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It’s the hope that kills you…

19 July 2024 / David Greene
Issue: 8080 / Categories: Opinion , Criminal , In Court , Profession , Legal aid focus
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Can the new government turn commitments to the justice process into serious change? David Greene digs deep

A new government, new people and new themes and priorities. We lose Alex Chalk KC as Lord Chancellor, Victoria Prentis KC (Attorney General (AG)) and the aptly named Robert Courts KC (Solicitor General (SG)), as does Parliament because they all lost their seats at the election. The Bar will, no doubt, welcome them back to practice. The new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, is also a barrister and has been shadow Lord Chancellor for a short time, so steps easily into the role.

The full ministerial team in the Ministry have also been appointed. They are career politicians save for the Prisons Minister who is James Timpson of Timpson shoe repair fame. We have a new AG in the form of Richard Hermer KC. A full-time practitioner at Matrix Chambers, until a few weeks ago, Richard is a well-known practitioner in human rights. He follows

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NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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