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
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
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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