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Employment law brief: 7 November 2019

07 November 2019 / Ian Smith
Issue: 7863 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination
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In this month’s employment brief, Ian Smith raises a glass to legal privilege in the face of pub gossip, & the Pandora’s Box opened by the recent whistle-blowing judgment
  • Judges can be ‘workers’.
  • No liability for third-party harassment.
  • Reversing the burden of proof in discrimination cases.

Dangerous places, London pubs. We might have benefited from Christopher Marlowe’s views on this, if he had not been murdered in one. What brought this to mind this month was a Court of Appeal decision (Curless v Shell International Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 1710, [2019] All ER (D) 137 (Oct)) the facts of which occurred in that den of lawyers and other assorted ne’er-do-wells, the Old Bank of England pub near the law courts. The claimant in a case suddenly realised that a gaggle of lawyers just behind him were in fact talking about his case, from the other side. He was being faced with being ‘managed out’ by redundancy, but he thought it was for other, more dubious reasons.

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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

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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
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
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
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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