THIS ISSUE
No laughing matter: in this month’s brief, Ian Smith sets out guidance on damages awarded for hurt feelings & considers the scope of the Blacklisting Regulations
Solicitors & courts are often indifferent to claimants’ rights to confidentiality, writes Charles Davey, setting out a blueprint for change to the disclosure rules
No hiding for claimants; leasehold qualifier gone; Ogden Obliges; the world of ETs; cloudy lemon cider.
What do developments in neurotechnology mean for our free will & sense of self? In Pt 7 of this special series, Harry Lambert considers the implications for the individual & society at large
Who owns lost treasures once they have been found? Michael L Nash unearths some peculiarities in the law of possession & ownership
Digital identity services and other reforms will be introduced to streamline searches and speed up conveyancing times, the government has said.
Judges have, for the first time, been issued with sentencing guidelines on blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment.
An expert panel rather than a High Court judge would provide safeguards under the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is now at the committee stage.
Law firms and legal departments may need to do more to bring their workforce up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Future Lawyers Report 2025, published last week.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth
Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership
Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter
Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires
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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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