Reports in the Sunday Times and in The Times on Saturday that the speaker of the House of Commons was “weighing up” initiating a private prosecution of two men who were suspected by MPs of spying for China strike me as bizarre. rozenberg.substack.com/p/i-spy-stra...

David Lammy was back on his old beat this week. How dod he and the Ministry of Justice get on? rozenberg.substack.com/p/no-cuts

Did the attorney general really describe reform of the human rights convention as "a political trick"? rozenberg.substack.com/p/a-politica...

Attacks on the judiciary by opposition politicians and others are as misplaced as they are dangerous, the attorney general said last night. Lord Hermer KC made his remarks during a speech on the rule of law delivered in the hall of the Old Bailey. rozenberg.substack.com/p/attacks-on...

David Lammy’s Public Office (Accountability) Bill was published at lunchtime yesterday, a few minutes after the new justice secretary finished answering MPs’ questions. In this piece I offer an initial assessment of its main clauses and their likely impact. rozenberg.substack.com/p/candour-bi...

A duty of candour is to be imposed on more than 1.9 million public servants. The Ministry of Justice says that its bill, if passed, will mean that officials “must act with honesty and integrity at all times, with criminal sanctions for egregious breaches”. rozenberg.substack.com/p/candour-or...

Think of an international court that can stop foreign manufacturers selling pirated copies of British inventions in the UK. But its caselaw must do without the insights of British judges because the United Kingdom is not one of its 18 members. rozenberg.substack.com/p/patently-o...

It is “constitutionally appropriate” for the House of Lords to scrutinise the assisted dying bill “and, if so minded, vote to amend or reject it”, the Lords constitution committee says in a report issued ahead of today’s second reading debate. rozenberg.substack.com/p/lords-free...

Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would be completely contrary to the UK’s national interests, the attorney general said yesterday. I discussed his comments with Sam Townend KC, a former Labour councillor who chaired the Bar Council last year. rozenberg.substack.com/p/reform-beg...

The leader of the solicitors’ profession in England and Wales has said the government should create a free AI-powered tool, like NHS 111, that would help people understand their legal problems and direct them to the help they need. rozenberg.substack.com/p/ai-to-repl...

The artist Banksy acknowledges his work by publishing photographs of it on his website. So we know that this is his latest work. But look more closely at the images. rozenberg.substack.com/p/more-damag...

An independent review of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment of barristers in England and Wales has recommended decisive action to protect the reputation of the bar from the stain of misconduct. rozenberg.substack.com/p/ban-on-bul...

Three new appointments in the field of justice have been announced by the prime minister, including a newcomer to government. rozenberg.substack.com/p/new-jobs-i...

The justice secretary has commented on reports that her Conservative shadow Robert Jenrick published a social media post that risked jeopardising a major criminal trial. How should senior judges respond to what they see as attempts to undermine the judiciary? rozenberg.substack.com/p/exercising...

The United Kingdom has been accused by other Council of Europe states of adopting a “maximalist” approach to human rights, the justice secretary disclosed yesterday. Shabana Mahmood was answering questions from the House of Lords constitution committee. rozenberg.substack.com/p/do-we-go-t...

Shabana Mahmood’s Sentencing Bill is intended to reduce the proportion of a sentence served by some offenders in prison to as little as one-third while increasing and diversifying the punishments they may serve on their release. rozenberg.substack.com/p/sentencing...

The justice secretary will publish her long-awaited Sentencing Bill today. Rather than disclose the main details of the bill ahead of publication, the Ministry of Justice has decided to distract us with an announcement about the Sentencing Council. rozenberg.substack.com/p/short-sent...

In July, a little-known body headed by the second most senior judge in England and Wales launched a consultation on new ways of ensuring access to justice. Will a private-public partnership work? And who'll pay for it? I ask those questions on A Lawyer Talks. rozenberg.substack.com/p/access-to-...

The Court of Appeal is to rule this afternoon on challenges to an interim injunction granted against the Bell Hotel in Epping. At issue is whether the government can continue to meet its obligations to house asylum seekers by accommodating them in hotels. rozenberg.substack.com/p/hotel-ruli...

It would be going too far to say that the Secret Barrister and I are on first-name terms. But I do have a personally inscribed copy of Fake Law, published in 2020 and signed “SB”. With publication today of The Cut Throat Trial, SB now has a name. rozenberg.substack.com/p/sb-becomes...

Explaining yesterday how Reform UK plans to tackle what it describes as illegal migration, Nigel Farage and his colleague Zia Yusuf were happy to disclose some of the finer details. But the bigger picture was less clear. rozenberg.substack.com/p/the-bill-f...

Many of my reminiscences in A Lawyer Writes over the past five years involve unusual points of law or broadcasting failures. This one has both. It’s the story of Louise Woodward, who travelled from her home near Chester in 1996 to work as an au pair in the US. rozenberg.substack.com/p/murder-or-...

Joshua asks pertinent questions about the proposed new asylum appeal body. Either it will be a form of court/tribunal (whatever it’s called) - so what will have changed? Or if it’s an administrative body its decisions will surely be subject to review by the courts. But we will see

The UK government certainly has a problem with asylum seekers. But neither of the initiatives it has announced during the past week suggests it has a solution. rozenberg.substack.com/p/asylum-pro...

There were some very generous comments in response to my recent piece about Lord Scarman and Mrs Gillick. New readers might not be familiar with the reminiscences I enjoy writing on Substack during quieter times. So here are 25 favourites from the past 5 years. rozenberg.substack.com/p/a-lawyer-r...

