Divorce rate drops by 4.5%
Recently published Office for National Statistics divorce rate figures reveal a 4.5% decrease in the number of divorces completed in 2020 compared with 2019. Statistics show that in 2020, there were 103,592 divorces granted in England and Wales, a decrease of 4.5% compared with 2019. Of these divorces the vast majority were among opposite-sex couples […]
Government issues brief on humanist marriages
The Law Commission has provisionally proposed a framework that could allow non‑religious belief organisations, such as humanists, to conduct legally binding marriage ceremonies, as part of a wider consultation on reform of the law relating to how and where marriages can take place. The government has said it will decide how to proceed in light […]
Organisations awarded £1.4 million for domestic abuse research
The Home Office has announced the 21 organisations who have been successful in securing funding for research projects on perpetrators of domestic abuse. The £1.4 million funding will support 21 projects that build on existing research and aim to cover gaps in areas where there is limited knowledge, including interpersonal abuse in adolescent relationships, suicides […]
MOJ to create 2,000 jobs across England and Wales
Seven new regional Ministry of Justice (MOJ) offices will be opened across England and Wales, the Deputy Prime Minister has announced, as the government continues to level up communities. The new Justice Collaboration Centres will be launched alongside a series of satellite offices as the government’s Places for Growth programme continues to move civil service roles […]
Law Society issues response to levelling up whitepaper
The Law Society of England and Wales has issued a response to the government’s Levelling Up whitepaper, which was unveiled by Michael Gove last week. “The government will struggle to achieve its levelling up mission without a properly funded justice system”, said the Law Society in a press statement last week. It noted that the […]
SRA: diversity in the profession is improving, “but more to do”
Diversity within law firms is continuing to slowly improve year-on-year, with smaller firms increasingly more diverse than larger ones. These are among the key findings published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) following its latest collection of diversity data from more than 8,700 law firms employing more than 180,000 people across England and Wales. There […]
