Government Legal Department Vacancies

Government Legal Department Vacancies


Unlocking legal talent

Jonathan Bourne of Damar Training sets out why in-house council teams and law firms should embrace apprenticeships.
July 11, 2025

Early insights into the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

David Kitson offers some initial thoughts on the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
July 11, 2025

The section 58 defence in the Highways Act 1980

The Court of Appeal recently allowed a claimant’s appeal against a judge’s decision to reject his claim for liability against a county council in relation to a hole in a grass verge which caused him to fall off his bicycle. Martin Porter KC and Anastasia Karseras explain why.
July 11, 2025

Risk assessments in care proceedings: L-G and Re T

Adrian Gordon considers two significant 2025 decisions of the Court of Appeal, which revisit some of the most fundamental considerations surrounding the application of s31 of the Children Act 1989 to the facts of every given case.
July 11, 2025

Turbulence ahead

The £205.2m Cardiff Airport public funding package is to be challenged under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Jonathan Branton and Alexander Rose consider the case and whether we are now likely to see more legal challenges emerge within the airport and aviation sector, which has been the subject of frequent cases in EU State aid law.
July 11, 2025

PFI – a new era?

Melanie Pears explores the recent announcement by NHS England about the possibility of a private finance model for capital developments, alongside the Treasury's calls for it to be only used in very limited circumstances.
July 11, 2025

Costs in discrimination claims brought by litigants in person

The EAT has overturned a £20,000 costs order due to the tribunal's flawed assumptions about legal advice and hindsight bias in assessing prospects of success. Michael Halsey looks at the lessons from the ruling.
July 10, 2025

The Building Safety Act and retrospective service charge protection

Mark Loveday and Hugh Rowan examine Court of Appeal rulings on retrospective service charge protection under Schedule 8 of the Building Safety Act 2022.
July 10, 2025

Right to Buy (RTB) leases — be warned about service charges

Andrius Roos outlines five important takeaways from a recent case on the grant of Right to Buy leases and the ability to recover service charges.
July 10, 2025

Awaab’s Law – implementation of Phase 1

Matthew Lake, Sian Evans and Clare Jones consider the Government’s recent announcements on phase 1 of Awaab’s Law.
July 09, 2025

Seven key insights: Lord Justice Birss considers AI in civil justice

Matthew Lee sets out what expert witnesses and housing lawyers must know from the views on AI expressed by the senior judge who is to become Chancellor of the High Court later this year.
July 09, 2025

Imperative requirements in homelessness: nuts and bolts on a bumpy roadmap to suitable accommodation

Lindsay Johnson analyses an important Court of Appeal ruling on whether a local housing authority is precluded from determining the suitability of offered accommodation if it has not prepared a lawful section 189A (1) assessment, and the further documentation required by that section.
July 09, 2025

Neurodiversity in the Family Justice System Panel Discussion

42BR Barristers is pleased to present this online panel discussion exploring the next steps in advancing and sharing best practice to support the implementation of newly published guidance aimed at improving access to justice for neurodivergent individuals.
July 09, 2025

Employment Law Webinar Series - May to July - 42 Bedford Row

Following on from the first four webinars in our Employment Law Webinar Series 2025, 42BR's Employment Team is delighted to present the next three sessions of our 2025 webinars, covering a variety of employment law topics.
July 09, 2025

Home Truths - Dissecting Section 16J: Criminal Confusion in the Renters’ Rights Bill - 42 Bedford Row

Landlords, brace yourselves! Section 16J of the Renters’ Rights Bill could land you in criminal trouble for relying on shaky eviction grounds—but its sloppy drafting leaves huge questions unanswered.
July 09, 2025

Home Truths: Grounds for Possession under the Renters' Rights Bill - 42 Bedford Row

In this episode of Home Truths, Alex Adamou and Max Gordon discuss some of the interesting grounds for possession proposed under the Renters' Rights Bill and debate if the Bill will bring the change that commentators are expecting.
July 09, 2025

Airport Subsidy Challenged in the CAT

Oliver Slater, Beatrice Wood and Steve Gummer dive into the latest Competition Appeal Tribunal subsidy control challenge, brought against the Welsh Government's subsidy to Cardiff Airport.
July 03, 2025

IPA guidance 2025: Managing PFI distress and preparing for expiry

Aanya Gujral and David Owens dive into the recent guidance published on managing the risks associated with Private Finance Initiative (“PFI”) projects.
July 03, 2025

What might the public inquiry on child sexual exploitation look like

With the recent announcement that there will now be a national public inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) Stephanie McGarry and Sarah Erwin-Jones look at what this means for those likely to be become involved and what Baroness Casey had to say in her recently published review into CSE.
July 03, 2025

Data (Use and Access) Act – Updating Data Protection Law and more

On the 19th June 2025, the Data Use and Access Bill (“DUA Bill”) received Royal Assent to become the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (“DUA Act”).
July 03, 2025

High Court Dismisses Challenge to New Super Prison

The High Court has refused permission to challenge the Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission for so called 'super prison' on Green Belt land near HMP Garth and HMP Wymott in Lancashire.
July 03, 2025

AI, copyright and LLMs

What are the copyright and confidentiality issues arising from use of public and private Large Language Models (LLMs)? Justin Harrington explains.
July 03, 2025

Automatic suspensions and the public interest

Tim Care provides a summary of the recent case of Unipart Group Ltd v Supply Chain Coordination Ltd [2025], and assesses its impact upon the application of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015).
July 03, 2025

FOI and communication

The Upper Tribunal recently considered the meaning of ‘reasonably practicable’ in s11 of the Freedom of Information Act. Jonathan Dixey analyses the ruling.
July 03, 2025

Too much?

