England

Law firms in England and Wales may have to hand over the interest from client accounts to help fund legal aid under plans being considered by the UK government. The Ministry of Justice has been privately consulting with legal aid providers and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on the propose

Tens of thousands of offenders in England and Wales, including sex offenders, shoplifters, drug dealers and violent criminals, will avoid prison under sweeping sentencing reforms to be put before MPs next month. The Sentencing Bill will require judges to presume against custodial sentences of less t

An English judge has criticised a taxpayer for using an artificial intelligence chatbot to argue his case in court after it "hallucinated" non-existent legal precedents. Marc Gunnarsson used AI to help prepare his legal submissions when appealing a decision by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The tax

Paul Weller, musician and former frontman of The Jam and the Style Council, has launched legal action against his former accountants after they resigned because he publicly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Mr Weller was a client of Leigh Genis of Harris and Trotter LLP for more than 30 years, unt

Five international organisations have urged the attorney general for England and Wales, Richard Hermer, to delay making a decision on whether to prosecute hundreds of peaceful protesters arrested for holding placards expressing support for Palestine Action. Palestine Action, a non-violent direct act

The UK parliament's justice committee is today launching a new inquiry into access to justice in England and Wales. MPs on the cross-party committee, chaired by Labour MP Andy Slaughter, will examine the current state of the legal services and representation market, and how it affects access to just

England and Wales is set to follow Ireland in introducing a right to independent legal advice and representation for complainants in sexual offence trials when requests are made to introduce evidence of their past sexual behaviour. As part of its "end-to-end rape review", the UK government asked the

The secretive way judges are appointed in England via an "old boys' network" could be at an end after an historic Court of Appeal ruling. Kate Thomas, a judge with 30 years’ experience in the legal profession, successfully challenged the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) over its use of &

Thousands of defendants in England and Wales could lose the automatic right to have their cases heard by a jury under sweeping reforms proposed by a senior judge aiming to ease a record court backlog. Sir Brian Leveson, the former Court of Appeal judge who led the government-commissioned review, has

A 92-year-old man has been found guilty of the rape and murder of a 75-year-old widow in 1967 in what is believed to be the longest-running cold case ever solved in the UK. Ryland Headley, aged 34 at the time, broke into the home of Louisa Dunne in Bristol in June 1967 and attacked her. Her body was

The English courts are to hear a challenge to the judicial appointments process on the basis that it still involves "secret soundings" which act as a barrier to diversity on the bench. A member of the GMB trade union's dedicated branch for members of the judiciary is challenging the Judicial Appoint

A new study has raised serious concerns about the use of joint enterprise prosecutions in England and Wales, with researchers documenting the routine charging of individuals with murder despite minimal connection to the underlying crime. The report, published by the miscarriage of justice charity Ap

Pornography depicting "acts of strangulation" is to be criminalised in England and Wales. The UK government said it will bring an amendment to its Crime and Policing Bill following a campaign by backbench Labour PM Jessica Asato and others.

Plans for the dead to be ‘cremated’ in boiling water before being flushed down the drain could soon be approved in England. A review by the Law Commission of England and Wales could clear the way for new funeral practices such as alkaline hydrolysis — sometimes dubbed "water cremat

Almost 40,000 offenders will be subject to electronic monitoring at any given time under a major expansion of tagging technology at the centre of forthcoming sentencing reforms. Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is reported to have secured £700 million in funding from the chancellor, Rac