‘The Covid lockdown period provided unexpected opportunities to discover the advantages and disadvantages of holding court hearings ‘remotely’ online.’

Full Story

Transparency Project, 19th January 2026

Source: transparencyproject.org.uk

‘At a recent group action case management hearing in White and others v Uber London Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 2972 (Comm), Mrs Justice O’Farrell helpfully explained the approach the courts will take when determining whether to order costs budgeting in group litigation. The case concerns 13,000 claims by London black cab drivers against the defendants, the Uber Group, for damages in respect of allegations of unlawful means conspiracy.’

Full Story

Law Society's Gazette, 20th January 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘On 2 December 2025, the Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced significant reforms to criminal trials in England and Wales. Defending his proposals on the BBC Sunday programme on 4 January 2026, Lammy justified restricting jury trial on the basis of his strong sense of justice, explicitly pointing to the fact he had a photograph of Martin Luther King alongside Rabbi Heschel marching during the civil rights movement in his office. Lammy’s usage of one of the most historically significant examples of civil disobedience to explain his motivations for jury reform is troubling. The effect of the reforms will lead to jury trials for offences committed in the course of civil disobedience being replaced with summary proceedings before magistrates’ courts, or, if the offence is deemed sufficiently serious, before new ‘swift courts’ composed of a single judge. Since defences for peaceful protesters have been successively removed since 2021, jury acquittals, particularly through jury equity, frequently constitute the last option for protesters to avoid the increasingly harsh sentences legislated for by Parliament and imposed by courts. The removal of jury trial from those convicted of protest-related crimes is the final nail in the coffin for peaceful protesters, ensuring that those who dissent are predictably convicted.’

Full Story

UK Constitutional Law Association, 21st January 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘The former nurse Lucy Letby will face no new charges on suspicion of murdering or harming babies, prosecutors have announced.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 20th January 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘A woman who was sexually abused as a child by groups of men has said she feels insulted after her compensation claims were denied.’

Full Story

BBC News, 21st January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The High Court has overturned the finding of misconduct made about the solicitor for former Conservative Chancellor Nadeem Zahawi.’

Full Story

Legal Futures, 21st January 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘A former prison officer has been jailed for having romantic relationships with two inmates and plotting to smuggle drug-soaked envelopes into prison.’

Full Story

BBC News, 20th January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘A town council has been ordered to pay almost £3,000 compensation to a job applicant for ‘injury to his feelings’.’

Full Story

The Independent, 20th January 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘The white paper sets out the government’s plans to create an immigration system which promotes growth but is controlled and managed.’

Full Story

Home Office, 20th January 2026

Source: www.gov.uk

‘A faith leader who officiated a wedding ceremony for an underage couple has been sentenced in the first case of its kind under new legislation banning child marriage in England and Wales.’

Full Story

Crown Prosecution Service, 19th January 2026

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

‘”Workable” solutions that enable transparency over the content and data used to train AI models and allow rightsholders to opt their works out from being used for that purpose, have yet to be found, UK ministers have admitted, despite the government previously indicating a preference for those measures to be built into a package of AI-related reforms to UK copyright law.’

Full Story

OUT-LAW.com, 19th January 2026

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘The Court of Appeal held that Pre-Settled Status (PSS) under Article 18 of the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the “Withdrawal Agreement”), did not in itself confer access to housing services, including Part VII homelesness support under Housing Act 1996.’

Full Story

Nearly Legal, 19th January 2026

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

‘As issues with the use of LLM generative AI in submissions in cases continue to arise, it is perhaps not surprising that the FTT(PC) appears to have had its share of such problems. What is perhaps more surprising is that it seems to have been largely on the part of landlord respondents, rather than leaseholder applicants.’

Full Story

Nearly Legal, 18th January 2026

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

‘In both legal and popular discourse, it is often claimed that Islamic law does not permit adoption. While this statement holds some truth when adoption is defined in Western legal systems, where a child’s identity and lineage are legally transferred to the adoptive family, it overlooks the existence of deeply rooted Islamic mechanisms for childcare and guardianship. Chief among these is kafala (in Arabic literally means guarantee, surety, or taking responsibility for someone or something), a concept that provides for the ethical and material care of children without violating key principles of Islamic law, particularly the preservation of lineage (nasab).’

Full Story

EIN Blog, 19th January 2026

Source: www.ein.org.uk

‘The Court of Appeal recently (15 January 2026) handed down its judgment in the case of Rubery v Ministry of Defence [2026] EWCA Civ 8. Elisabeth Laing LJ gave the lead judgment; Peter Jackson and Bean LJJ concurred. The Court, agreeing with the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, found that the Employment Tribunal had been wrong at first instance to find that provisions of the Equality Act 2010 which limited the ability of members of the armed forces to bring discrimination complaints breached Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Employment Tribunal had also been wrong to employ section 3 of the Human Rights Act (HRA) to “read in” a provision to cure the problem.’

Full Story

Administrative Court Blog, 19th January 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The Court of Appeal (Lewis, Peter Jackson, and Stuart-Smith LJJ) has affirmed the High Court’s conclusion that an application to the Windrush Compensation Scheme (“the WCS”) does not involve the determination of any civil dispute in the Article 6 ECHR sense. However, in a lengthy obiter judgment involving an impressive review of the Strasbourg case law, and disagreeing with the High Court, Lewis LJ concludes in his lead judgment that a genuine dispute over WCS eligibility can involve the determination of an Article 6 civil right. The case is R (Oji) v The Director of Legal Aid Casework [2026] EWCA Civ 11.’

Full Story

Administrative Court Blog, 19th January 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The senior president of tribunals, Lord Justice Dingemans, has spoken of “unwarranted” media commentary, judges’ safety and a 2027 date for the Home Office’s plans for a body of assessors to take decisions on asylum appeals in his first annual report.’

Full Story

Law Society Gazette, 17th January 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘The judiciary is familiar with addressing bias but GenAI presents new challenges. Sophie Mitchell examines how, why and when gender bias might present itself in judicial use of AI tools and calls for urgent debate’

Full Story

Counsel, 16th January 2026

Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk

‘An attempt to halt the use of pepper spray on children held in young offender institutions (YOIs) has failed after the high court ruled on Monday that the weapon’s rollout was lawful.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 19th January 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com