THIS ISSUE
Thinking of becoming a costs lawyer or costs draftsperson? The former is worth an extra £10,000 in salary, according to figures collated by the Association of Costs Lawyers
The hacked Legal Aid Agency (LAA) IT system for logging work and making payments will be down for at least another month, lawyers have been told
Lord Justice Colin Birss has been sworn in as Chancellor of the High Court, replacing Sir Julian Flaux, who has retired
Sir Brian Leveson has warned MPs the criminal court system ‘cannot survive as it presently is’
Human rights lawyer, social justice champion, co-founder of the law firm Bindmans, and NLJ columnist Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC has died at the age of 92 years
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Sidley—James Inness
Partner joins capital markets team in London office
Haynes Boone—William Cecil
Firm announces appointment of partner as UK general counsel
Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows
Firm appoints first chief marketing officer to drive growth strategy
NEWS
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’
The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
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