The Legal Year Ahead
The legal year ahead promises to be a busy one.
In Parliament, many of Labour’s manifesto promises will come to fruition. Some of the most ambitious bills that have already made good progress through Parliament are the Employment Rights Bill which seeks to expand protections for workers, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which carries on from the previous governments efforts to create a smoke-free generation and the Great British Energy Bill which will establish a publicly owned company to operate and invest in clean energy projects.
I have not mentioned the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill there because its future appears less certain, but we can expect continued debate on the sensitive subject of assisted suicide throughout 2025.
We can also expect sensitive issues to be discussed in the courts as well. Judges will be called upon to make decisions relating to transgender rights and, in the context of Scottish legislation, that also means a broader debate around devolution.
Meanwhile, as the new government attempts to reduce immigration numbers, we can expect judicial scrutiny of their policies in this regard as well.
This year will also be a period where things continue to change within the legal industry as a whole.
At the top, the wage wars show no sign of abating and newly qualified solicitors at big city firms can expect to benefit.
At the other end of the pay scale, Labour have not shown a real intention to deal with the criminal legal aid crisis.
Sir Brian Leveson is due to offer some radical ideas in a report due out soon, but realistically this is just plugging holes on a sinking ship in the absence of full and proper financial investment from the government.
There is also a good chance that this is the year that AI really takes off as a tool that can be used right across the legal sector.
Legal information companies like Westlaw are building tools that can help lawyers sort through information more efficiently, while some larger firms building their own bespoke AI models.
However, AI is not only some fancy and expensive technology that is the preserve of top-end lawyers.
AI is also helping to democratise legal practice by making it easier for free legal advice clinics to assist some of the more vulnerable members of society who are seeking justice.
A recent report by Dominic Casciani of the BBC highlighted how AI is already being used in some complicated, but unprofitable areas of practice like benefits appeals and disputes with landlords in order to address the justice gap.
AI is still far from perfect, but it can help people to understand their rights without having to do a three-year university degree first.
When it comes to thinking about the future of the law in 2025 it is very easy to be pessimistic, but it is equally (if not more) important to remember that there are also a lot of reasons to be hopeful.
This week in the podcast, we return to employment law and think about whether unions should be able to exercise rights as third parties to contracts of employment.
Episode link: https://uklawweekly.com/2024-uksc-41/
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Marcus