A veteran solicitor has been struck off after admitting he billed clients for work he had not done to stop his firm exceeding its overdraft. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Mark Grenville Davies, admitted in 1985, improperly billed on…

The Post Office scandal has at last produced disciplinary charges against solicitors, though not the sort many campaigners had been waiting for. The SRA has named Jane MacLeod, the former Post Office general counsel, and Nick Gould as the first…

Open justice has discovered the ancient British art of saying “of course you may” while quietly reaching for the card machine. A cross-party early day motion is calling for court transcripts to be made freely available. The idea is almost…

Updated Department for Education guidance became statutory on 29 June. Schools in England should begin following it from 1 September. The guidance says schools should be mobile phone-free by default and should prohibit the use of phones and similar smart…

The Vagrancy Act was law written in the tone of a man irritated that poverty had chosen to be visible. On 29 June, the government repeals the remaining 1824 provisions which criminalised rough sleeping and begging. That ends a 202-year…

The Crown Court backlog has fallen by 37 cases, which is the justice-system equivalent of tidying one teaspoon in a burning kitchen. Fresh court figures show a tiny fall in the Crown Court open caseload while the row over restricting…

The government has decided that nudging users with better settings is no longer doing the job. Ministers plan to ban social media platforms from offering services to under‑16s, with draft regulations expected before Christmas and the regime intended to take…