pay rise, backdated to 1 April, the government has said
The announcement of ten temporary Blackstone courts (legal equivalent of Nightingale hospitals) ‘feels like the Emperor’s new clothes’, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) chair Caroline Goodwin QC has said
A parliamentary committee is investigating the lack of progress on resolving racial inequalities in the protection of human rights in the UK
Lawyers who enter into damages-based agreements (DBAs) can be paid in the event of early termination, the High Court has confirmed
The long-awaited ‘Russia report’ has called for new legislation to ‘tackle espionage, the illicit financial dealings of the Russian elite and the “enablers” who support this activity’
The Law Commission has proposed radical reforms to home ownership, making it simpler for leaseholders to extend their lease, buy the freehold and take over the management
Shamima Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who joined Isis in Syria in 2015 when she was 15 years old, will receive a fair trial only if she is allowed to return to the UK, the Court of Appeal has held
Ten temporary ‘Nightingale’ courts will be up and running in August to help clear the backlog of cases, the government has said
MOVERS & SHAKERS
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy
Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year
Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles
Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family
Foot Anstey—five promotions
Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas
NEWS
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
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
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
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’
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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