In the fourth and final article on a Court of Appeal judgment that involved an exploration of the law and procedure relating to challenges to decisions about care for young people brought after the event, Catherine Rowlands looks at the Court of Appeal view on whether a local authority accidentally accommodated the claimant.
July 01, 2025

Deploying ‘ADR’ in Planning & Compensation contexts

John Pugh-Smith looks at how these aspects of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) can now be made to work and at different stages of a dispute. Put another way, the “A” in ADR is not just “alternative” but also “adaptable”, “agile” and “accessible”.
June 27, 2025

Removal from the village green register

The High Court recently ordered the deletion of school playing fields from the village green register. Ashley Bowes explains why.
June 27, 2025

The attendance of experts in family proceedings

Rosie Muncer looks at the lessons to be learned from how a High Court judge considered a case management application for the single joint experts in care proceedings to attend to give oral evidence.
June 27, 2025

Local authority enforcement powers and domestic beekeeping

Dan Jacklin provides a detailed analysis of the enforcement powers available to local authorities in relation to domestic beekeeping.
June 27, 2025

Too little? When intervention is not required

In the third article on a recent Court of Appeal judgment that involved a wide-ranging exploration of the law and procedure relating to challenges to decisions about care for young people brought after the event, Catherine Rowlands looks at how the local authority responded.
June 27, 2025

Closures of educational sites

The Court of Appeal recently refused permission to appeal in judicial review proceedings concerning the decision to close part of a school site. Leon Glenister and Edward-Arash Abedian look at the reasons why.
June 25, 2025

Public law case update Q1 2025

Kieran Laird and Sophie O’Mahoney offer a straightforward and concise overview of six public law and regulation cases from the first quarter of 2025 which highlight important points of principle and procedure.
June 25, 2025

The scope and purpose of s166 DPA: a procedural and not a merits route of challenge

The Upper Tribunal has provided important clarification on s166 of the Data Protection Act and orders requiring the Information Commissioner to progress complaints, writes Francesca Whitelaw KC.
June 25, 2025

Local government reorganisation: the impact on procurement and contracts

Craig Athorn and Stephen Dorrian look at the opportunities and challenges for public procurement and commercial contracts presented by local government reorganisation.
June 25, 2025

Recording and publishing officer decisions

Geoff Wild considers the much-misunderstood law governing the recording and publishing of officer decisions.
June 25, 2025

AI solutions: the contractual issues

What are the key contractual issues that public sector organisations should prepare for when implementing an AI solution? Justin Harrington explains.
June 25, 2025

How do you deal with conflicts of belief in schools and colleges?

To what extent can you lawfully restrict how your staff manifest their protected beliefs? Jo Moseley considers what schools and colleges can learn from a recent case where a tribunal had to determine whether a teacher, who objected to the school's decision to socially transition an eight-year-old pupil, had been unfairly dismissed and subjected to direct discrimination because of her beliefs.
June 24, 2025

Modifying subsidies: What is permitted and what is not?

Beatrice Wood and Oliver Slater explore recent developments and discuss the process of awarding subsidies.
June 24, 2025

Getting new PPP right: Smarter tools for smarter infrastructure

Nicola Sumner, Steve Gummer and Roseanne Serrelli discuss the 'dos and don'ts' of Public-private Partnerships in their new form.
June 20, 2025

Negotiating s106 agreements

Why does negotiating section 106 agreements have to be such a drag? Simon Ricketts looks at the key issues.
June 20, 2025

Heat network zoning coordination

Carrie Davies sets out some early-stage considerations for local authorities when it comes to heat network zoning coordination.
June 20, 2025

Mediating PFIs

Mediation is a potentially underused tool for unlocking contract disputes arising out of PFI, write Emma Beynon and Andrew Lancaster.
June 20, 2025

Generative AI and data protection

Justin Harrington sets out what UK public sector organisations need to know when it comes to generative AI and data protection.
June 19, 2025

Zones/RABs and heat networks: The path to an investible infrastructure asset class?

The UK’s new heat network zoning framework (the outlines for which were drawn by the Energy Act 2023) is set to redefine how low‑carbon heating is delivered by creating geographic zones, where district heat networks are the mandated, optimal solution.
June 19, 2025

The final say

The Court of Protection has provided an important reminder that it is the judge who has the final say as to best interests, writes Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon).
June 18, 2025

The seven questions to address in a welfare analysis

A recent Court of Appeal decision highlights the importance of analysing all the factors in the welfare checklist when considering a care and placement order instead of an overreliance on the ‘risk of harm’ factor, and sets out a 7-step approach to this analysis. Victoria Holland examines the ruling.
June 18, 2025

Too late

In the second article of a series on challenges to decisions about care for young people brought after the event, Catherine Rowlands looks at how the Court of Appeal dealt with the issue of whether a claim was brought out of time.
June 18, 2025

VAT on school fees and its impact on the SEND system: an emerging pressure point

Lauren Fullerton and Arran Dowling-Hussey look at the impact of the Government’s imposition of VAT on school fees has had on the SEND system.
June 18, 2025

Expert fees in public law children cases

When the expert exceeds Legal Aid Agency rates, what is the Court to do? Eleanor Hull analyses an important recent ruling from the President of the Family Division.
June 18, 2025

Producing robust capacity assessments and the approaches to assessing capacity

Lynette Wallace looks at the lessons from a recent Court of Protection ruling on capacity.
June 18, 2025

One teacher, two jobs

Alexandra Addington looks at a recent disciplinary hearing concerning a teacher who phoned in sick to work at a different school, and considers what steps schools and colleges can take if they suspect a staff member of moonlighting.

Sponsored Editorial

Unlocking legal talent

Jonathan Bourne of Damar Training sets out why in-house council teams and law firms should embrace apprenticeships.