Remote justice and Tribunal case management – Doughty Street Chambers

‘In GL v Elysium Healthcare Upper Tribunal Judge Kate Markus has provided a helpful reminder of the importance of maintaining standards of fairness in the remote environment.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 12th January 2021

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

Court rejects Covid adjournment to press on with in-person trial – Legal Futures

Posted January 26th, 2021 in adjournment, case management, coronavirus, news, remote hearings, witnesses by sally

‘The High Court has ruled that the fears of three witnesses about giving evidence in person during the UK’s winter Covid spike should not lead to a five-week complex commercial trial being adjourned.’

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Legal Futures, 26th January 2021

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Credit where credit’s due? A ‘likely’ story – Carmelite Chambers

‘In 2017, the Sentencing Council introduced a Definitive Guideline on Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty plea, leaving Judges with little or no discretion on the credit that can be afforded for pleas entered at the Crown Court, even for indictable only offences.’

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Carmelite Chambers, 11th January 2021

Source: www.carmelitechambers.co.uk

HMRC v IGE USA Investments Ltd [2020] EWHC 1716 (Ch) – the role of statements of case and Lists of Issues for Disclosure in applications to vary an order for Extended Disclosure under the Disclosure Pilot Scheme – Hardwicke Chambers

‘Whilst Standard Disclosure (under CPR 31) remains in force, the Disclosure Pilot has provided a more flexible menu of disclosure options for the majority of cases in the Business and Property Courts. There is a degree of overlap between CPR 31 and the Pilot Scheme, but there are some significant divergences. One of those is paragraph 18 of the Pilot Scheme, which allows variations of pre-existing orders for Extended Disclosure. The scope of the court’s jurisdiction under paragraph 18 of the Disclosure Pilot was central to this appeal.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 8th January 2021

Source: hardwicke.co.uk

Unnecessary Private Law Applications – a warning shot from the judiciary – Family Law Week

‘Marie Crawford, barrister of Becket Chambers, reflects on a recent children law judgment and its implications for parties and practitioners.’

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Family Law Week, 16th December 2020

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Insurer fails in aggregation argument over partner’s multi-million pound thefts – Legal Futures

‘The High Court has refused to aggregate as one claim various actions a Yorkshire law firm’s indemnity insurer is facing because of a multi-million pound fraud run by one of its partners.’

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Legal Futures, 4th November 2020

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Amendments to Costs Budgeting Rules Coming into Force on 1st October 2020 – St John’s Chambers

‘As of 1st October 2020 several amendments to the costs budgeting rules and the related Practice Direction came into force.’

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St John's Chambers, 2nd October 2020

Source: www.stjohnschambers.co.uk

Judge condemns late argument in “forensic arms race” of a case – Litigation Futures

‘A High Court judge has strongly attacked the claimants in what he described as a “forensic arms race” over a complex claim by 202,000 Brazilian people and businesses following the collapse of a dam in 2015.’

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Litigation Futures, 7th October 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

The impact of digitalisation on the immigration process – EIN Blog

‘The coronavirus pandemic created an impetus for the legal world to finally begin accepting digitalisation of processes, moving away from the traditional paper process to an online version. The immigration process is already faced with a myriad of concerns which leaves the applicant in a weak position, and most often, with a lack of funds to cover their costs. The Home Office’s inability to train and effectively manage applications, outsource services to dubious third-party contractors has been exacerbated further by the haphazard application of online processes which do not match the needs of the immigration process. Despite the fact that online applications are easier to complete for legal representatives a number of issues have arisen as a result of this sudden change.’

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EIN Blog, 21st September 2020

Source: www.ein.org.uk

Prosecution strategies in AR cases (2) – Counsel

‘A two-part series from Laura Hoyano and John Riley modelling investigation and prosecution strategies in cases of abusive relationship offending: part two of this worked case example looks at the issues arising at trial.’

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Counsel, September 2020

Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk

High Court warning over JRs that “evolve exponentially” – Litigation Futures

Posted September 2nd, 2020 in case management, costs, Crown Prosecution Service, judges, judicial review, news by tracey

‘A High Court judge has criticised public law practitioners for letting judicial reviews “evolve exponentially” so that the claim advanced at the hearing bears “little resemblance” to that for which permission was granted.’

