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12 May 2017
Issue: 7745 / Categories: Features
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Book review: Personal Injury Small Claims, Portals & Fixed Costs

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“Those who own legal practices would do well to read the book and then have a long look at where they are going”

Author: Kerry Underwood
Publisher: Law Abroad Publishers
ISBN: 9780993534935
Price: £80

Where to begin? Kerry on Personal Injury Small Claims, Portals and Fixed Costs is not, even for the anoraked cognoscenti, a sexy title.

Standout features

The first remarkable feature of this work (of which there are three volumes) is that it will educate those who never encounter any of the topics named. The explanation of distance selling law is achingly clear and topped up with practical guidance too. This is ever more important as firms seek work far from their geographical base. The London Evening Standard regularly carries advertisements placed by a practice in Birkenhead. I regularly refer London conveyancing work to a firm in Gillingham, Dorset. Get it wrong and you forfeit the right to be paid. That alone warrants the reasonable cost of this set of works (£80?).

One might think that

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Chief information officer appointment strengthens technology leadership

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Firm strengthens Wilmslow team with two solicitor appointments

DWF—Ian Plumley

DWF—Ian Plumley

Londoninsurance and reinsurance practice announces partner appointment

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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