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15 August 2014 / Christopher Digby-Bell
Issue: 7619 / Categories: Features
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Taking a stand

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Christopher Digby-Bell applauds Chancery Lane for doing the right thing…at last!

The Law Society has been true to its members and agreed to help fund criminal legal aid lawyers’ judicial review battle with the government. A matter of some irritation for Mr Grayling no doubt, but the gamble is it might just work to force him to think again about the legal aid cuts.

No cats hiding in Chancery Lane

It’s a gamble because this government has an unfortunate reputation for being in the eye-for-an-eye business...or as Muhammad Ali used to put it: “You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.” The great thing about cats is that they don’t respond to threats, so there will be no cats hiding in Chancery Lane. Grayling may get mad, but he’ll get over it because us lawyers are just too important. We’re up there with the doctors, nurses and teachers as a member of the country’s moral elite. But we’ll have to expect that the society will be off the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) Christmas card list this year.

Till now, the society has clung

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

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Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

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Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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