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04 April 2014 / David Greene
Issue: 7601 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services , Jackson , Litigation trends
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A steep learning curve

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One year on, David Greene assesses the impact of Jackson

A year on and for good or bad many practitioners remain to be convinced that the Jackson reforms will achieve fairer and less costly litigation (see NLJ /LSLA’s Litigation Trends Survey update). Sir Rupert may, however, feel that the heat of practitioners’ ire has moved away from his immediate reforms to the burning issues raised by the Court of Appeal in the Mitchell decision (Mitchell v News Group [2013] EWCA Civ 1537, [2014] 1 WLR 795).

Broad assumptions

Such was the nature of change in April 2013 and the manner in which it took effect under the transitional provisions, a year down the road we still do not have a measure of the effect of the reforms other than the broad assumptions that accompanied them. It may indeed be many years before we can measure the true effect of these on access to justice for both claimants and defendants with the competing concepts of reducing the

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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