I really couldn’t let this one pass by without adding my congratulations.
Jan Luba QC and HHJ Nic Madge have been producing the ‘Recent Developments in Housing Law’ in Legal Action for 25 years as of this month, quarterly from 1985 to 1988, then in the monthly format we all know and love. This is, frankly, an astonishing achievement. 25 years at the very heart of housing law practice, producing detailed case summaries and updates on legislation, policy and consultations. I may be a relative (or indeed absolute) newcomer, but the ‘Recent Developments’ were key to learning housing law for me and remain an essential read, and I’m sure the same is true for every housing practitioner out there.
I can’t even imagine the commitment. We’ve only done 4 and a bit years of reports and comment, there are now six of us and I’m still knackered.
Jan Luba and Nic Madge have been putting the updates online, after a month’s delay, for the last year or so (here and here). This is a valuable development, making the immense resource that they write and collate more easily accessible. (The next step being from PDF to database for ease of searching?)
Apparently the updates used to be produced in a King’s Cross wine bar. I don’t know if production is still aided by wine, but I raise a glass to them both in awe. (Sadly a metaphoric glass right at this moment. I’ve got this Defence to think out for tomorrow…)
Cant really think of the right words to express my own debt of gratitude for recent developments. A big part of becoming a housing practitioner in the first place and sometimes all that keeps me on my toes. Many many thanks.