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19 April 2024 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8067 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Fees , Employment
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Civil way: 19 April 2024

Litigators to move fast; Debt relief changes; CPR PD 165 is VATable; Getting in on the Act; Master stroke

MAY DAY, MAY DAY

The threatened 10% rise in civil, family, tribunal, probate and Court of Protection fees will become reality on 1 May 2024 by dint of SI 2024/476. Well-meaning consultation has taken place. No representations by district judges, who would no doubt say that fees are not something with which they should be dirtying their hands unless the frustrated accountants among them have become costs judges, but the deputy head of civil justice and the Master of the Rolls did put in their two pennies’ worth, along with, bless them, Divorce Online and the British Parking Association. Some 172 fees are hit. The threatened divorce application hike has escaped and, for the time being, 29 other fees which require further analysis of underlying cost.

WHAT A RELIEF!

The debt relief order is the amateur debtor’s form of bankruptcy and works in a similar way. It is available

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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