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Civil way: 1 November 2024

01 November 2024 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8092 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Sexual harassment law in; Evidence from abroad; Cladding clarifications; Court lists to look odder; FPR changes; The perils of statement drafting; And going to court!

SHIFT TO PREVENTION

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force in England, Wales and Scotland on 26 October 2024 (see ‘Civil way’, 173 NLJ 8049, p17). The law on sexual harassment in the workplace is strengthened but not as far as had been intended. A duty is now on the employer to take reasonable steps to prevent it and a compensation uplift if a breach.


AROUND THE WORLD FOR WITNESSES

The Foreign Office has updated its guidance on taking and voluntarily giving video evidence from abroad in UK court and tribunal cases without losing the feed or being executed or banged up. The position in each country of which it has heard is summarised. Permission for giving evidence from France has not been forthcoming. Ditto Greece, Cambodia, Cuba and Egypt, but work is ongoing in seeking to obtain agreement

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Browne Jacobson—Matthew Kemp

Firm grows real estate team with tenth partner hire this financial year

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Hogan Lovells—Lisa Quelch

Partner hire strengthens global infrastructure and energy financing practice

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Sherrards—Jan Kunstyr

Legal director bolsters international expertise in dispute resolution team

NEWS
Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent
Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first
In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
The Ministry of Justice is once again in the dock as access to justice continues to deteriorate. NLJ consultant editor David Greene warns in this week's issue that neither public legal aid nor private litigation funding looks set for a revival in 2026
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