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Employment law brief: 11 April 2025

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In this month’s brief, Ian Smith pays tribute to a titan of industrial relations & applauds the brevity of judgments in days gone by
  • Summary dismissal where the offence is not specified in the contract.
  • Use of lists of issues: the role of the employment tribunal.
  • Worker: the basic requirement of a contract, but with whom?

In the 21 March issue of NLJ there was an article about this year’s LexisNexis Legal Awards, which included the news that a lifetime contribution award had been presented to Michael Rubenstein, the editor of the Industrial Relations Law Reports. I am sure that readers of this monthly column/epistle/rant would like to join me in congratulating him on this richly deserved honour. His has truly been a monumental contribution to the development of employment law since the 1970s.

As I sit here in my freezing garret, typing through fingerless mittens yet more Harvey, I have the consolation of looking at shelves worth of box files containing

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

NEWS
More than 100 teams from the legal and financial services sectors competed in five sports at the 51st Law Society RFC Festival of Sport earlier this month
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
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