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28 March 2025
Issue: 8110 / Categories: Legal News , Charities , Family , Divorce , Pro Bono , Expert Witness
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NLJ this week: Friends in the Courtney library & making expert connections

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An innovative law library and a scheme to match pro bono lawyers with experts both feature in this week’s NLJ, in a charity and pro bono double-bill. First up, Team Courtney explain how Courtney Legal works and how it can benefit early-career lawyers as well as members of the public.

Courtney Legal is an online audio-visual service that makes legal information easy to understand for anyone who is contemplating or going through a divorce. It was launched in January at a panel event attended by Baroness Hale.  

The authors write: ‘If Courtney is to consumers the equivalent of having a lawyer best friend, it is to new practitioners the equivalent of an educative “watercooler” experience.’

Next, Emily Sherratt, project director at the National Pro Bono Centre, covers the benefits of the Pro Bono Expert Support Scheme. This scheme connects pro bono lawyers with a network of volunteer experts, for example, medical or engineering specialists. As Sherratt explains, the expert help given includes translation services, communications advice and investigative work.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
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
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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