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09 July 2019 / Dominic Regan
Categories: Features , Employment , TUPE
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Book review: Smith & Wood's Employment Law (14th Edition)

“Smith gives us the panoramic view, seamlessly welding together old authorities with developments up to the end of February 2019”
  • Authors: Ian Smith, Aaron Baker & Owen Warnock
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press
  • ISBN: 978-0198824893
  • RRP: £37.99

Employment law ‘…is certainly one of the most difficult areas of law in which to keep up to date.’ The first sentence of this fine work is indisputably accurate. I cannot suggest any area of law which is so fickle and prone to protracted contortions.

The most fundamental issues remain elusive. Who counts as a worker? Is someone required to be on the premises, at a care home for example, entitled to receive the minimum wage even when they are tucked up and fast asleep? Both of these problems are awaiting determination by the Supreme Court. Imagine if we didn’t know what a contract was, or to whom a tortious duty was owed.

The law of master & servant

The reader gets just under 800 pages

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Sidley—James Inness

Sidley—James Inness

Partner joins capital markets team in London office

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Firm announces appointment of partner as UK general counsel

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Firm appoints first chief marketing officer to drive growth strategy

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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