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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

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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