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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

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Commercial firm strengthens real estate disputes team with associate hire

Switalskis—three appointments

Switalskis—three appointments

Firm appoints three directors to board

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Six promoted to partner and one to legal director across UK and Ireland offices

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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