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Litigation Futures, 2nd September 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Lord Chancellor accepts unlawfulness of new Legal Aid scheme for immigration and asylum appeals – Garden Court Chambers

‘On 8 June 2020 the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 (the Amendment Regulations) came into force. The Amendment Regulations established a new fee regime for the remuneration of legal aid providers for appellants whose asylum and immigration appeals are being dealt with under a new Online Procedure which had previously been in pilot phase, but was rolled out widely by the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) in mid-March 2020.’

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Garden Court Chambers, 12th August 2020

Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk

Reactivation! – Nearly Legal

‘After the mystery of the Rules laid last Friday, we now had the text of Practice Direction 55C, which will come into effect on 23 August 2020 at the end of the Part 55.29 stay of possession proceedings.’

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Nearly Legal, 21st July 2020

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Judge rails at lawyers’ ‘thoroughly disorganised’ case presentation – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted July 23rd, 2020 in case management, delay, expert witnesses, family courts, news by sally

‘A High Court judge has urged parties not to expect to be given sympathy in future if they continue to flout procedural rules and file evidence late.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 21st July 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Copyright – Performing Right Society Ltd v Qatar Airways Group QCS – NIPC Law

‘This was an application by the defendant airline to stay an action for copyright infringement on grounds of forum non conveniens and case management. The action has been brought by the Performing Right Society which alleges that the inflight entertainment systems of the defendant’s aircraft infringe the copyright laws of the countries in which those aircraft are present at any one time. The application came on before Mr Justice Birss on 18 June 2020. He handed down his judgment in Performing Right Society Ltd v Qatar Airways Group QCS [2020] EWHC 1872 on 17 July 2020.’

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NIPC Law, 20th July 2020

Source: nipclaw.blogspot.com

Case Management and COVID-19: A New Road to Consistency? – Family Law Week

Posted July 2nd, 2020 in case management, coronavirus, family courts, news by tracey

‘John Jupp, Solicitor, and Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex, considers whether family judges are making consistent case management decisions during the pandemic.’

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Family Law Week, 24th June 2020

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Toby Chaplin (by his mother and litigation friend, Diane Chaplin) v Ben Pistol, Allianz Insurance Plc [2020] EWHC 1543 (QB),2020 WL 03254432 – No. 5 Chambers

‘At 28, the Claimant had acquired a traumatic brain injury and been rendered tetraplegic in an accident caused by the negligent driving of the Defendant. The case came before Master Eastman in July 2019 for case management. At that stage, it was common ground between the experts in neurology for each party that the Claimant’s injuries had significantly reduced his life expectancy. However, they disagreed as to the extent of the reduction, Dr Liu for the Claimant estimating that his life expectancy to be 30-35% of normal; Professor Collin for the Defendant adopting a figure of 30-44% of normal. There were also differences in the experts’ approach to available statistics. Whilst the range of figures adopted by each expert were not far apart and it was likely that the Claimant’s care costs would by awarded by way of a PPO, it was nonetheless accepted that the difference between the parties translated to a 7-figure sum. At the CMC before Master Eastman in July 2019, the Defendant’s application for permission to rely on a report, from medical statisticians on the issue of the Claimant’s life expectancy, was dismissed on the basis that neither party’s neurology expert deferred to evidence from a statistician to assist them in determining the Claimant’s life-expectancy and such evidence would not add to their existing analysis of the available statistics. The Defendant did not appeal.’

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No. 5 Chambers, 22nd June 2020

Source: www.no5.com

Family court judges given power to intervene in domestic abuse cases – The Guardian

‘Judges will be empowered to intervene in cases of domestic abuse to prevent the complainant from being re-victimised by aggressive lines of questioning, as part of a new raft of legal changes announced today.’

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The Guardian, 25th June 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com

Court of Appeal allows appeal over refusal of application for intermediary assessment – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal from a case management decision in care proceedings refusing an application by a parent with a learning disability for an intermediary assessment and the appointment of an intermediary.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 22nd June 2020

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Vulnerable parties and witnesses in employment tribunal proceedings – 12 King’s Bench Walk

‘The first Presidential Guidance on vulnerable parties and witnesses in employment tribunal proceedings was issued this April. Key parts of the guidance deal with (i) identifying when a participant is vulnerable, and (ii) case management: directions and orders.’

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12 King's Bench Walk, 9th June 2020

Source: www.12kbw.co.uk