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The insider: 15 December 2023

15 December 2023 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Costs , ADR , Personal injury
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Dominic Regan signs off the year covering a flurry of late developments without equal this century

A pay rise! Good riddance to Latin in judgments! That old tosh about judges being powerless to order ADR sent to recycling! Major Supreme Court guidance handed down about expert evidence (and lay witnesses too). It has all kicked off over the last few weeks. This flurry of late developments is without equal this century.

Guideline hourly rates go up on 1 January. The increases are approximately between 6–7%. How generous are the revised figures? While any enhancement is welcome, there is not much cause for ecstasy.

I sought the views of Andrew McAulay who is top banana in costs at Clarion Solicitors. His firm deals with costs on behalf of over 200 law firms and advises counsel too: ‘The increase doesn’t align with what is happening commercially in law firms. Also, Grade A work (outside of the City) for complex and high value multi track work is often charged at £400 minimum.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

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Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

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Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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
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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