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20 May 2011 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7466 / Categories: Features , Civil way , Procedure & practice
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Civil way: 20 May 2011

It took the trial judge in Bond v Dunster Properties Ltd and others [2011] EWCA Civ 455, [2011] All ER (D) 248 (Apr)...

22 MONTHS LATER

It took the trial judge in Bond v Dunster Properties Ltd and others [2011] EWCA Civ 455, [2011] All ER (D) 248 (Apr), 22 months to deliver his judgment after the conclusion of the hearing of a series of preliminary issues. Judge Havelock-Allan QC, who had been sitting in the Bristol Mercantile Court, unsurprisingly received plenty of stick for the delay from the Court of Appeal.

It was pointed out that the usual period for delivery of judgment was three months (circuit and district judges and recorders are usually expected to deliver within three months of the hearing in civil cases and two months in family cases with a referral to the senior presiding judge or the President in default) and the Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger said he would be investigating whether more robust and effective procedures were needed in some quarters

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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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