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Fresh ground?

08 February 2013 / Andrew Parker
Issue: 7547 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services
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The legal profession needs to wake up and smell the coffee, warns Andrew Parker

Three years ago I warned in these pages that the broad recommendations of the Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs would be delivered (“Access all areas”, 160 NLJ 7408, p 366). In March 2011, the coalition government published the outline of its plans based on the report and, in May 2012, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 received the Royal Assent.

April in the offing

The planned implementation date of 1 April 2013 has been public knowledge since at least July 2012—it was certainly in the minds of the Court of Appeal when it delivered the initial decision in Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039, [2012] All ER (D) 335 (Jul). The new Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, stated unequivocally to the Law Society’s Civil Litigation Conference in October that the rules would be in place for 1 April 2013.

However, recent coverage suggests that many lawyers are only now beginning to accept

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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