Legal Features

Articles

Update: local government

Justin Bates discusses the strained relations between local authorities and government over the move towards unitary authorities, and disputes between authorities over provision of services to asylum seekers

David Oldham on the erosion of the civil justice system

David Oldham has a mission, he says in the notes accompanying the news of his appointment as president of the association of district judges. “It is to persuade the government to return to funding our civil courts to a realistic level.”

Spaghetti trees at the SRA

April Fool's Day didn't really feature in my life until 2002 when some friends produced their first child, a son. My husband was highly amused by this perceived social faux pas and wove into his otherwise congratulatory phone call to the new dad the immortal phrase “It could only happen to you, Simkin.”

Update: housing

Rebecca Cattermole reviews recent developments on anti-social behaviour and the latest rulings on housing allocation schemes, homelessness and tolerated tresspassers

Update: commercial

Sara Partington considers liability for conversion, the dangers of including an arbitration clause in standard terms and conditions, vexatious litigants and the risk of incurring interest on invoices

Rules of engagement

DJ Paul Mildred reviews the procedure for challenging the court's jurisdiction and the latest CPR updates

The silk route

There is pressure to but few women are applying for silk and more can be done to increase diversity, says Kate Thirlwall QC

I will survive

Survivorship clauses have outlived their usefulness and they could now make the inheritance tax position substantially worse, says Malcolm Finney