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The insider: 17 March 2023

17 March 2023 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8017 / Categories: Opinion , Costs , Procedure & practice , Litigation funding , ADR , Profession
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Fixed costs to come when the leaves fall? Dominic Regan tackles listing woes, distressed litigation funders & what’s spooking the banks

I have it in writing from Lord Bellamy KC. ‘The extension of fixed recoverable costs will be implemented in October 2023,’ he wrote on 27 February. The failure to deliver rules as promised last October and then a further postponement of changes next month had led more than a few to think it was all going to be abandoned.

A reprieve has been granted in housing cases. There was genuine concern that those in dire straits would lose all hope of representation in such matters if costs were suppressed by regulations. Last month, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that nothing would change for two years. In fact, the delay will be longer. It might be forever. A general election must take place by 24 January 2025. In all probability it will be before then. As soon as a date is fixed, the civil service enters a

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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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