The head of the UK Government’s legal department (GLD) Jonathan Jones QC is to leave the division after six years at the helm. His departure comes as the UK Government faces scrutiny over its plans to clarify parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, which formed a section of the 2019 withdrawal agreement. Jones took on […]
Westminster Palace has found a general counsel to oversee the £4bn restoration of the Houses of Parliament, almost four months after kicking off the search. The project marks one of the biggest renovation undertakings ever carried out in the UK. The legal head driving it from the autumn will be Jane Mee, who was previously […]
The Government Legal Department has appointed a new director of litigation, with Mel Nebhrajani taking on the role after working on matters related to the Covid-19 pandemic this year. Nebhrajani has spent four years at the Department of Health and Social Care, where she was its legal director. As such, 2020 matters have largely been […]
The Central Housing Investment Consortium (CHIC) of social housing providers and local authorities has appointed 22 firms to its new £15m panel. The contract is divided into three lots; corporate, governance and finance, housing and asset management, property and development across England and Wales. Firms that have been added to all three lots include Bevan […]
The Government Legal Department (GLD) spent £11.8m on external law firms and counsel in the first five months of the year, according to a Freedom of Information request submitted by The Lawyer. The GLD confirmed it has used 49 firms in total between the start of 2020 and 22 May, with a large proportion of […]
In early 2020, Shoosmiths engaged a design agency to build a promotional campaign around a suite of technology platforms. The idea focused on doing things differently, informed by Prof Richard Susskind’s idea of the ‘lawyer of the future’. The campaign revolved around three platforms the firm had developed over the previous year. They were meant […]
New security laws and a US-China trade war mean Western players will have to change the way their do business to compete with the PRC heavyweights
Never mind the headlines. Graduate recruiters at some of the top law firms have been cooling for a while on the importance of applicants having top A Level grades. In fact, if you were to look at the recent trainee intake of an example firm, broken down by top three A Level grades achieved, you’d […]
In the past few months, the pandemic has forced business development teams in firms to come up with new ways of engaging with clients.
As A Level chaos broke out across the UK last week, DWF made the decision to stop asking for specific A level grades from training contract applicants. The decision has been made to attract talent that might otherwise have been put off by the firm’s grade requirements. Firms’ attitudes to A Level grades vary considerably. Some set exacting […]
On a London map, the distance that separates 65 Fleet Street from 100 Bishopsgate amounts to almost three kilometres. But the path that led Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from its longstanding institutional home to the shiny skyscraper feels much longer. The firm first signed a lease for the new building four years ago, marking a new […]
Adrienne Page QC has represented newspapers, politicians and barristers in the most sensitive of cases during a sterling 46-year career; however, life hasn’t been without its challenges for 5RB‘s libel doyenne. During her early years as a junior, Page struggled immensely with the stressful experience of going to court, at a time when anxiety in […]
The world of investigations relies upon in-depth scrutiny. Whether it be leafing through office documents, conducting forensic interviews or relying upon whistle blowers, an investigator’s physical presence on-site is often key to carving out the truth. However, the in-person part of investigations is largely on hold for the time being due to Covid-19, forcing individuals […]
Lupl, a new all-encompassing platform to allow international collaboration on legal matters, has been developed after many hours of discussion between developers and those at the legal coalface
Name: Monica Feria-Tinta Firm: Twenty Essex Chambers Role: Barrister Trained at: Twenty Essex Chambers Year of Call: 2014 Read her Hot 100 profile What’s your most vivid memory from being a pupil? Being at the Court of Appeal on my last day of pupillage. It was on a multibillion-pound case. I helped in the development […]
Three barristers have joined Blackstone Chambers, including a public law silk from Doughty Street. The set had paused targeted recruitment juniors but has now started to hire again with two joiners from Littleton Chambers and Cloisters. The set had also paused targeted recruitment of commercial juniors at the outset of the pandemic but this has […]
DAC Beachcroft has hired four lawyers from DWF’s London office into its public sector liability team. The hire includes John Palmer, who was a partner at DWF for almost 10 years. He will join in September, while David Weir, Hazel James and Sehresh Jan will join this month. Weir was a legal director at DWF […]
The North West Legal Consortium has reduced the number of advisers on its £15m-worth panel. Ashfords, Brown Turner Ross Solicitors, Blake Morgan and Anthony Collins are no longer part of the panel. By contrast, BLM was appointed for the first time. Like the previous roster, the renewed four-year panel is also divided into five sections […]
Bindmans is representing two doctors who have brought a legal challenge against the UK Government over PPE guidance. Acting for doctors Meenal Viz and Nishant Joshi, the firm sent a pre-action letter to the UK Government concerning the lawfulness of the PPE guidance published by the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health […]
Deighton Pierce Glynn, Matrix and Doughty Street are all instructed by two ex-detainees at an immigration centre near Gatwick Airport. An independent inquiry into alleged mistreatment of detainees at an immigration centre Brook House, near Gatwick Airport, has been under scrutiny since the BBC’s Panorama filmed undercover in 2017. The Secretary of State for the […]
Barrister Keir Starmer has been elected as Labour leader and thus becomes Leader of the Opposition. He has been mentioned many times in the pages of The Lawyer over the years: here are some of the most notable occasions.
Linklaters, Eversheds Sutherland and Slaughter and May are among the ten firms to have secured contracts for DWR Cymru Cyfyngedig, or Welsh Water. A total of 24 contracts have been awarded – with six going to Eversheds. The firm has been awarded contracts in corporate, employment, competition, data protection, construction and health and safety. Both […]
Counsel from No5 Barristers’ Chambers have successfully represented a Custody Sergeant and a Police Constable who were alleged to have mistreated a vulnerable woman during her detention in a custody suite on the 15th of December 2017. “EF” had been arrested for assault occasioning ABH on another and a subsequent assault on a police officer. […]
Counsel from No5 Barristers’ Chambers have successfully represented two officers who were alleged to have discriminated against a member of a public by reason of his race. The incident dated back to June 2014 but, due to a two separate appeals to the IOPC by the complainant, the hearing did not take place until November […]
By Ramby de Mello Counsel from No5 Barristers’ Chambers represented parents who have been fighting for the right to protest against LGBT equality teaching in a Birmingham primary school. Ramby de Mello represented Shakeel Afsar, his sister Rosina Afsar and Amir Ahmed who contested the need for an injunction to restrict street protests around Anderton […]
By James Dixon James Dixon, instructed by Oliver Carter of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, represented the family of Mr Shaun Dewey at an Inquest before Senior Coroner for Avon, Maria Voisin, sitting with a jury, between 28 October and 18 November 2019 Shaun was on remand in respect of a charge of murder which he denied. […]