In less than two weeks’ time, large organisations will face heavy fines for doing nothing at all. Failure to prevent fraud, as defined in recent legislation, will become a criminal offence across the United Kingdom on 1 September. rozenberg.substack.com/p/preventing...

The UK government’s senior law officer has said that recognition of Palestine, in the circumstances outlined by the prime minister last month, “would be entirely in accordance with international law”. rozenberg.substack.com/p/recognisin...

A magistrate has been sacked for gross misconduct after disclosing details "to members of an organisation with which he was affiliated concerning proceedings connected to that organisation" that could have identified an alleged victim of sexual abuse. rozenberg.substack.com/p/magistrate...

This autumn marks not only the 25th anniversary of the Human Rights Act but also the 40th of a ruling I reported as a newly-appointed BBC legal correspondent, a case still widely referred to even though its two leading figures are no longer in the public eye. rozenberg.substack.com/p/gillick-an...

The Court of Protection has refused to let a hospital trust in north-west London withdraw life support from a 60-year-old man described as being in a permanent vegetative state after his two partners spoke about his belief in the power of spiritual healing. rozenberg.substack.com/p/patient-mu...

A former soldier who has served 37 years of a life sentence for a murder that might not have been a killing at all has had his convictions referred to the Court of Appeal after previous applications to the CCRC were rejected five times between 2000 and 2023. rozenberg.substack.com/p/sixth-time...

New details have emerged of the data leak that was said last month to have put the lives of nearly 19,000 Afghans at risk, resulting in an unprecedented super-injunction “against the world” that remained in force from September 2023 until 15 July 2025. rozenberg.substack.com/p/100000-afg...

The government has confirmed plans to introduce restriction zones in England and Wales, confining the most serious sexual and violent offenders to specified geographical areas. rozenberg.substack.com/p/prisons-wi...

The treaty between the United Kingdom and France on the prevention of dangerous journeys — a “one-in, one-out” pilot scheme as the government has called it — is certainly unusual. But that does not justify some of the confusion that seems to surround it. rozenberg.substack.com/p/one-in-one...

Government officials believed the criminal justice system was “within three days of meltdown” on 12 October 2023, an independent review has found. Rishi Sunak then authorised his justice secretary to release more than 13,000 prisoners up to 10 weeks early. rozenberg.substack.com/p/justice-me...

Will last week's appeal ruling have implications for other pre-nups? Do couples now need to get them checked? And will the ex-husband end up with egg on his face if he keeps litigating? I ask Nicholas Bennett (pictured), a barrister who specialises in this area. rozenberg.substack.com/p/egging-on

Keir Starmer’s speech on recognising Palestine makes little legal or political sense, a leading international lawyer says. I make a similar point in the Law Society Gazette. I also analyse new rulings made after Palestine Action challenged its proscription. rozenberg.substack.com/p/recognisin...

It’s the last day of the legal term and judges in England and Wales have been rushing to deliver their reserved judgments. Here are links to half-a-dozen that caught my eye yesterday. rozenberg.substack.com/p/clearing-t...

The Court of Appeal has explained why it overruled a “most experienced family judge” who decided that a British-born 14-year-old boy would be better off living in Ghana. rozenberg.substack.com/p/safer-in-g...

Lady Justice Nicola Davies is Wales’s own lioness, the lady chief justice said at her valedictory ceremony yesterday. Baroness Carr said her career was defined by intellectual rigour, principled leadership and a profound commitment to equality and diversity. rozenberg.substack.com/p/waless-own...

David Lammy’s repeated refusal to help a family of 6 leave Gaza and enter the UK was flawed and cannot stand, a High Court judge said yesterday. The foreign secretary was ordered to reconsider his denial of consular assistance to the couple and their children. rozenberg.substack.com/p/lammy-must...

Donald Trump is not the only prominent figure who may be regretting his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. I've been discussing the wider implications of non-financial misconduct with David Hamilton (pictured) of the law firm Howard Kennedy. rozenberg.substack.com/p/epsteins-t...

“Alex Salmond has been cleared of fresh sexual assault allegations after police ended their probe into the claims,” the Daily Record reported yesterday. “Cops said ‘no further action’ will be taken." But what action could they have taken? He died last October. rozenberg.substack.com/p/alex-salmo...

Clearing two traders yesterday of fraud offences, five justices of the UK Supreme Court said the history of their prosecutions “raises concerns about the effectiveness of the criminal appeal system in England and Wales in confronting legal error”. rozenberg.substack.com/p/traders-cl...

Senior judges paid a rare tribute to Lord Justice Holdroyde yesterday at his valedictory sitting. They were dressed in the formal wigs and robes worn in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal — “because that’s what I wear”, its vice-president explained. rozenberg.substack.com/p/holroyde-b...

Reforms to the way sexual assault cases are prosecuted and tried in the courts of England and Wales are recommended in a report today by the government’s reform advisers. Listen here to my interview with the criminal law commissioner, Professor Penney Lewis. rozenberg.substack.com/p/trying-rap...

The county court is the Cinderella service of the justice system in England and Wales, the Commons justice committee says in a report published today. MPs describe the court as “beset by delays”. rozenberg.substack.com/p/cinderella...

The chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service has told the attorney general that victims of crime need action “now” if the criminal justice system is to deliver justice. rozenberg.substack.com/p/radical-ac...

Parliament gagged by super-injunction? My thoughts on the story of the week. Listen to the Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 101 hansardsociety.org.uk/news/parliam...

The government’s interim independent Prevent commissioner has recommended ways in which the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy could be made more effective. rozenberg.substack.com/p/prevent-mu...