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Civil way: 14 July 2023

14 July 2023 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8033 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , CPR
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Service without a seal; reducing tax penalties; no jokes: the Glancing blow; coughing impecuniosity; actuarial bunfight; chancery talk.

LOOK NO SEAL

For £10,000, you would have thought the fees office at the Royal Courts of Justice would stick the court seal on the claims form, wouldn’t you? An unsealed claims form is about as good as a teabag without a cup. The Court of Appeal did not put it exactly like that in the second-tier appeal in Walton v Pickerings Solicitors and another [2023] EWCA Civ 602. What they did say was that on issue of proceedings, the court must seal the claim form (CPR 2.6(1)(a)) to indicate that it has been issued, so that until sealing there has been no issue and the proceedings have not been started. The claimant’s copies of his claim form, which were handed back to him in return for his cheque, were unsealed but, nevertheless, he served them. When in due course he got copies from the court—there were some changes from the first

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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