Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, said last week (see Law Gazette http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/neuberger-backs-compulsory-mediation-for-more-civil-cases/5048784.article ) that we should be uninhibited about more mediation in civil and family matters. While stopping short of calling for compulsory mediation for all, his views suggest a judiciary which is starting to recognise the success story which is mediation. Lower… Read More »
With the speed of the fanatic, the Government has confirmed a massive rise in the cost of civil litigation with effect from next Monday March 9th, rather earlier than originally announced. According to the Law Society, whose table is reproduced below, some civil court fees will rise by 622% and even the smallest increase is… Read More »
In case you missed it, there has been (or there will soon be) a sea change in the rules relating to E-Discovery in the United States. Some readers may think that what happens over there does not concern us over here. Others realise that what happens over there, often comes over here in due course… Read More »
The Aussies have done it again! Not satisfied with trouncing Cook’s boys 5-0 in the recent Ashes series (I prefer not to mention the one day series and the T20, poor as they were, because it is the result of the five match Ashes series which hurts), the New South Wales Attorney General has announced that a Virtual Registry is now… Read More »
In the wake of the Mitchell case, my attention has been drawn to a really useful updater blog posted by barrister Gordon Exall, which currently lists the decisions in five subsequent cases around the country, all of which feature some kind of sanction or relief from sanction for procedural breach. The post is entitled Mitchell: Case… Read More »
As the New Year starts and everyone goes back to work, thoughts will inevitably turn to how lawyers should deal with the new rules which came into force last year. Actually, I have decided that I should no longer refer to them as the “new” rules. The civil justice reforms have been in effect since… Read More »
I would love to be a fly on the wall the next time Sir Rupert Jackson is asked for his reaction to the latest consideration of his reforms by the Court of Appeal in Andrew Mitchell MP v News Group Newspapers Limited [2013] EWCA Civ 1537. Last week the Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Mitchell’s… Read More »
Early this month new protocols for dealing with eDisclosure were unveiled by a combination of TeCSA (The Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association), TECBAR (The Technology and Construction Bar Association) and the SCL (The Society for Computers and Law). The incoming senior judge in the TCC, Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart, confirmed that the Protocols would have the… Read More »
The new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is already out of the starting blocks! Taking office at the start of October, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (a small village in the Brecon Beacons) addressed the members of Gray’s Inn on October 21st. Delivering the annual Birkenhead lecture, he sought to address the issues facing the… Read More »
Richard Nixon was President of the United States from 1969 until he resigned in disgrace after Watergate in 1974. Before that, he was the unsuccessful candidate in the 1960 presidential election which brought John F Kennedy to the White House, and I recall that this poster of an unshaven and rather sinister looking “Tricky Dicky” contributed… Read More »