Lawtech may be booming, but the impact of technology on access to justice is a lot less clear, solicitor and author Roger Smith writes in this week’s NLJ.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 broadens the definition of abuse, recognises children in abusive households as victims in their own right, recognises ‘revenge porn’ as a criminal offence, stops the cross-examination of victims by perpetrators in court, creates new protection orders and establishes a Domestic Abuse Commissioner to stand up for victims.
Family lawyers need to ensure they have a clear & comprehensive understanding of the wide-ranging nature of domestic abuse, say Jenny Duggan & Francesca White
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
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