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Civil way: 15 September 2017

15 September 2017 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7761 / Categories: Features , Civil way
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Divorce report, intellectual threats, High Court possession, & Undertakings

FREEDOM ON LINE

Sorry, divorce practitioners. The online project is continuing to go well (see Civil way, 7 April 2017). Petitions (applications, if you must) have been available for online completion in ever-so-user-friendly fashion by all patronising the East Midlands Regional Divorce Centre (RDC) in Nottingham and not just the cherry picked since 31 July 2017. This service was extended to the West Midlands RDC in Stoke last week and will hit the South West RDC in Southampton at the beginning of next month. The petition has to be downloaded and lodged but online filing (once the respondent has been ejected from the study) and fee payment (but not out of the matrimonial assets) are set to follow in a matter of months. Foreign marriage cases are currently excluded but will join in sooner or later. The endgame (sorry, again) looks to be around spring of 2019.

THREATENING LAW

OK, intellectual property law may not usually detain you unduly but could you hold on for

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

University of Manchester: The LLM driving tech-focused career growth

University of Manchester: The LLM driving tech-focused career growth

Manchester’s online LLM has accelerated career progression for its graduates

mfg Solicitors—Philip Chapman

mfg Solicitors—Philip Chapman

Regional firm strengthens corporate team with partner hire

Switalskis—Sally Christey, Mathew Abiagom & Cyman Kaur

Switalskis—Sally Christey, Mathew Abiagom & Cyman Kaur

Commercial property team expands with trio of appointments

NEWS
Judging is ‘more intellectually demanding than any other role in public life’—and far messier than outsiders imagine. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC reflects on decades spent wrestling with unclear legislation, fragile precedent and human fallibility
The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
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