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Civil way: 12 December 2025

Costs and AI behaviour; ‘A landlord nor a bailiff be’?

AND YOU SHALL BE CONTINUALLY GUIDED

Do not venture inside the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO) without mugging up on its latest guide. Nothing earth-moving, but recommended by Lord Justice Birss, which is good. During its former incarnation and as a novice articled clerk up from the sticks to the smoke, the only guide I had was the managing clerk who let me loose there on a substantial four-column bill listed for assessment. He told me not to worry about any party and party items going over to common fund (legal aid). The master told me that the receiving party client with a fat contribution would have boxed my ears if they could have witnessed my concurrence in massive transfers.

Now you might have thought that Birss LJ would have been working on a speech for his swearing-in as the new High

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Ben Daniels, DAC Beachcroft

NLJ Career Profile: Ben Daniels, DAC Beachcroft

Ben Daniels, newly elected as the next senior partner of DAC Beachcroft, reflects on his leadership inspiration and considers an impish alternative career

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Firms strengthens national restructuring and insolvency practice with leadership appointments

NEWS
In NLJ this week, Ian Smith, emeritus professor at UEA, explores major developments in employment law from the Supreme Court and appellate courts
Writing in NLJ this week, Kamran Rehman and Harriet Campbell of Penningtons Manches Cooper examine Operafund Eco-Invest SICAV plc v Spain, where the Commercial Court held that ICSID and Energy Charter Treaty awards cannot be assigned
Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School highlights a turbulent end to 2025 in the civil courts, from the looming appeal in Mazur to judicial frustration with ever-expanding bundles, in his final NLJ 'The insider' column of the year
Antonia Glover of Quinn Emanuel outlines sweeping transparency reforms following the work of the Transparency and Open Justice Board in this week's NLJ
In Ward v Rai, the High Court reaffirmed that imprecise points of dispute can and will be struck out. Writing in NLJ this week, Amy Dunkley of Bolt Burdon Kemp reports on the decision and its implications for practitioners
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