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The insider: 19 July 2024

19 July 2024 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8080 / Categories: Opinion , Human rights , Costs , In Court , Profession
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Dominic Regan sheds light on the Assange affair & rails against absurd expenditure at home & abroad

The Assange affair generated countless hearings over the years. His return to freedom in Australia closes a massive chapter in English law. Julian Assange (pictured) was perhaps not the easiest of clients. Andrew O’Hagan in The Secret Life: Three True Stories describes his appointment as ghost writer of the autobiography of Julian Assange. This meant he was in close proximity to the man. The legal team made strenuous efforts to look after their tricky client, but it didn’t take long for the Australian to refer to them as ‘c*nts’. Despite receiving a fee discount Assange remained unhappy citing ‘little cuts £20,000 here, £40,000 there, but the bill remains disgusting’. Their ways parted shortly afterwards. The intended literary agent for the book chipped in with: ‘Nobody pays their full lawyers’ bill.’ Oh really?

Promotion commotion

The Judicial Conduct Investigation Office (JCIO) has overnight become so much more muscular and transparent. Picken

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

CBI South-East Council—Mike Wilson

Blake Morgan managing partner appointed chair of CBI South-East Council

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Birketts—Phillippa O’Neill

Commercial dispute resolution team welcomes partner in Cambridge

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

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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