THIS ISSUE
Care proceedings and public interest were centre stage in a recent case involving the BBC. Nicholas Dobson reports
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Johnson v FirstRand Bank signals a return to orthodoxy on fiduciary duties & common law bribery, writes Ceri Morgan
Complications abound on which laws govern arbitration clauses: Guy Pendell calls for harmonisation across jurisdictions
Litigation funding must be ethical, transparent & aligned with the interests of those it is meant to serve: Geoff Dover sets out a better way forward
Guy Pendell, chair of the International Chamber of Commerce UK’s Arbitration & ADR Committee and partner at CMS, calls for harmonisation in the laws governing arbitration agreements across jurisdictions
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, highlights the growing concern over non-standard drugs in family law proceedings
Mark Pawlowski dips into two classic films depicting good lawyering in class actions involving river pollution
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
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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