Autonomous Vessels and Maritime Law: Bridging the Gap Between Innovation and Regulation
September 8, 2024
Impact of increased antitrust investigations on the tech industry
September 9, 2024
In this week’s briefing:
Non-law graduates’ struggle into the legal world: The average age for a solicitor to become qualified is 30, causing delays in life milestones.
The Law Conversion Struggle: Thinking of starting a PGDL, this article contains critical information you need.
The Housing Crisis: High interest rates, a lack of planning officers, and outdated local plans mean law firms may suffer without wider economic and political reforms
Addressing the Gaps: The legal framework governing police use of Live Financial Recognition tech requires incremental reform rather than a complete overhaul.
Addressing the Gaps: Incremental Legal Reforms Needed
Article by Nabhan Zarif Sayeed
This article explores the legal framework surrounding Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology in the UK, particularly focusing on its use by law enforcement and the gaps that may exist within current laws. The analysis centres on the landmark case R. (on the application of Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police which assessed the legitimacy and legality of LFR technology.
Facial recognition, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), allows for efficient identification of individuals, contributing to public safety and criminal investigations. The technology was trailed by police forces in England and Wales, with Bridges being the first legal case to evaluate its application. LFR has demonstrated its effectiveness in tracking criminals and safeguarding public spaces from threats such as terrorism.
However, despite these advantages, significant legal challenges surround the use of LFR. Specifically, issues relate to privacy rights, data protection, and the potential biases inherent in the technology. These challenges are compounded by the fact that the legal framework does not adequately address the nuances of LFR usage by law enforcement.
Legal Challenges in Bridges
In Bridges, the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s ruling, determining that the use of LFR by South Wales Police was unlawful. The key findings emphasized breaches of the right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the failure to comply with the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.
The court concluded that South Wales Police did not sufficiently safeguard privacy rights, and their deployment of LFR technology lacked the appropriate legal oversight. Furthermore, the police had failed to consider whether the technology exhibited any racial or gender biases, adding another layer of complexity to the case.
Bias in LFR Technology
The potential use of LFR technology has produced biased outcomes, particularly when the datasets used to train the algorithms are not representative of all demographics. Research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US found that LFR systems are less accurate when identifying individuals with darker skin tones or females. This bias is largely attributed to the underrepresentation of these groups in the datasets used to train the algorithms, leading to statistical bias.
This article notes that while the differences in accuracy across demographics may not always be statistically significant, the risks posed by these biases cannot be ignored, especially given the serious implications for law enforcement.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
One of the primary legal concerns with LFR technology is its potential to infringe on privacy rights. The deployment of LFR must be carefully evaluated through a proportionality test, balancing the need for public safety with individual privacy rights. The courts have emphasized the importance of maintaining this balance, particularly when using intrusive technologies like LFR.
This article also discusses the importance of developing a clear legal framework that outlines how LFR should be used, who can be targeted, and in what contexts. The case of Bridges revealed that the existing laws do not provide sufficient protection for privacy rights, nor do they adequately address the potential for biased outcomes.
Incremental Legal Reform
Rather than proposing comprehensive legal reform, the incremental changes could address the gaps in the current legal framework. This approach involves gradually updating existing laws to keep pace with technological advancements in LFR. For instance, regulations could specify when and where LFR can be used, with a focus on high-risk areas such as counter-terrorism efforts, rather than minor criminal investigations.
The article supports the idea of creating a national watch list to limit the discretion of law enforcement in determining who can be targeted by LFR. Additionally, it calls for more stringent guidelines to ensure the proportionality and necessity of LFR deployment in different contexts.
Covert vs. Overt Surveillance
Another aspect of the legal discussion is the distinction between overt and covert surveillance. Overt surveillance, where individuals are aware they are being watched, may lead suspects to avoid areas under observation.
Covert surveillance, on the other hand, presents a greater risk to privacy but can be more effective in certain situations. It is suggested that covert surveillance should only be authorised in emergencies and reviewed by the courts after the fact.
Conclusion
The legal framework governing LFR in the UK requires incremental reform rather than a complete overhaul. This gradual approach would allow for a more flexible and adaptable legal system that can respond to the evolving nature of LFR technology. Emphasising the need for proportionality and necessity in LFR deployment, this article also advocates for stronger safeguards to protect individual privacy rights and mitigate the risks of biased outcomes.
