Diary news plus insights, commentary and appointments from the legal world

14 March 2025

Editorial contact: fennell.edward@yahoo.com

SHORT THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: JOB DONE?

Guidance

HM Courts and Tribunals Service information bulletins

Figures released today show that Employment Tribunal open single cases have shot up from 33,000 to 43,000 in the past year. This represents a 31% increase in open single cases compared to the same period in 23/24 and contributing to a grand total of 467,000 people waiting for ‘employment justice’.

Give that we are on the edge of a recession and with heavy new financial burdens on employers now imminent we can expect the number of redundancies to shoot up inevitably bringing more cases to Employment Tribunals in their wake

“Employment tribunals are not coping with the number of cases they are currently facing, a backlog is not just building but avalanching in the space of a year,” said Caspar Glyn KC, Chair of Employment Lawyers’ Association. “The sweeping changes to employment rights in the New Bill will inevitably lead to more cases. Not coping today, means drowning tomorrow under the pressure of the new rights that will come into force. But if employment rights are considered by Parliament to be important and that they should be reformed and strengthened, then a failure to allow for their efficient enforcement is no more than virtue signalling.”

There are no simple answers. But, improved productivity from Tribunals would help. As Caspar Glyn suggests, an end to virtue signalling and a candid facing of the facts are now vital.

The LegalDiarist

In this edition

+ LEGAL DIARY OF THE WEEK

CAMBRIDGE HOSTS WORLD’S TOP TWO UNIVERSITIES FOR LAW

GO MANCS

A DEATH IS ANNOUNCED

TRETHOWANS FLIES HIGH WITH ARTS SPONSORSHIP

+ LEGAL COMMENT OF THE WEEK

on use of AI by public servants, Open AI and US federal rules, the Infected Blood inquiry, the ‘End of Life’ Bill, diversity and inclusion in financial services, children in separated families, skilled worker sponsorship in the care sector.

+ APPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK

at IONIC LEGAL

LEGAL DIARY OF THE WEEK

CAMBRIDGE HOSTS WORLD’S TOP TWO UNIVERSITIES FOR LAW

In the just-published ‘QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025’ for Law & Legal Studies Cambridge grabbed two of the top spots in the world – although admittedly the two institutions were several thousands miles apart.

Coming in at Number One was Harvard in Cambridge (Massachusetts) with assessment figures reading like an overachieving brat. Academic reputation ..100. Hi-Index Citations …100. Employer reputation…100 Citation papers…82.5 and overall score 99.1.

Coming in at Number Three was Cambridge in Cambridge (Cambridgeshire). Its figures looking pretty good too with an overall rating of 96.7 But it was separated from its US cousin by that interloper

…in at Number Two Oxford in Oxford (Oxfordshire) which had an overall score of 97.4 and in academic reputation was just 0.6 behind Harvard at 99.4.

Lower down the Top Twenty were the London School of Economics at Number Six (overall score 90.1), University College London (overall score 84.3) at Number Eight and King’s College London (overall score 82.9). Edinburgh was just squeezed out into 21^st place.

Once you get into granular detail, however, the picture changes. The best rated overall are not best in all areas. Hence Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) had a better employment ratio than Oxford while Edinburgh was better than KCL. Nonetheless the UK claiming five of the Top Twenty slots in the world does give a rare cause for pride in the country’s capabilities at a time when everything else seems to be on the slide. As the table’s compiler observes, “This year’s ranking of the top universities for studying law continues to be dominated at the top by institutions from either the UK or the US. However, there is a wide range of possible study destinations…The National University of Singapore has climbed two places to be the only university from outside of the UK and US to feature in this year’s top 10, while Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Canada and France also feature in the top 20 at least once.”

For more go to https://www.topuniversities.com/university-subject-rankings/law-legal-studies

GO MANCS

According to reports in the media this week economic conditions in the north of England have been stagnating for the past decade with the North East in particularly doing very poorly. But not so, perhaps, in some parts of the North West with Manchester especially forging ahead.

So while Manchester United and Manchester City may no longer be the forces they once were, Manchester Commercial has been forging ahead in professional services. This is the story according to Ed Foulkes, head of the corporate team at Clarke Willmott LLP who points out that it is striking how many national and London law firms have opened offices in the city in recent years to offer ‘strong competition to the capital in traditional markets and confirming Manchester’s status as a key player.’

Although HS2 might no longer be on the cards as a transformational force Manchester still enjoys, claims Foulkes, good transport links, economic diversification, sector expertise, lower costs compared to London, quality of life, and a GDP of £33.6 billion.

