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13 August 2020 / David Greene
Issue: 7899 / Categories: Opinion , Covid-19 , Profession , Constitutional law
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Court times

As we enter the summer break, David Greene predicts some challenging & uncertain times ahead for the court system

It would be fair to say that as we go into the summer break, if such a thing exists, firms are facing uncertainty in managing the return to the workplace and in the market conditions that will present when we all ‘return’ in the autumn. Many are predicting a tsunami of litigation with courts being overwhelmed just as they are dealing with the backlog of work developed in the lockdown. All this comes at a time of change in which London seeks to ensure it retains its foremost place at the world dispute resolution table. These are challenging and uncertain times.

Confusion

The government’s stance on the return to the workplace has been somewhat confusing, on the one hand encouragement but still against the guidance that continues to suggest we should all work from home if we can. 1 August brought in changes with greater encouragement to return to the office. But more

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NEWS
Children can claim for ‘lost years’ damages in personal injury cases, the Supreme Court has held in a landmark judgment
Holiday lets may promise easy returns, but restrictive covenants can swiftly scupper plans. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Francis of Serle Court recounts how covenants limiting use to a ‘private dwelling house’ or ‘private residence’ have repeatedly defeated short-term letting schemes
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already embedded in the civil courts, but regulation lags behind practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ben Roe of Baker McKenzie charts a landscape where AI assists with transcription, case management and document handling, yet raises acute concerns over evidence, advocacy and even judgment-writing
The cab-rank rule remains a bulwark of the rule of law, yet lawyers are increasingly judged by their clients’ causes. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, warns that conflating representation with endorsement is a ‘clear and present danger’
The Supreme Court has drawn a firm line under branding creativity in regulated markets. In Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB, it ruled that Oatly’s ‘post-milk generation’ trade mark unlawfully deployed a protected dairy designation. In NLJ this week, Asima Rana of DWF explains that the court prioritised ‘regulatory clarity over creative branding choices’, holding that ‘designation’ extends beyond product names to marketing slogans
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