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One for the record books?

13 January 2012 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7496 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services , Profession , Damages , Personal injury , Limitation
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Dominic Regan predicts good times ahead for UK litigators

For litigators, 2012 will be the year of the century. The Legal Aid and Punishment of Offenders Bill will receive Royal Assent, paving the way for seismic changes which will affect all civil claims in some way. My next article will mull over those reforms.

Almighty case

Here, I want to identify some of the big cases coming. In March or April we are likely to see the Supreme Court decision in Ministry of Defence v AB and others. Injury lawyers will be captivated by the decision of the seven who heard the appeal. A group of 1,011 claimants seek damages for exposure to ionising radiation as a result of exposure to nuclear tests undertaken during the 1950s in the Pacific Ocean.

Two almighty points are to be decided. What is the correct test for identifying the date of knowledge and how is the discretion under s 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 to be properly exercised?

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

Blake Morgan managing partner appointed chair of CBI South-East Council

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Commercial dispute resolution team welcomes partner in Cambridge

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

NEWS
The proposed £11bn redress scheme following the Supreme Court’s motor finance rulings is analysed in this week’s NLJ by Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
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