‘Few situations trouble the family court more than the child who will not see a parent. The instinct when a child resists, refuses or is reluctant to spend time with a mother or father, is to reach for an explanation. For many years that instinct led, almost reflexively, to the instruction of a psychologist. The assumption was that the reasons for a child’s hostility lay in some hidden psychological terrain that only an expert could map. Two decisions of the President of the Family Division, read alongside the Family Justice Council’s 2024 guidance, have now made plain how mistaken that assumption often is.’

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Becket Chambers, 30th September 2026

Source: becket-chambers.co.uk

‘The Small Claims Track is a prominent feature of the civil justice system, designed to provide a proportionate and accessible means of resolving lower-value and simpler disputes with reduced formality and expense. It strikes a balance between procedural formalities and fair and comprehensive determination of the parties’ rights, resulting in a number of differences from general civil litigation. Examples include inapplicability of Part 36 Offers to Settle; limited disclosure; and lay representatives obtaining rights of audience from the presiding judge where the party attends.’

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Becket Chambers, 29th September 2026

Source: becket-chambers.co.uk

‘Legal organisations have joined together to condemn the latest sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the Trump administration.’

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Bar Council, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

‘Lord Snowden, who was appointed to the Supreme Court earlier this year, has spoken to BBC Radio about his early life and background in Redcar, Cleveland, and his subsequent rise through the legal profession to the UK’s highest court.’

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Supreme Court, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.supremecourt.uk

‘Paul Henty, Head of Public Procurement at Beale & Co, sets out three things from the 2026 Administrative Court Guide that should change how council legal teams work.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The Court of Appeal has described as “astonishing” a £2m brief fee for leading counsel, plus refreshers of £20,000 a day, to act on an appeal set to last four days.’

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Legal Futures, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill was introduced on 14 October 2026 to address historical safety risks and ensure remediation of unsafe cladding.’

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House of Commons Library, 23rd October 2026

Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk

‘In August I argued that the cost of sponsorship was quietly pricing smaller employers out. Since then the enforcement numbers have climbed and the September changes to the sponsor portal have landed. Small firms are where any strain in the system shows up first, and nobody is publishing the data that would show it.’

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EIN Blog, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.ein.org.uk

‘Two pupil barristers saw a problem they couldn’t ignore. Six years on, Mass Ndow-Njie and Aaron Mayers reflect on Bridging the Bar’s growth, the paradox at its heart, and the work still to be done.’

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Counsel, 19th October 2026

Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk

‘Consumers must be at the heart of any new class actions regime, the Law Society has told the Law Commission’s consultation into possible expansion of the current collective redress scheme. “There is a public interest in holding businesses and other entities to account where individual consumer losses are too small to make litigation economically viable, but the aggregate impact of the underlying conduct is significant,” the Society said. ‘

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Law Society Gazette, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘In 1985, Bamber was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing five members of his family. Now analysis of crime scene photographs by a leading forensic biologist could exonerate him.’

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The Guardian, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘A career criminal who stole a “historically unique” 350-year-old map from a museum and refused to reveal its location has been jailed for three years.’

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The Independent, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘A judge has discharged the jury in the trial of five men accused of carrying out a machete attack in Bradford, following allegations of jury tampering.’

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BBC News, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘A Metropolitan Police detective, who was raped by a fellow officer, has told the BBC that Scotland Yard’s handling of her case was “like being raped all over again”.’

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BBC News, 23rd October 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The Attorney General and Treasury Solicitor have published a Diversity and Inclusion Statement for the Bar, setting out how the Government Legal Department (GLD) will work with chambers and counsel to support diversity, equitable access to work, and career progression across the Attorney General’s Civil and EU Panel of Counsel.’

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Attorney General’s Office, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.gov.uk

‘Earlier this month the Supreme Court heard an appeal over whether a threshold of seriousness of harm applies to claims for damages following a data breach. Richard Breavington and Astrid Hardy consider the potential wider impact of the case.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The lack of transparency around public authorities’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) in decision-making is creating barriers for those wishing to challenge decisions through judicial review, the Public Law Project (PLP) has warned.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 21st October 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The real interest of this ruling, however – apart from being a rare inadmissibility decision by the Grand Chamber – comes from the lesson it provides on the principle of subsidiarity. That principle says that the primary responsibility to protect Convention rights lies with the national governments party to the Convention, with the ECtHR acting as a safeguard of last resort. If it seems odd that the Court requires that national governments first adjudicate on the rights violations of which they are accused, Kujit, in which the Court ruled that the applicant could only bring her case to the ECtHR after first complaining to the Supreme Court that she had been denied a fair trial by that very court, serves as a particularly stark illustration of this tension.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 21st October 2026

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.substack.com

‘Can retirement at “normal pension age” be early retirement for TUPE purposes? Paul Newman KC examines a recent Ombudsman case and its potentially far-reaching implications for Beckmann rights.’

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Pensions Barrister, 22nd October 2026

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com