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Stubborn residue

When considering residual liberty, why has the Court of Appeal seemingly ignored what it – and the House of Lords – once said, asks David Hewitt

A flying start

The new year has started with unusual vivacity: three of the most exceptional powers in our legal system are under scrutiny at the same time. The first English criminal trial began at the Royal Courts of Justice – an unusual venue for criminal lawyers, who generally only enter those marble halls when a case has gone pear shaped (like so many of us after Christmas) and they need a Court of Appeal massage and detox service.

EHRC calls for abolition of compulsory retirement age

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called on the government to abolish the default retirement age. The move comes as the committee stage of the Equality Bill resumes today in the House of Lords.

No "inalienable" right to holidays, EAT rules

Workers can lose their holidays if employers put in place the “proper opportunity and mechanism” for them to be claimed, the EAT has ruled.

Straw wants ten per cent cap on success fees for libel

With a general election looming, justice secretary Jack Straw is planning to cut the uplift libel lawyers can add to their success fees from 100 per cent to 10 per cent of base costs.

Doubts over LSC's new civil contract timetable

The Law Society has said it is "very doubtful" whether there is enough time for the new civil legal aid contracts to be introduced in October after the LSC announced that the tendering process for some contracts would not begin until early March.

Jackson LJ backs contingency fees and costs shifting in favour of claimants

Lord Justice Jackson has backed the introduction of contingency fees in England and Wales, while severely limiting the usefulness of conditional fees.

Update: IT/IP

Susan Singleton considers new laws on 'cookies', proposed fines for major breaches of data protection law, new regulation of online content, keywords in advertisements, and unfair commercial practices