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Law digests: 17 January 2025

17 January 2025
Issue: 8100 / Categories: Case law , In Court , Law digest
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Contract

Salem and another v Salem and others [2024] EWHC 3311 (Ch)

This was an application seeking summary dismissal of an application to enforce a term in a settlement deed. The court held that the relevant term (clause 6.5) was an unenforceable ‘agreement to agree’ on expert determination, as there were no sufficiently objective criteria to assess the reasonableness of the parties’ endeavours to agree a binding process. Even if clause 6.5 was binding, the court found that it imposed a time-limited obligation on the parties to agree a binding process for expert determination, unless an extension was agreed in writing.


Costs

Lewis v Francis and another [2025] EWHC 17 (Admin)

The primary question was whether the magistrates' court was correct in law to determine that it had the power to order costs against the applicant where the finding of an unnecessary act was on the basis that the evidence presented was too weak to satisfy the criminal standard of proof. The court ruled that the district judge's decision to order

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
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