header-logo header-logo

28 February 2025 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8106 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way , CPR
printer mail-detail

Civil way: 28 February 2025

Latest CPR changes; Montreal Convention limits up; right to Manage reforms; mediation vouchers; your President guides x 3.

REFRESHING THE CPR

I am worried. Are members of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee receiving sufficient sustenance? According to its recently published annual report for 2023–24, the Ministry of Justice provides them with refreshments when meetings are held in person but in lieu of them making a subsistence claim. There were seven in-person meetings for the report year and the cost of refreshments came to £824, which averaged out at around £118 a meeting. That would allow, say, £9 per head. However, my suspicion is that non-member attendees, principally civil servants, may also have been tucking in, which would reduce the allowance to £4 per head. If I can get into the open meeting scheduled for May 2025, I will report back on who is scoffing what. After all, this is the age of transparency, and information on judicial eating habits should be available to the public. Too much processed food could lead

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

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
back-to-top-scroll