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Litigation leopards & a year of discontent

17 January 2019 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7824 / Categories: Opinion , Procedure & practice
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Dominic Regan shares his reflections on 2018—one hell of a year for civil litigators

 

2018 was one hell of a year for civil litigators. Indeed, a number of reported decisions have arisen because of ignorance about fundamentals where people really ought to know better.

The big procedural reform just kicking in is the disclosure pilot scheme being run out nationwide in the business and property courts. It is a bold attempt to curb expensive disclosure activity. Change was precipitated by clients who were appalled at the futility of it all. Confronted by a threat to take their disputes elsewhere for determination, perhaps by way of arbitration, steps were taken to placate the aggrieved. Ed Crosse, immediate past president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, and many others have done so much to make things better. Let us all hope it works.

Troublesome

Service of proceedings has always been a troublesome matter, particularly where it is left until the last minute. The Supreme Court divided 3-2 in Barton v Wright

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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
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
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
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
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
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
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