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Civil way: 12 December 2025

Costs and AI behaviour; ‘A landlord nor a bailiff be’?

AND YOU SHALL BE CONTINUALLY GUIDED

Do not venture inside the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO) without mugging up on its latest guide. Nothing earth-moving, but recommended by Lord Justice Birss, which is good. During its former incarnation and as a novice articled clerk up from the sticks to the smoke, the only guide I had was the managing clerk who let me loose there on a substantial four-column bill listed for assessment. He told me not to worry about any party and party items going over to common fund (legal aid). The master told me that the receiving party client with a fat contribution would have boxed my ears if they could have witnessed my concurrence in massive transfers.

Now you might have thought that Birss LJ would have been working on a speech for his swearing-in as the new High

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—Private client team

Birketts—Private client team

Four private client specialists join the team in Bristol

Moore Barlow—Joanna Earl, Thomas Denman & Lauren Johnson

Moore Barlow—Joanna Earl, Thomas Denman & Lauren Johnson

Private wealth disputes team expands in Surrey with new solicitor trio

NLJ Career Profile: Ben Daniels, DAC Beachcroft

NLJ Career Profile: Ben Daniels, DAC Beachcroft

Ben Daniels, newly elected as the next senior partner of DAC Beachcroft, reflects on his leadership inspiration and considers an impish alternative career

NEWS
Overcrowded prisons, mental health hospitals and immigration centres are failing to meet international and domestic human rights standards, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has warned
Two speedier and more streamlined qualification routes have been launched for probate and conveyancing professionals
Workplace stress was a contributing factor in almost one in eight cases before the employment tribunal last year, indicating its endemic grip on the UK workplace
Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School highlights a turbulent end to 2025 in the civil courts, from the looming appeal in Mazur to judicial frustration with ever-expanding bundles, in his final NLJ 'The insider' column of the year
Antonia Glover of Quinn Emanuel outlines sweeping transparency reforms following the work of the Transparency and Open Justice Board in this week's NLJ
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