header-logo header-logo

03 October 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8133 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
printer mail-detail

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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Rachel Crosier

Freeths—Rachel Crosier

Projects and rail practices strengthened by director hire in London

DWF—Stephen Hickling

DWF—Stephen Hickling

Real estate team in Birmingham welcomes back returning partner

Ward Hadaway—44 appointments

Ward Hadaway—44 appointments

Firm invests in national growth with 44 appointments across five offices

NEWS
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
back-to-top-scroll