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Civil way—16 April 2021

14 April 2021 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7928 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Courts to get Ritzy; negotiate or else; tribunal rules amended; hold the stat demands!; mediation enticer; insolvency moves revealed.

DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR LITIGANTS

Well, someone has to pay for the sanitiser. Fast on the heels of the scrap of discount for commencing online (see ‘Civil way’, NLJ 26 March 2021, p22) comes news of the plan to hike fees across the board in civil, family and Court of Protection business (with even the magistrates’ courts set to be hit, which you can probably bear, although I would prefer not to know what an applicant has in mind when seeking a JP to ‘perform a function not on court premises’ which will cost them an extra £1). Some 133 fees are set for inflationary attack which my HMCTS borrowed calculator suggests is an average sort of around circa more or less 7.5% (although I didn’t pass maths and steer clear of detailed assessments). Some examples: a divorce will cost an extra £42 at £592 (surely no-fault

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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