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28 March 2014 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7600 / Categories: Opinion
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Spring initiatives

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Roger Smith celebrates some seasonal highlights

As the weather warms and the sun comes out, three initiatives to celebrate: a new career; an institutional drive; and international support to be given.

A career reborn

Former DPP Sir Keir Starmer QC shows every sign of smoothly moving to the next stage of his life. He is widely tipped to replace the long-serving Frank Dobson as MP for Holborn and St Pancras. And he is making his own luck as to issues. First, he has developed a nice line in defending the human rights of victims, writing about this in The Guardian and assiduously speaking on the subject at constituency-based venues like Camden’s Working Men’s College. Second, the government’s proposals for HS2 are presenting him with a wonderfully convenient canvass on which to argue that there has been inadequate consultation, as required by the Human Rights Act 1998, at the heart of his putative constituency around Euston.

Sir Keir is a Dartmouth Park resident, physically near to Ed Miliband himself. It would be surprising if there was not

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—Nathan Evans

Birketts—Nathan Evans

Commercial and technology team in Cambridge strengthened by partner hire

Andrew & Andrew Solicitors—Shikha Datta

Andrew & Andrew Solicitors—Shikha Datta

Hampshire firm appoints head of new family department

Latham & Watkins—Sarah Lightdale

Latham & Watkins—Sarah Lightdale

Firm strengthens securities practice with partner return

NEWS

From blockbuster judgments to procedural shake-ups, the courts are busy reshaping litigation practice. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School hails the Court of Appeal's 'exquisite judgment’ in Mazur restoring the role of supervised non-qualified staff, and highlights a ‘mammoth’ damages ruling likened to War and Peace, alongside guidance on medical reporting fees, where a pragmatic 25% uplift was imposed

Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
Timing is everything—and the Court of Appeal has delivered clarity on when proceedings are ‘brought’. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains that a claim is issued for limitation purposes when the claim form is delivered to the court, even if fees are underpaid
The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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