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19 February 2018 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7780 / Categories: Features , Civil way , Procedure & practice
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Civil way

Spa justice; Charge queue; ‘Heridementary, my dear VO’; Post-judgment ‘lie’ discovery.

Hot hub news

The FPR Committee was this week expected to give the go-ahead to a new Form A for use in pilots for the Financial Remedies Court (FRC) (see NLJ 26 January 2018, p16). It will contain sufficient information to enable a very early allocation decision to be made by a judicial gatekeeper at the regional hub. A pilot FPR PD 36.2 PD and revised form E are in the pipeline along with work to separate—‘delink’ is the buzz word—divorce and ‘money’ so that they are started and pursued by completely separate processes. Prospective leadership and district judges to huddle in the pilot hubs have their hands up or are in hiding (as the case may be) and a tentative list of the pilot areas and the financial remedies hearing centres (FRHCs) under which they will operate has been drawn up. For instance, the proposal for the London area is that the hub should be at the central family court with the FHRCs

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
The legal profession’s claim to be a ‘guardian of fairness’ is under scrutiny after stark findings on gender imbalance and opaque progression. Writing in NLJ this week, Joshua Purser of No5 Barristers’ Chambers and Govindi Deerasinghe of Global 50/50 warn that leadership remains dominated by a narrow elite, with men holding 71% of top court roles
A legal challenge to police disclosure rules has failed, reinforcing a push for transparency in policing. In NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth examines a case where the Metropolitan Police required officers to declare membership of groups like the Freemasons
Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners
Courts are beginning to grapple with whether AI-generated material is legally privileged—and the answers are mixed. In this week's issue of NLJ, Stacie Bourton, Tom Whittaker & Beata Kolodziej of Burges Salmon examine US rulings showing how easily privilege can be lost
New guidance seeks to bring order to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Minesh Tanna and David Bridge of Simmons & Simmons set out a framework stressing ‘transparency’, ‘explainability’ and ‘reliability’
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