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NLJ this week: A box unticked, a pilot unfinished (Civil way)

11 August 2023
Issue: 8037 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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A confusing name has been chosen for the court office in Northampton, seasoned NLJ columnist & former District Judge Stephen Gold notes in this week’s Civil Way. Fortunately, Gold was not foxed—he knows his way around the civil justice system too well

This week, Gold recounts a warning tale in which failure to tick the right box took a pair of litigants all the way to the Court of Appeal. While the absence of a tick in the jurisdiction contest box was ‘not fatal’ in this case, the decision was ‘case-specific’ so a future mishap might fall the other way. Gold writes: ‘Warning, though: there was a possibility that a tick absence could be taken as an acceptance of jurisdiction.’

Gold also covers the scrapping of legal aid means testing for family representation for under-18-year-old applicants from 3 August, as well as access to the criminal records of notaries public, extensions to family law pilots, and much more. Solid Gold and always civil.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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