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THIS ISSUE
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Issue: Vol 175, Issue 8103

07 February 2025
IN THIS ISSUE
While rare, the courts can make passport orders to prevent judgment debtors leaving the country. In this week’s NLJ, Chris Bryden and Clara Parry discuss the use of this legal technique and how these orders are enforced.
The government is considering cutting funding for level 7 apprenticeships, which could ‘seriously impact social mobility in the legal profession’, Rhicha Kapila, partner and chief operating officer at Bolt Burdon Kemp, writes in this week’s NLJ. Level 7, the highest level of apprenticeships, ‘create a qualification path for graduates’ that allows them to be paid while they train.
The personal injury discount rate was increased to 0.5% in January, based for the first time on a detailed report by an expert panel. In this week’s NLJ, Julian Chamberlayne wonders whether the decision-making is vulnerable to challenge by judicial review, and uncovers a multitude of weak spots. 
There is an urgent need for clarity regarding the UK’s laws on the use of copyrighted material protection by artificial intelligence (AI) technology, writes Emma Kennaugh-Gallacher, senior professional support lawyer at Mewburn Ellis, in this week’s NLJ.
Horses for courses, a lid for every pot and costs lawyers for costs (regulated, of course). Otherwise, it could all turn into a shambles. In this week’s NLJ, Jack Ridgway, chair of the Association of Costs Lawyers and a senior associate costs lawyer at Bolt Burdon Kemp, highlights the perils of using an unregulated costs draftsman.
How will you spend your £4 Mastercard pay-out? Professor Dominic Regan, NLJ columnist, AKA 'The Insider', writes that the result of the collective action once put at £10bn and later settled for £200m renders it a ‘pointless exercise’. 
How will you spend your £4 Mastercard payout? Dominic Regan tots up collective action anti-climaxes & laments expectation versus reality
Cutting apprenticeships is a step backwards for the profession & for social mobility, says Rhicha Kapila
Julian Chamberlayne reviews the new personal injury discount rate & highlights some potential weak spots
Chris Bryden & Clara Parry discuss the rare use of passport orders to prevent someone leaving the country—and how these orders are enforced
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Results
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Results

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
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
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
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
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
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