Professional and business services are one of eight ‘growth-driving sectors’ identified in the 10-year industrial strategy unveiled by the government today. The strategy, announced to coincide with the prime minister’s flagship international investment summit (pictured above), aims ‘to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest’, the government said. However a green paper published today is light on detail about how this will be achieved, promising only to publish ‘ambitious and targeted’ sector plans next spring. Meanwhile the government will legislate to create a statutory Industrial Strategy Council (ISC), responsible for informing and monitoring the strategy. In the green paper, […]

In his pitch to voters in March last year, Keir Starmer said he wanted to “imagine a society where violence against women is stamped out everywhere”. His government would, he pledged, halve violence against women and girls in a decade. It was a bold, simple statement, widely welcomed for its ambition. That something has to change is not in doubt. The first national analysis of the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) released in July by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) estimated that 2 million women were victims of male violence every year – an epidemic so […]

How do you heal after divorce? There are so many ways. Therapy, meditation, time, and more. But I want to share an unconventional tool to help you not only heal after divorce, but to rebuild your confidence and joy, and to regain your sense of self. During divorce, finding grounding activities is essential, and that included cooking. Cooking offers a beautiful, nourishing way to reconnect with yourself. It’s so much more than just preparing food. It’s a healing tool in the sense that it’s an act of self-care, creativity, and empowerment. From the soothing process of chopping vegetables to the […]

Employers must protect their workers from sexual harassment – including from customers and clients – under the government’s sweeping new employment rights bill. The new obligation is part of a series of measures published in Thursday’s landmark employment bill, which Labour had promised to lay before parliament within 100 days. The bill, which is expected to take up to two years to fully implement after lengthy consultations, will give new rights to millions of workers including the right to sue their employer for unfair dismissal without waiting for two years of employment. But the new bill also contains a slew […]

Labour’s employment rights bill is the biggest step towards enacting one of its key election offers: to make sweeping changes to rights at work and improve pay. Here are the main details of the legislation, though much of it will take more than two years to consult on and implement. Day-one rights Workers will qualify for protection against unfair dismissal from day one – a benefit for 9 million people. Previously, employees must have been at their place of work for at least two years in order to qualify. There will also be day-one rights for paternity leave and unpaid […]

When parents are getting divorced, the children or even just one child may start taking sides with one or the other, even if you’ve tried to keep them out of it. So, what do you do when a child is taking sides in a divorce, and even worse, when  your ex is doing nothing to heal the breach–and maybe even encouraging it? It’s a tough situation. Children should not be drawn into the adult issues of divorce or be encouraged to take sides. Mental health experts say that children in such situations can suffer long-lasting psychological damage, including increased anxiety […]

Google will have to provide options to its Google Play store for Android app downloads after a U.S. judge granted a permanent injunction on Monday. TakeAway Points: A U.S. judge has granted a permanent injunction compelling Google to provide Google Play Store substitutes for Android app downloads. Judge James Donato’s decision in a California court is the most important result of Epic Games’ 2020 antitrust lawsuit against Google. Epic and Google will also form a three-person committee that will assess technical concerns connected to Google’s compliance, according to the petition. Google to allow access to the Android app market A […]

The recent judgment of Mr Justice Calver in Invest Bank PSC v El-Husseini demonstrates the hard stance a court will take when parties fail to adhere to court timelines, thus hindering the efficient conduct of litigation. The case involved a dispute over alleged fraudulent asset transfers whereby Invest Bank, a United Arab Emirates-based bank, claimed that Mr El-Husseini transferred assets at an undervalue to avoid paying debts and putting his assets out of reach to creditors. In doing so, Invest Bank challenged the authenticity of the divorce papers between El-Husseini and his ex-wife. The bank asserted that while the couple […]

