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NLJ this week: The insider on blockbuster judgments, fee spats & judicial elevations

11 July 2025
Issue: 8124 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Procedure & practice , Expert Witness , Costs , Freezing orders , Tort
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Writing in NLJ this week, columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School surveys a month of judicial impatience with poor litigation practices

In Illiquidx v Altana, a claimant’s vague pleadings cost them 50% of their costs. The Court of Appeal moved at lightning speed in Getty v Stability AI, while Judge Hodge KC imposed a six-page limit on a ‘turgid’ defence in Bellhouse v Zurich. A 682-paragraph judgment in Cabo v MGA yielded no damages, reminding claimants that proving loss is key. In Vanquis v TMS Legal, a novel tort claim over mass meritless complaints proceeds.

Regan also highlights the 50th anniversary of the Mareva injunction, a looming costs battle over medical agency fees, and a decline in expert witness participation amid judicial ‘naming and shaming’. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
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
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
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
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
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