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Civil way: 23 January 2026

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23 January 2026 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8146 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Family , Landlord&tenant
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Costs rates UP; company fees UP; FPR Diary; Rental Rights—and Wrongs; catching up with CAT; don’t mention the (non) MOL.

LAWBITES

Happy New Guidelines Solicitors’ guideline rates for summary assessments have gone up by 2.28% from 1 January 2026. This is an inflationary increase by reference to service producer price inflation figures, and so nothing to do with the cost of a retail dover sole, and down from the 3.65% we saw one year ago (see ‘Civil way’, 175 NLJ 8100, p15). Retainers should be revised if this latest increase is to be enjoyed. A grade-A London fee earner feasting on very heavy commercial or corporate work now has an hourly guideline rate of £579. A grade-D trainee solicitor in Merthyr Tydfil (which I gather has not yet been reached by the American firms) is guided at £142.

How low can you go? The last Bank of England base rate drop has led to an inevitable reduction in the Court Funds Office’s special

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Muckle LLP—Stacey Brown

Corporate governance and company law specialist joins the team

Excello Law—Heather Horsewood & Darren Barwick

Excello Law—Heather Horsewood & Darren Barwick

North west team expands with senior private client and property hires

Ward Hadaway—Paul Wigham

Ward Hadaway—Paul Wigham

Firm boosts corporate team in Newcastle to support high-growth technology businesses

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Police, contempt and the rule of law
Can a chief constable be held responsible for disobedient officers? Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth, professor of public law at De Montfort University, examines a Court of Appeal ruling that answers firmly: yes
NLJ this week: When your brain signs the contract
Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent
NLJ this week: Comparators—how close is close enough?
Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first
NLJ this week: Domicile—more than where you live
In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss
NLJ this week: Arbitration’s fast lane—with guardrails
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
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