Selling the house after divorce can be a deeply emotional process. With a lot of my clients, especially in today’s market, selling the house is not their choice. Due to financial reasons, it is often the only choice, which makes selling their home even harder. Selling the house can feel like you’re letting go of more than just a physical space. You’re also saying goodbye to a chapter of your life. But it’s important to remember that it’s also the start of a brand new chapter and choosing to look at it as an opportunity for growth can empower you […]

The 10th anniversary of the murder of Claire Throssell’s two young sons, Jack and Paul, is a horrifying reminder of the catastrophic consequences that can follow when the family justice system makes mistakes. The serious case review that followed their deaths, in a house fire deliberately started by their father, concluded that the court should have considered suspending the boys’ contact with him. Ms Throssell had left the family home due to domestic violence and had warned that he had told her he could understand why men killed their children. Case reviews are supposed to be learned from. But a decade later, […]

On 26 September 2024 the Ministry of Justice published its quarterly statistics for April to June 2024, highlighting: “Highest number of private law cases closed since 2014. The number of private law (Children Act) cases closed increased 17% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2023. On average, care proceedings were quicker with more disposals within 26 weeks. The average time for a care or supervision case to reach first disposal was 41 weeks in April to June 2024, down 3 weeks from the same quarter in 2023. 32% of cases were disposed of within 26 weeks – up 3 percentage […]

Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a devastating spinal condition. A 2019 UK report highlighted that 23% of litigation claims for spinal disease in England related to CES. Between 2008 and 2018, NHS Resolution received 827 claims for CES related incidents – 340 were settled with damages. This has cost the UK NHS just over £186 million. Further impact manifests in clinicians practising defensive medicine in the face of such conditions with high-litigation profiles. The UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), working with the UK Medical Protection Society (MPS) recently made changes to guidelines in 2018 in an […]

From a reader: I have let go of my divorce anger and I can tell you that my life did not get better. It seems to get worse and worse. I feel trapped… like maybe I deserve to be mistreated by everyone around me. I have such a lack of self-love. Being picked up and then thrown down has damaged my ability to trust men. My self-worth and esteem have been taken to astounding lows. I feel like no one could ever love someone like me. I still hurt even as the anger has subsided. I guess some wounds can’t […]

The administrators of a collapsed Liverpool firm have admitted they do not know if creditors will receive a return, amid ongoing uncertainty over exactly how the business came to grief.    Joint administrators from Quantuma handling the affairs of McDermott Smith gave an update this month on progress, but said it could be another two years for the business to be liquidated. Quantuma was appointed by one of the firm’s lenders, Fenchurch Legal, in July. The Solicitors Regulation Authority chose to intervene at around the same time after noting that a relevant insolvency event had occurred. McDermott Smith, established in February […]

In a precedent-setting case in Georgia, the legal team at Fried Goldberg secured one of the first verdicts in the United States holding a major corporation accountable for the negligent actions of workers classified as independent contractors. This case, involving a child injured by an Amazon-contracted delivery driver, focused on how businesses use technology to direct and control the time, method, and manner of work performed by contractors. With similar cases emerging across the nation, companies relying on independent contractors will need to reassess their operations and legal risks. The core issue in this case was whether Amazon could be held liable for the negligence […]

Capacity to litigate is a subject under reform and for good reason. Uncertainty arises from gaps within the existing CPR regime, which is likely to become a greater problem with an ageing population. This article aims to provide practical guidance for practitioners acting in civil proceedings and to note some of the issues that are likely to be addressed by the Civil Justice Council (CJC) in the near future. CPR 21: Introduction and Implications Under CPR 21.1(2), a ‘protected party’ is a party who lacks capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) to conduct the proceedings. Under section […]

Are you looking for relationship closure after your divorce? The aftermath of every breakup or divorce is unique. Some couples are able to remain good friends, others end up cordial but distant, and then there are some who walk away bitter and angry, and want no future contact with one other. But there’s one thing that happens after every relationship ends and after a divorce. Both people have all the time in the world to reflect on what went wrong and why. A person could spend hours, days, even years trying to make sense of what really happened, wondering what […]