Category: news

‘The principles that govern a child’s post-adoption contact with his or her birth family have developed from a position that there should be a complete break at the point of adoption. The Adoption Act 1976 outlawed private adoption agreements, making adoptions the responsibility of local authorities. It also allowed for ‘letterbox contact’ – the exchange of letters, cards and photographs via the local authority (LA).’

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Law Society's Gazette, 13th February 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Licensing Hours Extensions Act 2026

Source: www.legislation.gov.uk

‘Imagine the scene. You have been injured in an accident, and you have brought a claim for compensation. You hope that the claim will settle, but it turns out the other side are arguing about who was to blame for the accident, or about how much compensation you should receive. The claim ends up going to court. You feel quite nervous. You have never done anything like this before, and the thought of standing there being questioned is stomach-churning. But your solicitors and barrister do their best to prepare you, and so you head to court. The barrister representing the other side asks you some questions. Some of the questions are quite tough – they are saying that you are not right about how the accident happened, or that some of the injuries were less serious than you have said. But you get to the end of the questioning and everything seems quite straightforward. You sit down, and listen to the barristers doing their closing speeches.’

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Exchange Chambers, 29th February 2026

Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk

‘The House of Lords last week backed government plans to expand eligibility to become Crown prosecutors to CILEX lawyers and other non-solicitors and barristers.’

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Legal Futures, 16th February 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘After her death, police dropped a case examining Katie Madden’s former partner, despite evidence he had repeatedly told her to kill herself.’

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The Guardian, 15th February 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 was unlawful, holding that the decision contravenes the government’s own policy on proscription as well as breaching the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. This post examines the legal reasoning that led the court to those conclusions.’

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Public Law for Everyone, 13th February 2026

Source: publiclawforeveryone.com

‘A recent Court of Appeal judgment in the important whistleblowing cases Wicked Vision and Barton Turns highlights the need for employment law reform.’

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Kingsley Napley Employment Law Blog, 12th February 2026

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

‘On 3 February 2026, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (“DEFRA”) published a policy paper titled “PFAS Plan: building a safety future together” (the “Policy Paper”). The foreword by the Minister for Water and Flooding notes that “Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called ‘forever chemicals’, represent one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time.”’

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Henderson Chambers, 4th February 2026

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

‘The High Court has upheld the judicial review against the Home Secretary’s proscription of Palestine Action on two grounds. First, the Home Secretary exercised the discretion to proscribe taking account of a consideration inconsistent with her own policy, namely the criminal offences consequent on proscription. Second, it constituted a disproportionate interference with the rights to freedom of expression and assembly under articles 10 and 11 of the ECHR. The case is R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 292 (Admin).’

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Administrative Court Blog, 13th February 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The number of women who are driven to suicide by domestic abusers is being under-reported, and their cases overlooked by police, in what has been described by experts as a “national scandal”.’

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The Guardian, 15th February 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The use of artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit “deepfake” imagery has prompted significant public concern, regulatory scrutiny and legal reform. Recent controversies involving the use of AI tools to create sexualised images of women and children have highlighted serious gaps in existing legal protections.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 23rd January 2026

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

‘This was a County Court appeal of a first instance decision on allocation and costs. It was a housing conditions claim, initially with works valued at some £1061.34 ex VAT by the claimant’s expert and at £243.16 by the defendant’s expert (NB at National Housing Federation rates). Damages were claimed at between £5,000 and £10,000.’

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Nearly Legal, 15th February 2026

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

‘Retirees making up some of the nearly 3,000 people arrested for supporting Palestine Action since the organisation was proscribed have said they feel “vindicated” by the high court’s decision to overturn the ban this week.’

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The Guardian, 16th February 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘This article argues that the changes to the tort of private nuisance introduced by the Supreme Court in Fearn v Tate Gallery [2023] UKSC 4 necessitate reconsideration of three areas of uncertainty created by its earlier decision in Coventry v Lawrence [2014] UKSC 13: the principles governing the assessment of locality, the status and content of “coming to the nuisance”, and the exercise of remedial discretion. The decision in Fearn v Tate Gallery significantly increases the importance of these unresolved issues to the workability of the tort, thus intensifying the need for clarification. This article concludes by proposing Fearn-compliant paths towards their resolution.’

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Cambridge Law Journal, 6th February 2026

Source: www.cambridge.org

‘Online advertising’s increasing opacity and automation have exposed critical limitations in the current regulatory structures, particularly regarding fraudulent content and ad misplacement. This contribution argues that the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) marks a partial shift by extending duties to user-to-user (U2U) and search services for addressing fraudulent ads (OSA Part 3, Chapter 5), but the scope of these responsibilities remains unclear. Key definitional ambiguities, particularly around ‘user-generated content’, ‘users’ and ‘services’, threaten to confuse the regime’s enforcement potential in this context and undermine the coherence of these new obligations. Whether advertisers fall within the scope of ‘users’ under the Act critically shapes the application of general safety duties to advertising, raising unresolved questions about the reach of illegal content provisions across different types of services. The Act’s exemption of search services from broader duties on illegal content in paid-for ads further entrenches enforcement asymmetries between regulated services despite equivalent exposure to harm. While the Online Advertising Programme (OAP) was conceived to address systemic regulatory blind spots, its limited focus on content, rather than delivery infrastructure, has stalled meaningful reform. The article concludes that the OSA introduces vital duties but falls short of delivering a comprehensive regulatory framework, leaving some gaps in coverage, enforcement, and oversight of third-party ad delivery systems.’

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Journal of Media Law, 5th February 2026

Source: doi.org

‘Palestine Action’s ban under terrorism legislation has been ruled unlawful by the High Court in a humiliating blow for the government but the ban will remain in place until a further order by the courts.’

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The Independent, 13th February 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘Ofcom has fined porn company Kick Online Entertainment SA £800,000 for failing to introduce proper age verification measures.’

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BBC News, 12th February 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The Crown Estate has an important role as a land manager and licensor of renewable energy projects in the UK, and the management of its assets links to long-term environmental targets, including the achievement of net zero by 2050. Recent debates on the devolution of the Crown Estate in Wales are therefore of importance to the future of environmental governance systems and renewable energy production. This analysis considers the general duty of the Crown Estate in relation to net zero and sustainable development targets, as well as how the devolution settlement has created the possibility for policy divergence and the extent to which the Crown Estate’s operations have become territorialized. It finds that should the devolution of the Crown Estate take place in Wales, the emphasis will rest with the Welsh Parliament to create an ambitious, achievable, and enforceable governance structure for the effective delivery of environmental and net zero targets by a Welsh Crown Estate.’

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Journal of Environmental Law, 13th February 2026

Source: doi.org

‘There is limited research on how police engage with racially minoritised victims and survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG), particularly VAWG that occurs at the intersection of race and gender. This article begins to address that gap examining police handling of these cases, as well as police constructions of the barriers they face and what works. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach – including focus groups with 52 police officers across two police forces, analysis of 55 case files involving VAWG (such as rape and sexual assault), and bodycam footage of police callouts – we examine current police practices and accounts about these practices, focusing on cases involving racially minoritised women and girls, and assess why these practices often fall short of victim/survivor needs and expectations. We highlight examples of good practice, alongside challenges and knowledge gaps, to suggest a path forward for more effective and equitable policing.’

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Policing and Society, 5th February 2026

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘The failure of the claimants in the ‘Dieselgate’ group litigation to “curb the extent of the involvement of innumerable lawyers” is to be marked by a costs penalty, the High Court has decided.’

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Legal Futures, 13th February 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk