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NLJ this week: Costs, Horizon and careless talk by judges

25 February 2022
Issue: 7968 / Categories: Legal News , Constitutional law , Profession
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NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan looks into his crystal ball this week, predicting a timescale for fixed costs reforms as well as recounting an unfortunate disclosure by a judge

He points out sub-£25,000 claims against private healthcare are captured, which will have a ‘significant’ impact since ‘claims against aesthetic clinics are rife and much dental work today is outside the NHS’. And while the government maintains claimant compensation will not suffer, Regan says he knows some major firms have already decided to abandon such cases.

He also recounts a further twist in the ‘murky’ Post Office Horizon scandal, involving a former senior judge. See p7.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

University of Manchester: The LLM driving tech-focused career growth

University of Manchester: The LLM driving tech-focused career growth

Manchester’s online LLM has accelerated career progression for its graduates

NLJ Career Profile: Sonya Sceats, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law

NLJ Career Profile: Sonya Sceats, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Sonya Sceats, next director and CEO of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, discusses her long-standing mission to uphold and defend the rule of law

Anthony Collins—four appointments

Anthony Collins—four appointments

Property and commercial teams bolstered by senior hires

NEWS
Judging is ‘more intellectually demanding than any other role in public life’—and far messier than outsiders imagine. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC reflects on decades spent wrestling with unclear legislation, fragile precedent and human fallibility
The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
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