THIS ISSUE
Tenant fees and s 21; illegal but okay; decree absolute online searches; debt relief challenge ruling.
Is sheer panic & confusion driving the push to regulate artificial intelligence? Ian McDougall highlights the folly of legislating for something that doesn’t exist
Thomas Taylor, Commercial Director of E-Sign, explains how E-signatures are changing the legal landscape
From finding a niche to going freelance, Amanda Hamilton sets out the increasing range of career options available to paralegals
Three judges in historic care and private family law proceedings involving Sara Sharif could be named next week, after the Court of Appeal unanimously held the High Court did not have jurisdiction to prohibit the publication of their identities.
Legislation allowing costs lawyers to become judges will be laid this year, the Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) has predicted.
Two thirds of people are aware that family mediation is an option to help avoid court in the event of divorce or separation, but only 30% would make a family mediator their first port of call.
History was made this week as journalists and legal bloggers were given effective access to all family courts in England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has opened its consultation on a £20m boost for housing and immigration legal aid practitioners.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck
Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family
Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale
DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council
R3—Jodie Wildridge
Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire
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
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