“Manchester has experienced substantial growth in its legal sector over the past few years. It’s simply too large a market for many national firms to ignore,” continued Foulkes. “Whilst several of the larger nationals have roots in the region, there are also many new arrivals. Typically, those new offices will be built around locally-based partners.

“At the same time, its diverse economy, which includes strong tech, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors, creates a high demand for legal and professional services, giving firms access to a wide range of clients and opportunities to grow. As Manchester’s tech ecosystem continues to grow, law firms are responding by enhancing their expertise and expanding their client base in areas such as intellectual property, data protection, and regulatory compliance,” added Foulkes.

An additional strength has seen Manchester become a base for what is called ‘Northshoring’ driven, it is claimed, by its university sector. “The city is an education stronghold, with around 90,000 students; its universities and two law schools play a key role in the local legal community, producing a steady stream of qualified graduates.”

(Note: In the QS University Ranking Manchester University came 62^nd with an overall score of 74.2. Its academic reputation was 66.2 but its citations per paper came in at 83.8).

A Death is Announced

“Even major law firms can crumble overnight—torn apart by shifting markets, internal strife, and the illusion that prestige alone ensures survival,” wrote Caroline Byrne, Associate Editor of Law.com International, this week. The hook for her story was the collapse of Lundgrens in Denmark. But bang on cue as her story appeared so it was announced that Lennons Solicitors Limited, operating from three offices in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and offering both commercial and private client legal services, had gone into administration.

Lundgrens and Lennons are by no means the biggest names that have gone down the drain in the past five years but they illustrate that even the law is not immune to everyday commercial pressures. In Lennons’ case what killed it off – as happens so often – was its inability to secure a renewal for its professional indemnity insurance cover, meaning it was unable to continue to trade as a regulated law firm. This was despite having a reported turnover of £3.4m in 2023.and operating in the comfortable towns of Amersham, Tring and Chesham. Picking up the pieces now over regulatory matters is Samantha Palmer, Partner at Child & Child, who has subsequently been appointed as client protective Solicitor Manager.

“It is deeply regrettable that Lennons has been forced to cease trading, due to a series of difficult circumstances,” commented Sean Bucknall, Managing Director at Quantuma which has been brought in as Administrators. “This was a sad ending for an established law firm… we have managed to safely transfer all of the firm’s live files in accordance with clients’ instructions to multiple parties including Read Cooper Limited t/a BWK Solicitors and Nexa Law Limited, ensuring that all client interests remain protected and that there is a managed and organised wind-down of the firm.”

And that is how a law firm dies.

TRETHOWANS FLIES HIGH WITH ARTS SPONSORSHIP

Image courtesy of Visit-Hampshire.co

With the support of Trethowans , the six office firm covering Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset the gilded Theatre Royal in Winchester has been able to put on a stunning acrobatic re-imagining of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles this week. Devised by the Ockhams Razor (which describes itself as a ‘contemporary circus company’) the story of the innocent village beauty, Tess, is told from her cruel seduction to the ultimate murder of her seducer and then her execution through a repertoire of leaps, bounds and high wire ‘aerialism’. That the trial and then execution in Hardy’s novel took place in Winchester’s Great Hall and Gaol just a short walk from the theatre added an extra poignancy to the performance.

“We are hugely grateful to the team at Trethowans for their investment in us,” said Deryck Newland, Chief Executive of ‘Play to the Crowd’ which runs the theatre. “The power of live performance should never be underestimated in its ability to create happy and healthy communities. Trethowans’ generous support allows us to continue to bring live performance to Winchester and in particular to the magical Theatre Royal Winchester.”

Certainly the audience was thrilled by a unique performance of literally staggering imagination. But Trethowans also backs the Bournemouth Pavilion and Poole Pirates not to mention AFC Bournemouth and Salisbury RFC. Plus also the Salisbury Hospice.“We cannot thank Trethowans enough for choosing to support Salisbury Hospice Charity,” said Louise Compton, Corporate Fundraiser, Salisbury Hospice Charity. “As a local service, we rely heavily on the support of our community, including generous businesses such as Trethowans. Each year, Salisbury Hospice Charity needs to raise £1.5 million to ensure that Salisbury Hospice can continue to provide vital end of life care to over 1,000 patients and their families.”

All in all, a very good show.

LEGAL COMMENT OF THE WEEK

TOPIC:  The use of AI by public servants

COMMENT BY: Tom Whittaker, Director, Burges Salmon

“Public sector organisations are required to spend taxpayer money and deliver public services efficiently. AI poses opportunities to assist with this and help the government deliver its growth mission but there are also risks to be navigated. There is a clear and well understood public law framework that can help the public sector navigate and manage potentially novel AI-related risks. This is an exciting time with opportunities to support growth and innovation through multi-stakeholder, collaborative engagement.”

