‘The CourtWatch London project provides a valuable insight into the functioning of the magistrates’ courts, the project has gathered data and feedback from 2,300 hearings at the 15 magistrates’ courts across London between February and July last year. The Courtwatchers recorded 500 hearings (23% of all hearings) where the defendant was not represented by a lawyer.’
Bar Council, 26th March 2026
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘More training for judges and magistrates and appraisals for judicial holders will help to improve defendants’ experience in courts, Transform Justice has said.’
Law Society Gazette, 27th March 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The Crown court backlog has reached a new record, according to data released today by the Ministry of Justice. The government said the latest figures show why jury trials need to be curbed as part of its reform package: the criminal bar said they prove the opposite.’
Law Society Gazette, 26th March 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘McKendrick J. Interim hearing addressing an application to set aside a previous order permitting alternative service of the divorce petition out of jurisdiction by email in the US, alongside MPS and LSPO applications.’
Financial Remedies Journal, 26th March 2026
Source: financialremediesjournal.com
‘What can the court do when there’s a significant gap between the bottom of the applicant’s range and the top of the respondent’s range? Can the court take up the invitation made by counsel to “conduct its own research on Rightmove if it wishes”?’
Financial Remedies Journal, 26th March 2026
Source: financialremediesjournal.com
‘The Sentencing Act 2026 (the Act) received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026. As such, various provisions making changes to sentencing law will be introduced. This article summarises the changes that will be most important for criminal practitioners.’
3PB, 23rd March 2026
Source: www.3pb.co.uk
‘Kay v Martineau Johnson [2026] EWCA Civ 224 is the latest in a long line of cases concerning section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980 (as amended). The fact that there is such a long line means that the law in this area is largely settled. However, as Clare Dixon KC and Hugh Evans explore in this article, this case shows that it is not entirely settled, and its application is often contestable.’
4 New Square, 10th March 2026
Source: www.4newsquare.com
‘The government has announced the formal start of the promised official inquiry into the violent policing at the Orgreave coking plant during the 1984-85 miners’ strike and the discredited prosecutions of 95 men that followed.’
The Guardian, 26th March 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Manchester City Council v Tabbasam [2026] EWCA Civ 361 (26 March 2026)
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Hadsh, R. v [2026] EWCA Crim 365 (05 March 2026)
Howden, R. v [2026] EWCA Crim 366 (26 February 2026)
Coffee, R. v [2026] EWCA Crim 367 (26 February 2026)
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Chancery Division)
Car-Wizard Ltd v Vixen Surface Treatments Ltd [2026] EWHC 685 (Ch) (26 March 2026)
High Court (King’s Bench Division)
Ashley v Revenue and Customs [2026] EWHC 725 (KB) (24 March 2026)
Source: www.bailii.org
‘This case appears to be the first reported determination of a claim seeking damages as a Secondary Victim following the judgment of the Supreme Court in Paul & Anor v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust [2024] UKSC 1 (11 January 2024). The claim was struck out by HHJ Claire Evans sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court in Manchester on 17th March 2026 following a hearing on 5th March 2026.’
Quarterly Medical Law Review, 24th March 2026
Source: 1corqmlr.com
‘Regulators will need to put “professional ethical duties” at the heart of how lawyers are expected to behave. The LSB has confirmed that where duties conflict, lawyers must prioritise their duties to the court and the rule of law over their duty to their client. This follows the oversight regulator’s consultation last year, in which stakeholders called for greater certainty about the hierarchy of these duties.’
Legal Services Board, 26th March 2026
Source: legalservicesboard.org.uk
‘The review, commissioned by the Department for Transport, follows a 2025 Transport Select Committee report finding that accessibility failures across all transport modes are having a “significant negative impact” on disabled people’s lives. The current legal framework — described as a “patchwork” of overlapping laws — makes it difficult for disabled travellers to understand their rights or seek redress when things go wrong.’
Law Commission, 23rd March 2026
Source: lawcom.gov.uk
‘In R (Ansari) v Chief Constable of North Wales Police [2026] EWHC 472 (Admin), the High Court (Chamberlain J) held that the heightened level of disclosure required under Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF (No. 3) [2009] UKHL 28 (“AF-disclosure”) does not apply in a challenge to the seizure, download, retention and inspection of the contents of a person’s mobile phone by an examining officer pursuant to Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (“TA 2000“).
‘In addition to undertaking a comprehensive review of the AF-disclosure case law, Chamberlain J also rejected the notion of some form of an intermediate level of disclosure in closed material proceedings, where the AF-disclosure threshold is not met. The decision offers some much-needed clarity in this area of law.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 24th March 2026
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Paul Newman KC considers a recent Upper Tribunal decision raising interesting points on service, what is being decided on an appeal, and the quality of material which the Regulator is expected to place before the First-Tier Tribunal.‘
Pensions Barrister, 26th March 2026
Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com
‘In UK judicial review litigation, the parties and their legal representatives owe a special ‘duty of candour’ to the court – something that is not present in other types of legal proceedings.
OUT-LAW.com, 25th March 2026
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘Following a report on the role of artificial intelligence in blogging, (round-up, 22 January 2023), we posted “A brief experiment in legal blogging using AI” which was produced with the aid of ChatGPT. Although this yielded “quite impressive” copy, it indicated the importance of the formulation of the questions, and at that time it appeared as though we would continue writing content the traditional way at least for the immediate future. Three years on, we consider whether these conclusions are still valid with regard to our posts on L&RUK?’
Law & Religion UK, 26th March 2026
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘The incoming chair of the Legal Services Board has signalled that frontline regulators will face a new type of scrutiny in the wake of high-profile failures.’
Law Society Gazette, 26th March 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘MPs and peers are losing control of lawmaking, former attorney general Dominic Grieve has warned in a new podcast from legal reform charity Justice to strengthen “legal literacy” in Westminster.’
Law Society Gazette, 25th March 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A judge has urged the media to exercise restraint in reporting on a “romance fraudster” who deployed her charisma and good looks to con victims who included a barrister.’
Law Society Gazette, 25th March 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Doctors who have been prevented from working in the NHS while they wait for asylum decisions are celebrating after the Home Office agreed to lift the ban. The changes come into force on Thursday.’
The Guardian, 26th March 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
© Inner Temple Library 2026