THIS ISSUE
No laughing matter: in this month’s brief, Ian Smith sets out guidance on damages awarded for hurt feelings & considers the scope of the Blacklisting Regulations
Solicitors & courts are often indifferent to claimants’ rights to confidentiality, writes Charles Davey, setting out a blueprint for change to the disclosure rules
No hiding for claimants; leasehold qualifier gone; Ogden Obliges; the world of ETs; cloudy lemon cider.
What do developments in neurotechnology mean for our free will & sense of self? In Pt 7 of this special series, Harry Lambert considers the implications for the individual & society at large
Who owns lost treasures once they have been found? Michael L Nash unearths some peculiarities in the law of possession & ownership
Digital identity services and other reforms will be introduced to streamline searches and speed up conveyancing times, the government has said.
Judges have, for the first time, been issued with sentencing guidelines on blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment.
An expert panel rather than a High Court judge would provide safeguards under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is now at the committee stage.
Law firms and legal departments may need to do more to bring their workforce up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Future Lawyers Report 2025, published last week.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson
Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme
Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton
Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team
Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood
Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property
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
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’
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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