TOPIC: OpenAI’s statement that it wants to deal only with U.S. federal AI rules and be exempt from any state rules 

COMMENT BY: Dr Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at ImmuniWeb, a Fellow at the European Law Institute (ELI) and a Fellow at the British Computer Society (BCS)

“Arguably, the most problematic issue with the proposal – legally, practically and socially speaking – is copyright. Paying a truly fair fee to all authors – whose copyrighted content has already been or will be used to train powerful LLM models that are eventually aimed at competing with those authors – will probably be economically unviable, as AI vendors will never make profits.

Of note, millions of authors from all around the globe, whose creative content was already misappropriated and exploited to unwarrantedly train for-profit AI models without any permission or even in a direct breach of licensing agreements, still stay without a dime of compensation. In the meantime, some AI giants awkwardly strive to make everybody forget about the inconvenient past and to blindly focus on the allegedly bright future.

Advocating for a special regime or copyright exception for AI technologies – which will likely deprive human authors of the true value of fruits of their intellectual labor – will unlikely be even close to fairness. Moreover, the entire discussion towards an exception is a slippery slope that may unleash a parade of horrors: if AI technology deserves some exemptions from copyright protection, why other modern technologies don’t? Lawmakers should take OpenAI’s proposal with a high degree of caution, being mindful of the long-lasting consequences it may have on the American economy and legal system.”

TOPIC: The announcement by the Infected Blood Inquiry regarding the publication of an additional Inquiry report

COMMENT BY:   Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors and adviser to some 1500 victims of the infected blood scandal

“We and our clients welcome the intervention of Sir Brian Langstaff to shine a light on the Government’s response to date in implementing his recommendations regarding compensation for the Infected blood community. 

“We agree that there is an urgent need to bring some transparency to the implementation of the Compensation Scheme which has, to date, been a very opaque process. As far as our clients are concerned, there has been no meaningful participation in the development of the Scheme. They have been presented with a fait accompli of how the scheme will work and what it will pay out. 

“Questions raised of policy makers at the Cabinet Office and of constituency MPs are again being met with versions of the “line to take” and the so-called Arms Length Body is simply not what it claims to be. Many of our clients and others in the community are once more fed up with the patronising approach being adopted and have reached out to Sir Brian accordingly.

“It is heartening that he has responded today in line with his commitment last May to keep an eye on progress for the community and to hold the Government to account for its response to his recommendations for Compensation. The process so far has caused significant distress and anxiety to many of the victims and their families.”

TOPIC: The vote by MPs to eliminate the requirement for a High Court judge to approve assisted dying requests in Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill

COMMMENT BY: Louise Lewis, a partner who specialises in trusts, estates and tax,  Freeths

 “A three-person panel would provide extra safeguards. It means that three independent experts must discuss and agree on the position, rather than one high court judge who may lack experience with vulnerable clients. This will also mean extra safety for people because experts working in the field of mental capacity and vulnerable clients will have more insight into the red flags around abuse of those clients, and it means more probing work will be done on the decision to allow a person to end their life early.

“I personally think this seems better than the High Court option, plus not using the already overloaded court system should mean quicker decisions. A real issue to be addressed though will be who regulates these people and checks on their decisions so there may have to be some clear reporting lines. For example, do they report into someone in the NHS? Will there need to be some sort of ombudsman or regulator specifically for the panels? All questions that need careful consideration.”

TOPIC: The announcement by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority that they have have axed plans to impose stricter rules for diversity and inclusion for financial services companies

COMMENT BY: Lucy Blake, Partner at Jenner & Block

“Read in context, the decision by the FCA and PRA does not signal a volte face from their commitment to tackling diversity and non-financial misconduct in the workplaces – in fact it is an attempt to streamline the obligations on UK businesses expressly in order to “avoid duplication and unnecessary costs”.

The FCA and PRA’s decision not to proceed with the planned DEI reporting requirements and to take more time to consider the non-financial misconduct proposals is not unexpected, particularly in the context of the comments by the heads of the two regulators that they are looking to reduce the scope for overlap with other new and proposed legislation in this area. 

The decision by the FCA and PRA does not therefore mean UK businesses are “off the hook” when it comes to DEI and non-financial misconduct because they are – or will be – subject to these new and proposed laws.”  

