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03 October 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8133 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 3 October 2025

CPR PD update plans; don’t mention the FDR; caring for Mother with pay; intestacy fights; loadsaguides.

TEN TO GO

The 190th CPR PD update which came into force on 16 September 2025 set me thinking about how we are going to celebrate the 200th update, which cannot be far off. Maybe a spoof job which abandons all online pilots (and applies from 11am five days earlier). My AI came up with a flashmob performance in the office law library. What of no190? I nearly forgot. The civil money claims pilot (PD 51R) expands post-allocation case progression and general applications features to all ‘county courts’. Also, a legally represented claimant is enabled to discontinue part of their claim using the online system for both this pilot and the damages claim pilot (PD 51ZB).


MUM’S THE (£804) WORD

The financial dispute resolution (FDR) appointment in financial remedies proceedings is sacrosanct. As confidential as what goes on in the matrimonial bedroom. Isn’t it? Parties can be as mean and cruel

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

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
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’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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