THIS ISSUE
Former district judge Stephen Gold covers the legal issues and remedies where a lawyer makes a harmless error, in this week’s NLJ. Gold notes the court’s view, in the particular case mentioned, that ‘the court should not punish a party for the harmless error of its legal representatives’.
Can the Law Commission’s consultation finally deliver radical reforms 30 years in the making? Martin Rackstraw weighs up the issues at hand
Whiplash mini-rise; discrimination bands up; apologies OK; wrong defendant blues; non-binary name change.
Dr Chris Pamplin explores evidence of fact among ‘the tangled thicket’ of expert evidence
Like the elephant in the famous parable, trade mark dilution isn’t easily determined, writes Mark Engelman
Disputes over pets during divorce are on the rise. In this week’s NLJ, Shivi Rajput, partner at Stowe Family Law, looks at recent developments in the law.
Is it possible to own a freehold or leasehold estate in a tree? Mark Pawlowski digs deep
Planned cuts to the Civil Service risk adding further pressure to a public court system already at breaking point: Mark Jones & Alex Curran report on the deepening crisis
Experts can give evidence that is then considered factual rather than expert evidence within CPR 35. In this week’s NLJ, Dr Chris Pamplin, editor of the UK Register of Expert Witnesses, explores the fine line between evidence of fact and expert opinion.
The wrongful convictions of innocent sub-postmasters and of Andrew Malkinson, who was also entirely innocent, are shocking. The appeals system has been in need of ‘radical overhaul’ for decades, Martin Rackstraw, criminal partner at Russell-Cooke, writes in this week’s NLJ.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck
Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family
Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale
DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council
R3—Jodie Wildridge
Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire
NEWS
The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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