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02 May 2025 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8114 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services , Profession , Damages , Expert Witness
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The insider: 2 May 2025

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Can you call it? Dominic Regan plays damages bingo & enjoys a sunny day in court

The eye-watering amount supposedly at stake in the secret car finance commission litigation is estimated at £44bn. Last October, the Court of Appeal found outright for the various claimants in Johnson v FirstRand Bank [2024] EWCA Civ 1282. In April, the Supreme Court heard the lenders’ appeal over three days.

I dropped in to hear the closing submissions of Rob Weir KC who had won in the court below. As a regular visitor, I was taken aback to discover that it was entrance by ticket only. I detected claims management chancers in the throng. The first-floor court was used for overflow, and it was lovely with sunlight pouring in, acres of space and a video link to upstairs.

In another life Weir could be a bingo caller par excellence. He sailed seamlessly through an ocean of page and paragraph references. Every question put to him by the Bench was answered directly and

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley adds competition litigator Elaine Whiteford in London

Charles Russell Speechlys—Claudina D’Costa

Charles Russell Speechlys—Claudina D’Costa

Charles Russell Speechlys welcomes Claudina D’Costa as Director of Client Development Marketing

DWF—11 appointments

DWF—11 appointments

DWF strengthens North West teams with 11 newly qualified solicitors

NEWS
The 25th Pro Bono Week begins today until 6 November, with events hosted by law firms, chambers, law schools and charities across the UK
Aggressive sales tactics can add up to fraudulent trading even without proof of a particular deception or financial loss
Pro bono is celebrating a silver anniversary, with initiatives putting businesses and students at the heart of access to justice
Choosing the wrong expert can cost a clinical negligence claimant more than their case
Judges risk weakening their own independence by staying silent over government reforms, a leading public lawyer argues
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