Updated sentencing guidelines to cover new driving offences
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (8 July 2022) Drivers who seriously injure someone face up to five years in prison under updated sentencing guidelines that cover offences created in the last decade. Current guidelines for motoring offences were published in 2008 by the Sentencing Council’s predecessor body. Since then, the government has raised the maximum penalties […]
London Legal Walk – 2022
London: 5 July 2022 – Team MT UK with more than 800 teams and over 12,000 walkers from the Legal sector participated in London Legal Walk on Tuesday 28 June 2022, with the intention to raise funds for the London Legal Support Trust (LLST), an independent charity trust that helps people in obtaining free legal […]
HMCTS figures confirm divorce ‘bulge’
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (16 June 2022) Nearly 13,000 couples filed for divorce in the first four weeks after reforms designed to make the process less acrimonious came into force, according to official figures. This equates to roughly 1,000 more applications per week than in the same period last year. Under provisions of the Divorce, […]
Guidance: EU Settlement Scheme: Zambrano primary carers
(Published 13 June 2022) Following the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the case of Akinsanya, the Home Secretary has reconsidered the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) requirements for applicants relying on being a Zambrano primary carer. Such a person is a direct relative or legal guardian who, at the end of the transition period on 31 December […]
First electronically signed property deal goes through
By Michael Cross >> (1 June 2022) Top-100 firm Hugh James has become the first conveyancer to complete a transaction with HM Land Registry with an electronic signature which does not require a witness. The transaction was enabled with a ‘qualified electronic signature’ verified by an electronic identity check. The process of transferring title took […]
JR reforms become law as parliament winds down
By Michael Cross >> (28 April 2022) The government’s judicial review reforms entered the statute book today – the last day of the parliamentary session – with ministers claiming to have delivered on a manifesto commitment ‘to ensure courts are not open to abuse and delay’. The Judicial Review and Courts Act is one of four […]
‘Messy situation’: ground rent reform becomes law
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (11 February 2022) Housing developers could face a ‘messy situation’ now that a bill setting the ground rent for new leasehold properties at ‘one peppercorn’ per year has become law, a residential property solicitor has warned. Housing minister Eddie Hughes said the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act, which received Royal assent this […]
