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The insider: 17 January 2025

17 January 2025 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8100 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Insurance / reinsurance
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Where would the legal profession be without the humble motorcar & the endless disputes it produces? Dominic Regan steers through credit hire confusion & secret commissions

Thank the Lord for the motor vehicle. The legal profession continues to thrive on the back of disputes generated by it, as recent law reports demonstrate.

The Court of Appeal in Johnson v Firstrand Bank Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1282 held that consumers who took out loans to purchase a car were entitled to compensation because the lenders paid a secret commission to the dealer who had referred the borrower to them. The judgment caused financial institutions to wobble amid talk of this opening the way to the next PPI claims bonanza. With remarkable alacrity, the Supreme Court has listed an appeal to be heard over three days, starting on 1 April.

Rob Weir KC won for the claimants in Johnson. He was also instructed by the unsuccessful appellant in the intriguing ongoing EUI Ltd v Smith [2024] EWHC 2803 (KB). This

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Partner appointed as head of residential conveyancing for England

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

Specialist firm enhances corporate healthcare practice with partner appointment

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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