‘Drug dealers are “operating with impunity” in Britain’s prisons, a watchdog has warned, as new figures show drug-related deaths have soared to a record high.’
The Independent, 25th May 2026
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The Fair Work Agency (FWA) was established under the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) on 7 April 2026 as an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade, consolidating labour market enforcement functions previously carried out by other authorities.’
Kingsley Napley Employment Law Blog, 22nd May 2026
Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk
‘Lord Chancellor David Lammy has rejected a recommended 3.8% pay award for judges but they will still receive 3.5%, when the government originally said it could only afford 2%.’
Legal Futures, 26th May 2026
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The recent Court of Appeal decision of Bali v 1-2 Couriers Limited and others [2025] EWCA Civ 1413 provides a helpful reminder of when a claim form is ‘issued’ under the Civil Procedure Rules.’
Law Society's Gazette, 22nd May 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘In Episode 239 Emma-Louise Fenelon speaks to John Whitting KC about expert evidence at trial, which will be of interest to first-time and seasoned experts alike. This episode is the third in our series on expert evidence, following Episode 177 with Margaret Bowron KC and Episode 100 with Neil Sheldon KC.’
Law Pod UK, 26th May 2026
Source: audioboom.com
‘A junior solicitor who used artificial intelligence (AI) to draft two misleading emails to the High Court “seems to have almost entirely outsourced the thinking process to the program”, the judge has said.’
Legal Futures, 26th May 2026
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Metropolitan Police says it is changing its policy on releasing more body-worn video from officers “where it can improve transparency and trust in policing”.’
BBC News, 25th May 2026
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Imagine you are woken up one day with a loud knock at the door. It is the police who have a warrant for your arrest pursuant to an extradition request from a European country which you visited on holiday a few years earlier.’
Kingsley Napley Public Law Blog, 22nd May 2026
Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk
‘Single-sex toilets and changing rooms in England, Wales and Scotland must exclude transgender men and women, according to a new code of practice from the equalities watchdog.’
The Guardian, 21st May 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘In March, West Yorkshire Trading Standards successfully prosecuted Peter Hunter, who owned a domiciliary care company (Caring for You (Yorkshire) Limited), for multiple offences under section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This offence is committed when a person occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person. He dishonestly abuses that position and intends, by means of abuse of that position, to make a gain for himself or another, or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.’
Law Society's Gazette, 20th May 2026
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The former boss of the collapsed investment firm London Capital & Finance (LC&F) has been imprisoned for six months for contempt of court, after admitting breaching a restraining order by selling luxury items including horse saddles and a hot tub.’
The Guardian, 21st May 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘For the first time in the history of devolution, nationalist or independence-oriented parties lead all three devolved nations simultaneously: Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, Plaid Cymru in Wales, and the SNP in Scotland. Meanwhile, Reform UK topped the national equivalent vote in England. The United Kingdom’s political geography has been fundamentally redrawn. What has not been redrawn — and what makes the May 2026 results constitutionally as well as politically significant — is the legal framework within which each of these parties must now operate. Northern Ireland has a treaty-backed statutory mechanism for a referendum on its constitutional future. Scotland has a route that is blocked. Wales has a mechanism that has never been activated. These are not minor technical differences; they are the fault lines along which the UK’s territorial constitution may be tested in the years to come.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 21st May 2026
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Domestic Abuse Act fails to fully recognise the danger of technology-facilitated abuse, such as location tracking or hidden stalkerware, a Lords select committee has heard.’
The Guardian, 21st May 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – the bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales – fell at the close of the 2024-2026 parliamentary session, after running out of time in the House of Lords. Attention has now shifted to whether the bill could return in the next session and, if so, whether it could be enacted using the procedures set out in the Parliament Act. This briefing explains the Parliament Act procedure, examines previous uses of the Act and the procedural lessons that may be drawn from them, and looks at the constitutional issues involved.’
Hansard Society, 7th May 2026
Source: www.hansardsociety.org.uk
‘Three teenage boys who raped two girls in separate attacks have been given sentences that are “far too lenient’, a police chief has said.’
BBC News, 21st May 2026
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘David Lammy and the most senior judge in England and Wales are drawing up plans to accelerate the recruitment of minority ethnic and working-class solicitors into the judiciary.’
The Guardian, 21st May 2026
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘In a wide-ranging High Court judgment, Saini J considered, and rejected, a number of distinct challenges against the Secretary of State’s decision to impose sanctions on the nephew of an associate of Vladimir Putin. In doing so, he has provided a number of interesting comments – albeit most of it technically obiter – on various aspects of public law doctrine. The case is R (Ismailov) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (No 2) [2026] EWHC 1188 (Admin) (18 May 2026).’
Administrative Court Blog, 21st May 2026
‘In a judgment handed down on 17 April 2026, Edmund Burge KC (sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court) dismissed a claim arising from a catastrophic act of self-harm by a young man with a documented history of suicidal ideation and attempts. The judgment is a careful and, in places, painful illustration of how the law approaches psychiatric risk assessment, the role of the Home Treatment Team (“HTT”) and the evidential burden on a claimant who must establish, on the balance of probabilities, that earlier or different action would have averted the index event.’
Quarterly Medical Law Review, 19th May 2026
Source: 1corqmlr.com
‘On 8 May 2026, Mr Justice Cotter refused the Claimant’s application to amend her Particulars of Claim, to rely on further witness and expert evidence, and to vacate the imminent trial in a clinical negligence claim arising from a delayed diagnosis of Cauda Equina Syndrome (“CES”). The judgment adds to the growing body of first-instance authority on very late amendments under CPR 17.3, and is a salutary reminder of the discipline required when pleading causation in CES claims where breach is admitted but the counterfactual is anything but straightforward.’
Quarterly Medical Law Review, 20th May 2026
Source: 1corqmlr.com
‘The Bar Council needs to be clearer in the legal justification for its controversial 10,000 Black Interns programme, a barrister has suggested.’
Legal Futures, 20th May 2026
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2026