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05 June 2026
Issue: 8164 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Damages , Liability
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NLJ this week: Civil procedure’s quiet rule changes

A series of procedural developments could have significant practical consequences for litigators. Writing in NLJ this week, columnist Stephen Gold highlights important updates ranging from digital court reforms to family procedure and admissions of liability

Among the headline changes are expanded capabilities within the Damages Claims Portal, allowing certain non-monetary claims to be handled digitally, and revisions to standard family orders under the supervision of Mr Justice Peel.

Gold also examines a High Court ruling confirming that pre-action admissions made before October 2023 may still require court permission to withdraw. In Industrial Maintenance Engineers v Webster Miller, an insurer's statement that 'liability is accepted' proved decisive, binding the defendant despite later insurance complications.

Meanwhile, defendants in credit hire disputes are warned to draft debarring orders carefully after Motor Insurers Bureau v Houston clarified the limits of restrictions relating to impecuniosity evidence. 

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
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
The High Court has upheld a rare successful serious-irregularity challenge after an arbitrator relied on an implied term neither party had advanced
Thirty years after The Future of Law shook a profession still using fax machines, its central forecast looks increasingly less like prophecy and more like description
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
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