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NLJ this week: Too ambitious? Damning verdict on courts modernisation programme

04 August 2023
Issue: 8036 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Profession
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What are they really saying? NLJ columnist and former director of Justice, Roger Smith translates the ‘urbane language’ of the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee in this week’s issue, as he casts a critical eye on the progress of the courts & tribunals modernisation programme.

Smith writes: ‘The programme has been beset by problems and is largely regarded as having been far too ambitious.’ Moreover, the whole project, initially intended to save the public purse, has come adrift from its original purpose.

Smith’s verdict on the programme is less than flattering: read his conclusions here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
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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 dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
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
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