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22 March 2013 / Jennifer James
Issue: 7553 / Categories: Blogs
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The bottom line

Jennifer James fails to find justice at the check-out queue

The Insider has watched the compensation culture burgeon over the years since I was admitted to practise law in 1992. The introduction of conditional fee agreements saw massive increases in slip and trip and whiplash injury claims, the latter allegedly pushing insurance premiums for all drivers up by some £90 each per annum.

You would, therefore, think that it would be a piece of cake to sue a large corporation in tort, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is not necessarily correct.

A wake-up call

A few months ago, I was in my local (unidentifiable from anything in this article) superstore, packing my trolley, when I felt and heard a forceful whack across my right gluteus maximus; I had been smacked, hard, on the backside. My initial reaction was to look round—I thought perhaps it was someone I knew although I had not seen anyone I knew in there and would not have been impressed by such a greeting anyway.

It

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Foot Anstey—Jasmine Olomolaiye

Foot Anstey—Jasmine Olomolaiye

Investigations and corporate crime expert joins as partner

Fieldfisher—Mark Shaw

Fieldfisher—Mark Shaw

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Taylor Wessing—Stephen Whitfield

Taylor Wessing—Stephen Whitfield

Firm enhances competition practice with London partner hire

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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
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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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