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30 June 2023 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8031 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 30 June 2023

Third-class service; Scissors special; Site owners fazed; Up the PI damages; New employment law; Snoozing with the FPRs

AT THE COUNTY COURT

Advocate: If it pleases, judge, may I direct your attention to the problems with Royal Mail postal deliveries at ‘Civil way’, NLJ, 3 February 2023, p16 and how that impacts on what the CPR says about deemed service?

Judge: I would rather not. This court only looks at the usual law reports on Supreme Court decisions.

Advocate: So be it, but if I might trespass on…

Judge: Eternity?

Advocate: No, the next 20 cases in your morning list. I submit that under CPR 6.3 on service of the claim form within the jurisdiction, Royal Mail can no longer be regarded as a service that provides for first-class postal delivery on the next business day. For this purpose, I submit that implies it must achieve it. There has been widely reported anecdotal evidence in the media of the most hideous delays in postal deliveries and of parcels

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

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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