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21 March 2025 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 8109 / Categories: Opinion , Criminal , Profession
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Time for change?

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211940
The Law Commission has set out the case for radical reform of the criminal appeals process: is it enough? Jon Robins reports

‘Do you think judges are any less gullible than they used to be?’ The question was posed by the former MP Chris Mullin at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Six in the House of Commons earlier this month. ‘The Court of Appeal used to consist of some of the most closed minds in the land,’ he added. As a journalist, he did much to expose the terrible injustice that, along with other Irish cases such as the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, shook the public’s faith in our justice system and led to fundamental reform of the justice system, including the creation of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

Appeals under review

I have argued before that if the CCRC does one job well, it is deflecting attention away from the problems elsewhere, including the Court of Appeal (see ‘Justice under review (Pt 2)’,

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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
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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
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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’
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