The Housing Crisis: two steps forward, one step back
Article by Callum Stewart
Dealing with Housing crisis is one of the most difficult political questions in the modern era. According to Centre for Cities, 4.3 million homes are ‘missing’ from the UK. This has inflated house prices, pushed up rental costs and contributed to homelessness.
Labour has an ambitious plan to increase housing supply by reforming planning laws, retaining social housing, and building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. The key questions to ask are how successful Labour’s policies are likely to be and how these changes will impact the legal world.
Developing new land
One of the major contributors to the Housing crisis is a lack of housing supply, exacerbated by outdated planning laws. It can be difficult for developers to find suitable land at a reasonable price, making housebuilding in areas of high demand less affordable.
Labour’s plan is to loosen restrictions to allow housebuilders to redevelop ‘brownfield’ industrial sites and build on Green belt land. Labour believes this will encourage the private sector to build more homes as demand is particularly high in these areas.
However, high interest rates and a lack of skilled tradesmen may stifle Labour’s plans. Many prospective homeowners cannot afford mortgages with 4-4.5% interest rates, and a lack of tradesmen makes building costs high. In turn, homes are more expensive to build and less likely to be bought.
Barratt, the largest housing developer in the UK, has already announced they intend to finish between 13000-13500 homes next year, down from 17000 between June 2021-2022. The Labour government needs to focus on incentivising the private sector if they wish to meet their targets, as it does not make sense for developers to increase production in this environment.
For the legal sector, large changes to the planning system may mean increased demand for planning lawyers. This demand is likely to come from developers and individuals who are seeking to support or oppose new housing developments. Therefore, practitioners and students need to stay up to date to understand the law and give the most accurate advice.
Reintroducing housing targets
Part of solving the housing crisis is making housing geographically accessible. Labour is planning to calculate housing targets based on geographical need, leaving local authorities to implement the targets. In theory this should mean more houses are built in areas where there is most demand for them, making housing more accessible.
The main problem with reintroducing housing targets is a lack of capacity. This is because, according to the Royal Town Planning Institute, 3100 planning officers left the profession between 2010-2020. Additionally, only 20% of Local Authorities have modern local plans, meaning there are fewer planning officers with less resources to make decisions about proposals.
Without more planning officers and investing in new local plans, these reforms could be bad news for the legal sector. Planning decisions may take longer due to higher demand, and the outcome less predictable. In turn, lawyers may have to spend more time researching and less time billing. On the flip side, should there be more planning proposals, there are likely to be more clients, meaning planning law may be overall more lucrative for firms.
Retaining social housing
The lack of social housing in the UK is a major contributor to the housing crisis. According to the department for Levelling Up, in 2023 there were 1.29 million households waiting for local authority housing, but only 252,000 households received a new tenancy. This means one million households are without housing security, pushing them into the private rental sector or leaving them at risk of homelessness.
Labour’s approach seems to be to retain existing social housing stock. Following a report published by Southwark Council, Angela Rayner has met with several council leaders to discuss reforms to right-to-buy. The proposals include reducing the right-to-buy discount and preventing the sale of properties built in the past three years. Whilst no official announcement has been made yet, this is clearly something Labour are seriously considering and should be watched closely.
Right-to-buy reforms would in the short term keep more properties in the public sector, though it would not fix the long-term problem. However, it may have significant consequences for the legal sector. Restricting right-to-buy will mean less affordable properties will enter the private housing market, potentially affecting conveyancers who will have to compete for fewer properties. This would particularly hurt firms if housebuilding targets are missed.
Conclusion
Labour’s supply-side reforms aim to make building new housing in the UK easier and more lucrative. In theory, planning lawyers and conveyancers will benefit as more houses should be built. However, high interest rates, a lack of planning officers and outdated local plans mean law firms may suffer without wider economic and political reforms. Ultimately, time will tell whether Labour’s plans will be successful.
The Law Conversion Struggle: Fees, Travel, and Academic Pressure
Article by Shiven Chudasama
The ‘GDL’, (or the Graduate Diploma in Law), the conversion course for non-law undergraduates, is filled and oversubscribed with hopeful aspiring lawyers. Cohorts vary from those who didn’t get into studying law through UCAS at 18 and now finally have their chance, the students who seek and demand justice, and the money-minding corporate wannabes who only aspire to the Canary Wharf lifestyle.
