Paul Newby, the Pubs Code Adjudicator, has today announced the completion of the first cases referred to the PCA for arbitration, indicating that the new framework is working to achieve fairness and choice for tenants.

The first cases have been decided and the Adjudicator has made five awards. The numbers of awards will continue to rise as parties conclude their negotiations. Currently over half the accepted cases are at a stage where parties are agreeing procedure between themselves before the process reaches the final stages.

Mr Newby said:

This represents an early milestone for arbitration under the Pubs Code. The bulk of the first referrals for arbitrations were received in October and November and cases have been moving through the arbitration process.

As part of arbitration, parties are encouraged to continue to negotiate and I am pleased to see this process is bringing pub-owning businesses and tenants to the negotiating table. In many cases this is leading to the narrowing of issues, a stronger negotiation position for tenants and swifter settlement.

It shows that arbitration is fulfilling its purpose: tenants and pub-owning businesses are talking and coming to agreement between themselves.

Arbitration awards remain private unless all parties to the dispute agree to release details. As more cases reach award stage I will see where we can identify general principles and make information and advice available to tenants and pub-owning businesses to guide their future relationships.

Some big issues such as what a Market Rent Only compliant tenancy looks like are in the arbitration process. All cases will be considered on an individual basis.

The PCA has robust systems and resources in place to deal with the number of referrals we have received. My team and I are working very hard to progress all referrals.

However, the parties in any dispute have significant control on timing because at each stage of arbitration both tenants and pub-owning businesses have to respond with information or views, or take action independently of the PCA, to allow the process to move forward.

The Code is also new, and inevitably many of the issues raised are the first of a kind and take some time to resolve.

Mr Newby added:

I am also continuing to gather information from tenants, other individuals including MPs, and representative organisations about the Code.

This information is beginning to build up and I am focusing on analysing the information so I have good intelligence to support action I will take. I urge any individual or organisation with information about potential Code breaches to bring that information to me. It will be treated in the fullest confidence.

For further information contact Sheree Dodd office@pca.gsi.gov.uk

Hannah Rothschild has been reappointed by the Prime Minister as a Trustee of the National Gallery, for 4 years until 9 March 2021. Hannah Rothschild is also the Chairman of the Gallery’s Board of Trustees.

To mark International Women’s Day (8 March 2017), the first female Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss met lawyers from across the capital for an event designed to inspire the next generation of women leaders in law.

The event at Inner Temple was hosted by Women In Law London (WILL), the first ever grassroots network designed to provide talented female lawyers with contacts and mentoring to help them progress.

WILL Advisory Board member and General Counsel and Head of Financial Compliance for Roche UK, Funke Abimbola, led a Q&A with the Lord Chancellor before opening up questions for audience members.

During the evening the Lord Chancellor set out efforts to address barriers facing women in the legal service, following meetings with Magic Circle and Silver Circle firms, the Law Society and Bar Council on how we can widen the industry’s talent pool.

This includes work with the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Kakkar, Chair of the Judicial Appointments Committee, to improve diversity in the judiciary by opening up the High Court to “direct entry candidates”, meaning female solicitors and barristers without judicial experience can apply.

Commenting on the event and the need to improve diversity the Lord Chancellor, Elizabeth Truss said:

I am pleased to support the important work Women in Law does to champion women in the legal profession. Our brilliant legal system needs to reflect the diverse nature of our society, and a justice system which represents everyone improves public confidence and trust.

I want to see more women and ethnic minorities in the judiciary and in senior levels of law firms, but I’ve been clear this is not diversity for diversity’s sake. It’s about talent for talent’s sake.

We want the best and the brightest from every background. If you have the skills, the drive and the talent to reach the top of your profession then it’s vital we tap into this so we can continue to lead the world in the increasingly competitive legal services sector.

International Women’s Day is a reminder there is more to be done, but my message is clear – when you widen the pool of talent from which lawyers and judges are drawn, you make the justice system stronger.

Suzanne Szczetnikowicz, Chair Women In Law London added:

The huge uptake we’ve had in WILL membership since our launch in 2014 is a sign of the desire of female solicitors in London to see real change in the profession, to build their confidence levels and to network with like-minded individuals.

Greater diversity of workforce in a service sector business makes for, amongst other things, a more creative approach to problem-solving, flexibility and innovation in policy-making and a wider range of longer-lasting client relationships.

We want to continue to encourage and empower our members individually as well as to drive change at a firm and professional level. Firms and businesses need to ensure that diversity and inclusion becomes a true core value implemented at all levels. They should maintain a dialogue with their women and make sure that they are not, even unconsciously, opting women out.

The WILL mantra is to promote and engage the next generation of women leaders in law. A large part of this is about moving the needle so that the majority of entrants to the solicitor profession being female for the past 20 years is much more closely reflected in the proportions at the highest levels.

1. Launched in 2014, Women In Law London (WILL) is a network with over 2,400 members and senior legal champions, representing both private practice and in-house lawyers at over 350 different firms and companies. Its ambition is to promote and engage the next generation of women leaders in law.
2. The organisation was masterminded by five London lawyers, Sascha Grimm, Cooley, Suzanne Szczetnikowicz, Milbank, Sophie Bragg, Mishcon de Reya, Ellen Hughes-Jones of Locke Lord and Fatema Orjela, Sidley Austin, to improve the retention of female talent in the profession and help identify barriers to senior partnership.
3. Founded as a network by associates for associates, WILL is supported by an Advisory Panel of senior leaders and partners. For more information on the organisation see: http://www.womeninlawlondon.com/home.html / @WomenInLawLon
4. For more information on our work to improve the promotion of talent in the legal industry see: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/women-in-the-legal-industry
5. For more information on International Women’s Day see: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Chinese scientists are researching the new material graphene to produce a smart wearable device to enable those with hearing and speaking disability to listen and speak normally.

Ren Tianling, a professor at the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University, is leading the team on the device, taking full advantage of graphene’s special characteristics, such as excellent electric and thermal conductivity.

Graphene is a thin layer of pure carbon, a two-dimensional form of carbon in sheets just one atom thick, tougher than a diamond, yet lightweight and flexible, and it is a material with extremely strong electric and heat-conducting properties.

Ren’s team has published a research paper on producing the wearable device made of graphene, in Nature Communications, an international science journal, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The porous graphene material would make the device detect weak vibrations while it could produce sounds in a wide spectrum from 100Hz to 40kHz under the thermoacoustic effect.

Researchers would first record and encode the disabled people’s sounds, such as coughs, whispers and screams, in different intensity and frequency into groups and then match each group with sounds of words, phrases or sentences.

When the device detects the sounds in groups, it will “speak” the words, phrases or sentences.

Tao Luqi, a doctoral student who took part in the research work, said the deaf-mute people need to compose the codes of their sounds in groups and remember them. It is something similar to typing the keys on a keyboard, and the device would respond to the codes by speaking the words back.

The device would also create the sentences in different tones as it would be capable of capturing even small differences such as high or low pitch.