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15 May 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8116 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 16 May 2025

Trainees stand by; the King needs DJs!; Rules, Rules, Rules; High Court Control; body news

HELLO HAGUE

The 2019 Hague Convention is coming home (see ‘Civil way’, 174 NLJ 8071, p15, and Natalie Todd’s article ‘1 July 2025: Hague Judgments Day’, NLJ, 28 March 2025, p15). It will lead to the cross-border recognition and enforcement by other players of UK judgments in proceedings that commence on or after 1 July 2025. We are behind Ukraine and Uruguay. Government spin is that the convention’s application will save businesses time and money and encourage foreign companies to use the UK’s world-class lawyers and courts—take a bow—to settle their disputes and grow the economy overall. The reality is that this development will lead to fodder for your trainees and their elevation to equity partnership on admission if they succeed with enforcement abroad. Start them off in a locked room with the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2024 (SI 2024/595) which will now come alive.


LAWBITES

The

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Workplace law firm expands commercial disputes team with senior consultant hire

EIP—Rob Barker

EIP—Rob Barker

IP firm promotes patent attorney to partner

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Banking and restructuring team bolstered by insolvency specialist

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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