In today’s email:

• Can lawyers do maths?

• M&A is at a 10-year low

• Cook up a brand new emoji

• Linklaters is making transatlantic moves

• Pinsent Masons is popping up in Abu Dhabi

• Why your textbooks are highlighted so much

• A free app that can improve your law firm applications

… and more!

EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

Hey guys — if you’re working on law firm applications right now, I made a video on a writing tool which could help you.

Check it out if you want 👇️ 

- Idin

FEATURED REPORT 📰

📮 The Post Office scandal: Explained

🚨 Since this article was written, the situation with this story has developed. Make sure you read the “UPDATE” section at the bottom of this report which includes this.

What's going on here?

The UK Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters (the individuals in charge of local post offices) based on incorrect data from their computer system. This has led to ongoing legal battles and police investigations.

What does this mean?

Between 1999 and 2015, the UK Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters. These individuals were convicted of crimes like false accounting and theft based on wrong information from their computer system, called Horizon.

Many of these people had their lives ruined — some were imprisoned, some suffered heavy financial damage.

After 20 years of campaigning (and a recent TV series on ITV) the court said the cases had to be reconsidered. But, even now, not all of the convictions have been overturned and many of the innocent victims have still not received any compensation.

The Metropolitan Police is now conducting an investigation into potential fraud offences committed by the Post Office related to these prosecutions.

Who made the faulty software?

Horizon, the faulty software, was built by Fujitsu, a Japanese company. It helps with tasks like accounting and stocktaking — and it’s still used by the Post Office now (although they say it’s been fixed).

So, what happens to the wrongfully convicted postmasters now?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called this an "appalling miscarriage of justice".

The UK government will have to fix it, and fast. The 3 options they have are:

1. 📜 A one-off new law: Parliament could pass new legislation that clears all those who were wrongfully convicted. But there’s a challenge because government and the courts are meant to be completely separated (you might have covered the “separation of powers” in your lectures). So, the judicial process shouldn’t ever be interfered with for political reasons — if it is, it opens up the door for other politicians to do this in the future, and undermines judicial independence.

2. 👑 Royal pardons: Another option could be for the King to issue royal pardons to the hundreds of wrongly accused sub-postmasters, but this would be a symbolic act, and would not overturn their convictions — only the Court of Appeal (CoA) can do that. The innocent postmasters would still be considered criminals by law, so it’s probably not a good enough solution.

3. ⏩️ Speed-up the appeals process: A third option would be to speed up the existing appeals within the judicial system. This would involved the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) — an independent body which reviews cases where people believe they have been wrongly convicted. They’d have to send a bunch of cases to the CoA in one go and then the CoA would have to exonerate multiple people at the same time. The issue is that the CCRC applies a controversial and strict legal test which essentially tries to guess what the CoA will rule — its critics say it too often rejects pleas for help that it should let through.

Will they get compensation?

Yes, the Post Office is offering £600,000 compensation to each postmaster who was wrongfully convicted.

What’s the big picture effect?

This story’s less about the legal industry and more about the justice system (although some of the lawyers who were historically involved are being criticised for having played a part in this).

The Post Office scandal has been called the ‘biggest miscarriage of justice’ ever in the UK — many are asking why it took a TV series for the government to finally take the issue seriously!

There are a lot of eyeballs on how the government and courts handle this in a way that’s fair, quick and without opening up the door to future bad acts from the government.

🚨 UPDATE

Since this article was written, it’s now been made clear that the government has gone with ‘option 1’ listed above — they’ve announced that a new law will be proposed to exonerate all the postmasters. The Prime Minister also announced that upfront compensation of £75,000 will be awarded to the postmasters.

This process will take weeks to implement.

A BIT OF FUN 😄

😈 generational trauma

IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• 📉 M&A activity plunged to a 10-year low in 2023, with deal values dropping to $2.9tn (£2.28tn). Kirkland & Ellis was at the top, advising on deals worth $399bn (£313bn). The US dominated nearly half of global M&A, even as the market battled rising interest rates and recession risks. The top UK firm on the list in terms of deal value was Freshfields.

• 🇺🇸 Linklaters hired George Casey, a major lawyer from Shearman & Sterling’s New York office. This indicates Linklaters’s plan for a stronger US presence. Since A&O are merging with Shearman, the other Magic Circle firms could start pushing more into the US.

• 🤖 The US Supreme Court has issued a warning about the use of AI in the legal system. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. emphasised the dangers noting issues like AI "hallucinations" and confidentiality breaches. While acknowledging AI's potential to aid those with limited resources, the report calls for caution in its application.

• 🏢 The law firm Mishcon de Reya acquired Flex Legal, an interim legal professionals provider. Flex Legal will remain separate in branding but will be part of Mishcon’s consultancy divisions. This indicates that Mishcon believes in the future of flexible lawyers. For example, you could see a trend towards lawyers or paralegals placed on more short-term jobs to deal with specific projects.

• 🌍 Pinsent Masons is expanding its UAE footprint by opening a new office in Abu Dhabi, adding to its long-standing presence in Dubai. The new office will supports the firm's goal to double its corporate revenue by 2030 — with a recent 14% revenue increase, Pinsent Masons continues its growth in the Middle East.

AROUND THE WEB 🌐

• ➕ Maths: Think you’re good at maths? See how far you can get in this maths crossword.

• 🗞️ News: If you’re more of a visual person, join 250,000+ others keeping up with business, finance and tech news with visuals and data.*

• 🫠 Cool: Mix two emojis to make a brand new one in this emoji kitchen. Here’s one I made which looks cool 👇️ 

Credit: r/internetisbeautiful

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