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13 June 2025
Issue: 8120 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Civil way , Artificial intelligence , Family
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NLJ this week: Dogs, dates & debt-chasers

Deadlines are crucial, but how is the date and time determined? In this week’s NLJ, former district judge Stephen Gold explores a recent case in which solicitors made ‘an innocent day-counting mistake’. Gold notes that the case also sheds light on the need for ‘promptness’

He shares advice for ‘any practitioner arguing for or against the appointment of an intermediary for a vulnerable witness in family’, and urges them to study a particular Court of Appeal case. He remarks on ‘an essential case’ in the small claims track, involving an invention for canines, and also covers Garfield, an artificial intelligence (AI) debt-chasing lawyer now authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen appoints senior legal PR and ex-government communications adviser, Liz Giles

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott boosts Southampton commercial property team with addition of partner Lee Edwards

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors announces four promotions

NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Should a conviction stand when a later ruling reveals that the law underpinning it was wrong? The answer exposes a clash between finality and justice
The Environment Agency can prosecute offences beyond environmental legislation where proceedings support its statutory functions, the Divisional Court has confirmed
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