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Employment Law Brief: 25 January 2008

24 January 2008 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7305 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Divorce , Family
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SICKNESS DISMISSAL DEVELOPMENTS
A CROSS-OVER WITH DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES AND EC LAW

I suppose that one of the few advantages of being an employment lawyer is that things go quite quiet over the ever-expanding Christmas break and may take a little time to come back on stream afterwards, during which time the employment lawyer can make innocent fun of his colleagues in the family and divorce law division who are snowed under on the first working Monday of the year (D-Day) sorting out the devastation done to personal relationships by so many not-so-merry Christmases.

Of course, the government could be trusted to play the Scrooge act and try to wreck our peace by publishing the Employment Bill just before the break. This is the sort of state of the art law that tends to make the brain hurt, but as we stare down the barrel of yet more change in 2008 it is perhaps comforting to see in the recent case law some developments in two longstanding and immutable areas

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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