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16 January 2020
Issue: 7870 / Categories: Features
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A Woman in Law: Reflections on Gender, Class and Politics

14100
"She has always been keen to highlight injustice, whether it was the prosecution of those who should not be prosecuted or the failure to prosecute those who should be prosecuted "

Author: Celia Wells
Publisher: Waterside Press
ISBN: 9781909976665
Pages: 200
RRP: £19.95 (Free delivery in UK)

Celia Wells’s A Woman in Law: Reflections on Gender, Class and Politics was for me an intriguing and sometimes uncomfortable read. I have long admired Professor Celia Wells as an impressive academic lawyer. I have throughout my career much enjoyed her insightful comments on criminal law, and for many years her Reconstructing Criminal Law (first published in 1990, with Nicola Lacey) was the most interesting textbook on that subject that I could find to recommend for students. She has always been keen to highlight injustice, whether it was the prosecution of those who should not be prosecuted (victims of domestic violence, for example) or the failure to prosecute those who should be prosecuted (hence her pioneering work on corporate criminal

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Megan Bradbury

Clarke Willmott—Megan Bradbury

Corporate team welcomes paralegal in Southampton

Howard Kennedy—Paul Moran

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Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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