New Law Society president
Asian Times, Sri Lanka Weekly, Garavi Gujarat, Company Insight, Global Legal Post, About Islam, Law Careers, Legal Cheek, Eastern Eye, Local Government Lawyer and Solicitors Journal all cover Lubna Shuja being inaugurated as the new Law Society president.
“As president, I intend to launch a major focus on ethics in the profession to support solicitors though this minefield. This will help the public to understand the finely balanced professional ethical issues solicitors weigh up on a daily basis to ensure the rule of law is upheld,” she said.
Criminal Court backlogs
The Evening Standard and the Hampshire Chronicle examine the criminal court backlogs and mention our call for solicitors to be given parity with barristers on the 15% criminal legal aid rate increase.
“The criminal justice system has been devastated by years of underfunding and cuts and there are not enough judges, barristers and solicitors to cover all the cases.
“The UK government is falling way short of addressing the crisis in the criminal justice system. You cannot fix the problems in the system unless you fund all parts of it effectively,” we said.
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
Law360 (£) reports our reaction to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, as it had its second reading in parliament yesterday.
Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: “We do have a concern, however, over the government’s proposal to allow the SRA the ability to impose limitless financial penalties for economic crime disciplinary matters.
“There appears to have been little evidence that a parallel increase in the Financial Conduct Authority fining powers – or the large fines they have applied – have aided the fight against financial crime.”
Bio-law report
National Review covers our Law in the Emerging Bio Age report.
Read the report Law in the emerging bio-age
Early legal advice for child arrangements
The Gazette reports that the latest quarterly government statistics show it took on average, 46 weeks for private law cases to reach a final order – up six weeks from the same period last year.
Thinktank Justice said access to early legal advice can correct “wholly unrealistic” expectations of what courts can do.
We have repeatedly called for the reintroduction of early legal advice in family law cases.
Also worth a read:
- Sunak-Mordaunt join ticket to usurp Liz Truss – Times (£)
- Kwarteng rushes back to UK over mini-budget U-turn – BBC
- Small boat asylum seekers could be sent to Rwanda within three weeks – Independent
- Charities call for Online Safety Bill to protect adults from self-harm content – Guardian