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06 June 2019 / Roderick Ramage
Issue: 7843 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
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Law in 101 words

Snippets from The Reduced Law Dictionary, by Roderick Ramage

Amendment colours

The Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction 17 r2.4 directs that ‘The order of colours to be used for successive amendments is: (1) red, (2) green, (3) violet and (4) yellow’. The same order for successive amendments to non-contentious documents is followed by solicitors, who make amendments in longhand. By the time that one reaches yellow, the document is usually so incomprehensible that one must retype or rewrite it. Microsoft Word’s advanced track changes options offers all the colours you want, but not four users each with a separate colour. It is, however, improbable that Microsoft had ever heard of the CPR.

Bailiffs—guilty until proved innocent

A power to recover money by taking control and selling goods is exercisable only in accordance with the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 sch12: s62. Para 10 says ‘an enforcement agent (aka bailiff) may take control of goods only if they are goods of the debtor’. According to the MoJ’s Taking Control of Goods (April 2014) para

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Kennedys—Milan Devani

Chief information officer appointment strengthens technology leadership

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Maguire Family Law—Hannah Barlow & Sophie Hughes

Firm strengthens Wilmslow team with two solicitor appointments

DWF—Ian Plumley

DWF—Ian Plumley

Londoninsurance and reinsurance practice announces partner appointment

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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