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The insider: 14 June 2024

14 June 2024 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8075 / Categories: Opinion , Public , Litigation funding , Profession , Costs
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Legislature reforms bite the dust, the judges who are happy with their lot, and a lack of costs transparency causes chagrin. Dominic Regan brings us up to date

The impending general election has seen off for now legislation that was in the pipeline. The Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill, designed to reverse the unhelpful PACCAR decision of 2023, has fallen away. Promised measures to bring in fixed costs on settlement for unissued clinical negligence cases worth up to £25,000 have also bitten the dust. In truth, the measures were inchoate. They were still a work in progress, despite an ambitious declaration that they would be introduced in October. Lord Justice Birss was troubled by what had been drafted.

Matthew Maxwell Scott of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations understands the intricate workings of the legislature and tipped me off last January about purdah. The announcement of an election means that the civil service pauses all but essential work and it eventually occurred to me that reforms to be

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires

HFW—Guy Marrison

HFW—Guy Marrison

Global aviation disputes practice boosted by London partner hire

NEWS
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
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