TOPIC: The Official statistics released this week by the Department for Work & Pensions showing that 56% of children in separated families see their non-resident parent regularly

COMMENT BY: James Hayhurst, founder of Parents Promise

“A government department celebrating a statistic that shows that only just over 50% of children see their non-resident parents post parental separation is shocking.  In addition there is no insight into the real-world negative impact that this lack of parental relationship is having on those children.  More generally, there is a total lack of data collection, or indeed any child-focussed follow up post any UK family law proceedings. 

“Parental separation in the UK is one of the greatest, least-recognized, health risks to our children and it’s time the government stepped up to address this. Currently no government department takes responsibility for children’s mental health following a family separation.  This needs to change, and quickly.”

TOPIC: This week’s Home Office statement of changes to the immigration rules for 2025 regarding Skilled Worker sponsorship within the Health and Care sectors

COMMENT BY: Oliver O’Sullivan, Director of Immigration, Migrate UK

“All companies who are sponsoring workers under the Skilled Worker Health and Care visa category should be aware that it is especially important to them to ensure that they have the highest level of diligence with the rules and guidance for this visa.

“Sponsor licence revocations are at the highest level since records began and with this additional recruitment requirement applying to all future visa applications in this category, many visa applications are likely to be refused because of sponsors being unaware of this additional step in the recruitment process. Failing to undertake this step will likely mean any future application for the same applicant will be refused owing to questions of how genuine the vacancy is if the same candidate is being proposed.”

TOPIC: The launch by the Government of its Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament with the aim of bringing forward homes and key infrastructure faster 

COMMENT BY: Ben Sharples, Partner and Head of Natural Capital, Michelmores

“Environmental damage caused by development will be dealt with by a one stop shop of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDP) but it need not deal with all such impacts.

“EDPs will have to be costed which is going to be an educated guess at best. If those sums are not correct then the environment could be short changed. The private markets which are already in place leave the environment in the best position as any shortfall must be met by the landowner.

“EDPs do not appear to currently affect the mandatory biodiversity net gain regime although there are broad powers which will allow Natural England to consider other issues in due course.

“An EDP can be revoked if it no longer passes the “overall improvement test.” This means an EDP could be scrapped half way through if the conservation measures are unlikely to be sufficient to outweigh the negative effect of the development. This is not an option with private market approaches like nutrient neutrality where the commitment is made at the outset and has to be honoured. There are steps that the Secretary of State may take to mitigate the damage that development continues to cause but there is no binding obligation as there is with the private market approach.

“The payment of a nature restoration levy will free a developer of the current nutrient neutrality regime and actually prevents them from seeking their own solution through the private markets. This seems entirely contradictory to the Government’s previously stated position that they are “crowding in private markets” and the fiscal reality that their much heralded Landscape Recovery Schemes will be heavily dependant on such nature based market income.

“As a final blow to the principle of letting private markets operate in order to generate efficiencies and find true market value the nature restoration levy can be calculated by taking into account the economic viability of development which can be assessed by taking into account the imposition of the levy. This would appear to allow Natural England to set lower levy rates if realistic ones would have made the development unviable. Many would regard this as looking through the wrong end of the telescope.”

APPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK

IONIC LEGAL

Annalisa Checchi has joined specialist intellectual property law firm Ionic Legal as Partner to lead its new non-contentious Technology and Commercial practice. With a strong background in cross-border transactions, IP management, and commercial contract negotiations Checchi has over 20 years of experience spanning EMEA, APAC, and the Americas. She has expertise in commercial transactions, intellectual property strategy, and technology law having worked in-house and in private practice supporting businesses in sectors such as technology, aerospace, media, and consumer goods. She has also advised on multi-jurisdictional contracts, brand protection strategies, and large-scale commercial agreements.

Founded in 2024 by former Foot Anstey Joint Heads of IP, Paul Cox and Roy Crozier, in partnership with Excello Law, Ionic Legal has built a diverse international client base. With the addition of Checchi, the firm now has four partners and expects to continue to recruit new partners in the near future.

“As we continue our expansion, strengthening our expertise in non-contentious commercial and technology law is a strategic move,” said Paul Cox, Co-Founder of Ionic Legal. “Annalisa’s global experience and ability to navigate complex international legal frameworks will be invaluable to our clients. Both Roy and I have worked with Annalisa for many years and have a close working relationship with her.  She shares our core values of openness, honesty and integrity and works collaboratively to assist clients in achieving their objectives”. 

We hope that you’ve been interested or amused by something in this week’s LEGAL DIARY. If so do send on to colleagues.

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fennell.edward@yahoo.com