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22 May 2024
Issue: 8072 / Categories: Legal News , Public , Human rights
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Protest restrictions are unlawful

The High Court has quashed restrictions to public protest introduced last year by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman

In R (National Council for Civil Liberties) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 1181 (Admin), Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr held that Braverman acted unlawfully when she introduced regulations lowering the threshold at which police can impose conditions to ‘more than minor’ disruption.

Under the Public Order Act 1986, the Home Secretary can use secondary legislation to clarify the meaning of ‘serious disruption’. The court held Braverman acted ultra vires.

Shameem Ahmad, CEO of Public Law Project, which intervened in the case, said the ruling ‘recognises that our rights and constitution cannot be unilaterally and arbitrarily undermined by the executive’.

Issue: 8072 / Categories: Legal News , Public , Human rights
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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
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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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