The law conversion is not an easy path, however – with large sums of tuition fees, an intense 12 months of studying the law of England and Wales, and scholarship applications that are charged with ‘relevant experience’ hunting.
Additionally, no government student finance support is available (as it does not technically qualify as a Master’s course, despite being a postgraduate diploma) – unless one decides to study the MA Law at the University of Law, they may qualify for student financing. For other students, who aim to study at City St George’s (previously City, University of London) or BPP, a renowned academic intensive GDL course, student funding is not applicable. So, applications for Inns of Court scholarships, interviews, and preparing relevant legal experience are the mission.
In this article, I attempt to provide any valuable information for those thinking of taking the law conversion and address any queries regarding the added stress before even starting the course.
Fees and funding
Depending on where one decides to study for the law conversion in the UK, fees vary according to location, university and style of course. Various universities across the UK that offer the course (Nottingham Trent, Sussex, and London Metropolitan). However, the three main contenders for a strong GDL are usually City St George, University of Law, and BPP.
Both City and BPP offer conversions without the MA qualification, so they are not applicable for receiving student finance, whereas the University of Law’s MA Law programme qualifies and so student funding of up to £12,167 is available per student. This does not apply to all ULaw courses, however – the PGDL is not applicable for student funding and is charged at the same rate as BPP.
So, what can students do if they have preferences or have easier options to get to but are not eligible for funding and wish to study the law?
- Inns of Courts scholarships – perhaps the most common option non-law aspiring lawyers choose is this. Students in their final year of their undergraduate apply to this shortly after sending in their conversion course applications. Scholarships must be made to either four of the preferred inns (Gray’s, Middle, Inner or Lincoln’s), followed by an interview and a granting or rejection of funding. According to the Inner Temple in 2023, 81 applications were processed with 30 being granted funding. The Inner Temple is also the only inn that matches the conversion course fees in the funding that they provide which is further carried forward for the subsequent Bar Practice Course. This funding is predominately used for tuition fees and students are expected to fund living costs from elsewhere.
- University scholarships – It is worth it to look at these according to which law school one chooses to apply to. Academic scholarships are the standard style awards that are given to those who show high academic potential from their undergraduate grades and demonstrate talent and potential from their application. Some universities also offer a scholarship to students for just receiving a first class in their non-law undergraduate. Students with a refugee, asylum, or carer background may further qualify for other sources of funding.
- Savings – Money kept away will come in very useful to students for reasons such as commuting, textbooks required to buy, rent money etc. So, start saving from your undergraduate years if you work, and save up in the summer before as much as possible because it will be useful.
- Part-time work – Most conversion courses will cover the core modules: EU law, contract, criminal, public, equity, land, and tort as well as one or two foundation and skills-based modules. These will take up considerable time during the week, with some courses having an expected 18 hours of contact hours per week (lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials). In addition to this, constant revision of material and preparatory readings is essential to staying on top of the workload to understand English law and prepare adequately for exams and final year thesis projects. Thus, part-time work may seem like an unnecessary add-on stress which could have detrimental consequences for one’s success in the conversion course. If avoidable, don’t work part-time, stay at home and commute, save money from before as much as possible, and be budget-friendly!
Travel
Depending on where one may choose to study for their law conversion, travel is an added expenditure that can accumulate to thousands of pounds if commuting is an option. However, commuting works out far cheaper generally than renting so this may seem like a more feasible method too.
For instance, if a student living originally at home in Birmingham chooses to study the GDL at City St George’s, then the four times weekly commute from Birmingham New Street to London Euston would be approximately total to £2500-£3000 in 10 months (2 months excluded for term holidays and exam periods where classes do not take place).
On the other hand, a monthly rent of approximately £800 for a room in London would total £9,600 based on a 12-month contract. It may be easier to live in London and take the shorter commute whilst paying mass amounts of rent, or it may be financially feasible for most people to pay 60% less in a year and commute for two hours. National railcards may come in useful for those commuting between cities.
