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14 February 2025
Issue: 8104 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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NLJ this week: Claimant issues, employment guidance & trade mark wisdom

Former district judge Stephen Gold highlights some unplanned side-effects of proposed legislation to include the names of claimants in the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, in this week’s NLJ.

Gold’s Civil Way column warns that claimants may be ‘bombarded at the wrong office by registry snoopers’. He also covers the latest on leasehold reforms, the Ogden tables, and a double serving of recently issued guidance—on communicating with employment tribunal staff and, from the president, on taking oral evidence from persons abroad.

Gold also covers the cloudy lemon cider dispute between Thatchers and Aldi, noting that when Thatchers launched its drink in 2020, it ‘took the wise step of registering its packaging design as a trade mark’, which helped it win its infringement case.

He writes: ‘A flurry of trade mark applications to protect packaging designs can be expected on the back of Thatchers’ success: not hitherto a practice invariably adopted.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Jordan Wallace

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Jordan Wallace

Thomson Hayton Winkley strengthens family law team

Ward Hadaway—Barnaby Rosenthall

Ward Hadaway—Barnaby Rosenthall

Construction lawyer returns to Ward Hadaway in Teesside role

Bird & Bird—Shahin Baghaei

Bird & Bird—Shahin Baghaei

Bird Bird hires leading legal transformation expert

NEWS
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners

Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

How forcefully can a litigant criticise a public authority before robust advocacy crosses the line into unreasonable conduct? 
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