My involvement in three conferences in the last month has enabled me to catch up with many friends and to learn of interesting developments. It also meant that I acquired four notebooks, a mug and lots of useful stickers. From the ever-affable Costs Judge Nagalingam, I heard that Paul Joseph has just been appointed as a full-timer. Another as-yet unnamed appointee is to join the costs bench in August. This means that after years of being short-staffed, it will be back to a full complement of eight, meaning that current backlogs will hopefully be reduced.
The most in-demand solicitors of the moment are employment law practitioners. I had a chat with recruitment agency Clayton Legal which has been inundated with requests to source talent, all due to the drastic imminent reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Commercial firms which did not touch employment cannot ignore
