THIS ISSUE
More than three-quarters of candidates have passed the inaugural SQE2 (second part of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam)
Career opportunities in the legal profession are opening up, with new routes to qualification, new career paths and greater flexibility
Those who break embargoes on the publication of draft judgments can expect to find themselves facing contempt proceedings, the Master of the Rolls warned in February, following an embarrassing mishap in chambers
A 2020 report raised hopes that much-needed change was coming to the treatment of domestic abuse cases in the family courts, but what has happened since?
Legal and professional publisher LexisNexis has closed a deal to acquire Caselex, which has built one of the largest merger control databases in the world
A date has been set
for the first stage of a gigantic opt-out class action against Facebook (now
known as Meta), worth a potential £2.2bn
Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry called this week for junior associate prosecutors, who are regulated by CILEX, to be allowed to apply for Crown prosecutor positions, to help tackle the backlog of cases
The UK–Rwanda partnership is not legally binding, has not been subject to scrutiny by Parliament, and fails to protect asylum-seekers’ rights, the Law Society has warned
Welsh speaker David Lloyd-Jones, an international, EU and public law barrister, and company law and corporate insolvency barrister Sir David Richards have been appointed to the Supreme Court
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Hugh James—Phil Edwards
Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire
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Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe
Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire
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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