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17 January 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8100 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 17 January 2025

Costs rates up; forget the merits; specials interest down; parking ticket escape; tale of 94 dodgy divorces; reporters rule, OK!

XMAS BOX

Guideline rates for the summary assessment of costs increased by 3.65% as from 1 January 2025, thanks to service producer price inflation values up to and including the first quarter of last year. Subsequent inflation is promised to be captured in future annual uplifts.

The guidelines received a major overhaul in 2021 after 11 years in slumber (see ‘Civil Way’, 171 NLJ 7950, p17) and last rose by 6.66% from January 2024. At the top of the league, grade A centrally based London fee earners in very heavy commercial and corporate work now weigh in at an hourly rate of £566. The poorest paid at grade A are those on the national 2 band who will now make do with an hourly guideline of £282.

The good news should be communicated to those clients who may be impacted.


LAW BITES

Tribunal stuff

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Laytons ETL—Maximilian Kraitt

Commercial firm strengthens real estate disputes team with associate hire

Switalskis—three appointments

Switalskis—three appointments

Firm appoints three directors to board

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Browne Jacobson—seven promotions

Six promoted to partner and one to legal director across UK and Ireland offices

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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