Issue: Vol 160, Issue 7409

Recently there has been much publicity about graduates working for nothing, or indeed even paying to work, in the hope of making an impression and getting a paid job) see for example The Mail Online, 4 March 2010 – “The Slave Labour Graduates.”)

With pressure mounting on public spending, legal aid is a likely victim of significant cuts. Politicians blame lawyers for inflating demand and increasingly desperate lawyers make pleas for quality and access to justice that are likely to fall on deaf ears. Something, everybody agrees, needs to be done—but nobody can decide what that something might be.

Nicholas Dobson ponders the legality of Hindu funeral pyres

Are village greens the new weapon of choice against property developers? Malcolm Dowden investigates

When can employees expect to benefit from legal representation? Adam Chapman & Andreas White report

Patrick Hill & Richard Booth consider the scope of contributory negligence

BSkyB ruling rings alarm bells for IT suppliers. Andrew Dodd & Louisa Albertini explain why

Bateman highlights the broad rights of employers to alter terms & conditions unilaterally, says Sam Burnett

In a number of recent cases the courts have penalised a “successful” but dishonest party with a punitive costs order

Pink Floyd Music Ltd and another v EMI Records Ltd [2010] All ER (D) 101 (Mar)