THIS ISSUE
From January 2025, independent schools will be subject to 20% VAT, leading to much head-scratching by school bursars. Writing in this week’s NLJ, Liz Brownsell, partner & head of charities at Birketts, and Kieran Smith, VAT partner at Crowe UK, look at a variety of options independent schools might consider to make the best of the situation.
Physician-assisted suicide should be the preferred term rather than ‘assisted dying’ when discussing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, writes Professor John Keown, senior research scholar in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, in this week’s NLJ.
Whether it’s a call to ‘bring me more Sir Geoffreys’ or a prediction gleaned from assorted discussions that ‘a series of reforms look certain for 2025’ (read the column to find out more), The Insider aka Professor Dominic Regan, of City Law School, serves the perfect Christmas cocktail of light-hearted stories and serious topics in his column this week.
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue.
Your mind is not a kettle. Product liability and neurotechnology is the subject of Crown Office Chambers barrister Harry Lambert’s fifth article in his astonishing series on neurotech law, in this week’s NLJ.
As it’s Christmas, and in lieu of frankincense and myrrh, NLJ offers a bumper two pages of Gold this week. Festive Civil Way topics include the bailiff dress code, PP arrears, DAPOs and the personal injury discount rate.
Will the latest arguments in favour of the Leadbeater Bill be as flawed as those that came before? Professor John Keown considers what lessons can be learnt from history
Dominic Regan presents A Christmas Carol: enter, the ghosts of Christmas past (the Solicitors Act 1974), present (the new intermediate track), & future (PACCAR legislation)
With a raft of unwanted changes on the horizon, Liz Brownsell & Kieran Smith explore some of the options available to charitable independent schools
Did the Supreme Court ask for a can of worms for Christmas? Ian Smith wraps up the year in employment law with some final twists & turns
MOVERS & SHAKERS
NLJ Career Profile: Stephen Ward, The Barrister Group
From mowing lawns to life at the Bar: Stephen Ward reflects on an unconventional career
Clarke Willmott—Ben Loosemore
Commercial property partner joins Clarke Willmott in Southampton
Ellisons—Robert Tiffen
Robert Tiffen joins Ellisons as Partner in growing Norwich office
NEWS
The Law Society RFC Festival of Sport returns next month, bringing together legal and financial services professionals for one of the sector’s largest annual sporting events
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners
Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.
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