The pre-April 2013 costs regime, introduced by Pt II of the Access to Justice Act 1999, may be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Although Lord Neuberger stopped short of issuing a declaration of incompatibility in Coventry v Lawrence, he conceded that the respondents might be right in their contention that the global costs burden would be inconsistent with Convention rights. Not a happy time for litigators, according to Dominic Regan who writes: “Just as we slide away from the Mitchell mess we enter deeper, murkier waters”.
14 August 2014
Litigators in limbo
MOVERS & SHAKERS
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Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond
Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands
Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell
Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert
Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green
Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge
NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’
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