With big change afoot, Anita Chopra and Salima Mawji consider the education bill, the green paper on special educational needs and a High Court discussion of the contractual relationship between a law student and her university
I had put off typing up this column until I was certain that the world would not come to an apocalyptic end on 21 May. No, not the launch of ABSs, but the day of 'Rapture' predicted by Harold Camping, an American (of course) evangelical broadcaster who, at 89 years old, is perhaps closer to his day of judgment than most of his fanatical followers.
The conditional endorsement by the SRA board last week of the report by a joint expert group on the proposed quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates has fuelled fresh concerns over the risk of judge bias against solicitors.
Developer Cala Homes has failed in a second attempt to overturn a planning statement from communities secretary Eric Pickles, requiring councils to take into account the government's commitment to abolish the regional planning strategies.
There were protests across the country today during the 'Justice for All' day of action, as the government prepared to unveil a legal aid bill containing what many expect to be drastic cuts.
The SRA board has asked the group of experts set up to design a quality advocacy assurance scheme for all criminal advocates to reconsider some of the rules amid concerns that judges carrying out advocate assessment could be biased against solicitors.