THIS ISSUE
QOCS changes; jumping financial remedy queue; suing the state; Fast Track costs on small claim; life after Tate Modern; new FPR amendments.
To arbitrate or to litigate? Masood Ahmed & Syed Ali explore the courts’ approach to unilateral option clauses both at home & abroad
“Threat intelligence is at the very core of our MDR service and is what allows us to focus in on the specific tactics, techniques and procedures that are being employed to target our clients’ sectors.” Q&A with David Allan, founder and Managing Director at CYSIAM
Magda Zima & Alice Trotter explore what INTERPOL’s digital metaverse twin means in the rapidly changing virtual landscape
An overseas marriage in the English courts: Mark Pawlowski provides an insight into the complexity of private international law
Employed barristers have higher levels of wellbeing, are more diverse and enjoy greater flexibility and work/life balance than the self-employed Bar, the Bar Council has found.
‘Both sides are to blame for the situation that has arisen’, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has held in a ruling on costs in the multi-billion-pound Merricks v Mastercard claim.
MPs have begun an inquiry into whether whiplash claims are being processed effectively following a series of reforms.
A judicial welfare survey found ‘a small proportion of judges who feel that they have been the subject of inappropriate behaviour from sometimes other judges and sometimes lawyers and sometimes litigants,’ the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett has said.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig
Workplace law firm expands commercial disputes team with senior consultant hire
EIP—Rob Barker
IP firm promotes patent attorney to partner
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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