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The insider: 13 December 2024

13 December 2024 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8098 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
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Dominic Regan presents A Christmas Carol: enter, the ghosts of Christmas past (the Solicitors Act 1974), present (the new intermediate track), & future (PACCAR legislation)

Well, that didn’t last long. On Friday 29 November, I went along to the 13th National Forum of the Civil Justice Council (CJC) in London. The courts minister, Heidi Alexander, gave a detailed speech setting out her objectives for the next four years. An hour later, she was moved to Transport.

On the positive side, she swooned over the Master of the Rolls, whom she had met a fortnight earlier. She admitted to having ordered her private secretary to ‘bring me more Sir Geoffreys’, such was her admiration for him. Readers of this column will know that I too hold him in the highest regard, along with Sir Colin Birss, deputy head of civil justice, and Dame Sue Carr. Our Lady Chief Justice is revered by judges at every level.

Colin Passmore, whose new bible on privilege has just been published, was giddy about her when

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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