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Civil way: 9 January 2026

08 January 2026 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8144 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Family , Construction
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Family procedure changes; expensive company; constructing a strike-out.

DIARY OF A (FAMILY) SOMEBODY: PART 1

The Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025 (SI 2025/1242) (FPAR) and the FPR PD update no 6 of 2025 will either have come into force when you were not looking, or have yet to excite. We have compiled a diary of implementation for you. More dates next time.

21 November 2025 PD 6D is devoted to the regime for service on a person believed to be residing in a refuge (see ‘Civil way’, 174 NLJ 8098, p15). But what is a refuge? Positively, not the supportive next-door neighbour or the nearest McDonald’s. The secret is now out of the bag with a definition. It is a refuge established for the purpose of providing accommodation for victims of, or those at risk of, domestic abuse or a residential home established and maintained by a public body for any other purpose that also provides accommodation to the same class.

24 November 2025 The

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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