Academic pressure
The law conversion is no easy course, simply put. It is, to put it succinctly, a three-year law degree condensed into 10-12 months. Students will learn all the essentials of English law and be expected to remember as much as they can, which must later be expressed in a research dissertation (if taking the MA) or through examinations that test for memory and application of knowledge more so than skills and ability.
In addition to this, students will face the stress of collecting training contracts or vacation schemes (for those taking the solicitor route), and mini pupillages as well as securing a pupillage post-law conversion (for those taking the barrister route), and this is no less competitive than the course itself.
Law conversion students will be expected to gain mooting experience to enhance their advocacy and become involved in extra-curriculars like the local law society which will see conversion students coming together in support of studying and socialising.
Then comes the social life – which treads the line of self-guilt for taking a break from studying and not revising enough but is just as important to maintain a healthy balance to be productive and attentive as necessary.
The law conversion is a challenge, but it can and surely will be completed in the end, finally giving non-law students the essential legal knowledge they require before pursuing a legal career. They will no longer feel left behind but will always have to catch up even more than ‘straight law’ students to gain that experience which comes by less easy, through always having to prove themselves as worthy enough.
Further support:
Law Society funding and support
Non-law graduates’ struggle into the legal world
Article by Sumaya Atteyeh
In recent years, there has been an increase in university graduates entering the legal profession without a law degree. This is thanks to well established routes such as the PDGL (Postgraduate Diploma in Law) which acts as a revised version of the well-known GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law).
For non-law students who aspire to become a solicitor, they have unique challenges that are not always considered. I aim to explore these within this short article.
Critical issues
Roughly about 50% of qualified solicitors came from a non-law background (Legal Cheek). While this statistic is definitely motivating for aspiring lawyers from a non-law degree such as myself, there are several other factors that we must consider.
These include not having been exposed to legal jargon throughout one’s university studies and struggling to find sufficient work experience. Many renowned law firms usually offer placements for law students in their final year of study. This can make it difficult for non-law university students to gain the relevant experience they need to successfully secure a training contract.
Another challenge they face is having to explain to law firms WHY there is such a desire to switch to an extremely competitive field. In the same field where even law graduates struggle to find training contracts.
Additionally, there is the financial burden of becoming a solicitor or barrister. Both SQE1 and SQE2 are renowned to be extremely expensive, with the costs changing every year. So having a training contract is even more important to secure. However, getting one often comes with the promise of passing both qualifying exams on the first attempt. Many non-law students also opt to pursue a master’s degree to give them an edge when it comes to qualifying.
Earlier this year, Kaplan (the examining board for SQE1 and SQE2) went under fire for incorrectly failing a total of 175 students for their SQE1 exam in January. This was due to an administrative error as the examination board had recently amended the marks from a percentage to a total score out of 500. This error was not acknowledged until early April and had catastrophic consequences. This included firms such as the renowned Clifford Chance revoking training contracts for future solicitors due to the failure of Kaplan.
They have since apologised for the mishap, alongside offering a £250 to the affected candidates and providing them with priority with booking the SQE2 exam. This has understandably caused a lot of stress for those involved.
Societal implications
The broader societal implications of the problems I have highlighted include the taxing effort required to even become qualified in the first place. The average age for a solicitor to become qualified is 30 (The Law Society).
This can place delays in life milestones such as purchasing your first house or starting a family as you are spending extensive time in qualifying. That is to say achieving such goals are not impossible, it just may take more time than those in less taxing industries.
Although there have been improvements in the legal field having more gender-equal representation, with 53% of women and 45% of men working as solicitors (Prospects) the percentage of female solicitors working as full-equity partners decreases significantly to 32%. This statistic suggests a need for more flexible working to ensure more female solicitors can achieve their professional aspirations without compromising on their health and wellbeing.
Law firms
Law firms are always looking for upcoming legal talent. Although consideration is given to allow for non-law graduates an equal chance at entering the legal field, there is still extensive work to be done.
Universities can help law firms find their future solicitors by better informing their students (both law and non-law) of the opportunities they can get involved in from the beginning of their university career. This will allow for common misconceptions to be debunked at the earliest opportunity.
Finally, law firms need to help bring change to the current legal landscape. For those without personal connections or money, becoming a solicitor can seem like an impossible journey. It is imperative that their unique perspectives are heard and acknowledged. Because everyone deserves legal representation that can fully support them.
