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Ian Smith returns from the summer break to swot up on the latest employment decisions

As the dog days of non-summer are upon us, the cases chosen for this update concern fairly short and precise employment law issues, which are no less interesting for that. They comprise yet another judicial pronouncement from the Court of Appeal on fiduciary duties in employment (or, to be more precise, the usual lack of them), two Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) cases on aspects of constructive dismissal and a decision of the Court of Session affirming the very narrow approach taken by the courts and tribunals to the power to strike out weak cases, where the comment will be made that this whole approach may be out of line with the legislative intentions of successive governments.

Fiduciary duties at work

The decision of the Court of Appeal in Ranson v Customer Systems Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 841 disapproved yet another attempt to expand the law so as to impose general fiduciary duties on

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NEWS
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
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