23 November
A litigation friend who was said to be suffering from depression has been ordered to pay more than £42,000 in costs after a judge found his performance ‘wholly inadequate’. The judgment in Y v Z centred on financial remedies proceedings arising from a divorce. Dr X, as he is referred to in the Family Court judgment, was, for a time, the wife’s litigation friend, but from April 2023 had ‘given up doing anything very much in his role’. He later formally applied to be discharged.
22 November
Arbitrators will be protected from ‘unreasonable lawsuits’ and be required to tell clients about anything that could cast doubt on their impartiality under legislation introduced to parliament. The Arbitration Bill, which will amend the Arbitration Act 1996, was introduced in the Lords by Lord Harlech on behalf of justice minister Lord Bellamy KC.
A Sheffield firm which took on thousands of cases from the collapsed Pure Group has gone under. SSB Group Ltd gave notice of its intention to appoint an administrator on Monday this week.
Justice spending will remain unchanged at £10bn from 2023/24 to 2024/25 – a real-terms cut – the Treasury disclosed after chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his autumn statement.
21 November
Law firms planning to implement artificial intelligence systems should engage closely with their insurers to avoid misunderstandings, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said in a generally upbeat assessment of the risks of the fast-emerging technology.
Deliveroo riders are not legally classed as employees and cannot rely on trade union protections, the Supreme Court ruled.
20 November
In the 19 months to 31 July, Post Office Ltd spent over £24m on disclosure costs with external legal contractors in connection with the ongoing Horizon inquiry, a Gazette freedom of information request revealed.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority risks reputational damage if it takes charge of legal executives, the Law Society warned. Chancery Lane has concerns about ‘the risk to the reputation of the SRA and a loss of confidence in its regulatory capacity due to a real or perceived lack of partiality towards inevitable competition between the professions represented by the Law Society and CILEX’.
A personal injury victim who grossly exaggerated his injuries to claim for £600,000 was jailed for 10 months. Mr Justice Constable said Mark Raymond Hilton had to face an immediate custodial sentence given the seriousness of his contempt and to ‘signal the gravity with which the court will deal with those seeking to gain from false and grossly exaggerated personal injury claims’.
The Law Society welcomed positive results from trials of schemes which provide publicly funded early legal advice. According to evaluation reports published by the Ministry of Justice, the schemes have saved thousands of people the stress and expense of a court hearing, helping in a total of 36,000 issues over the past two years.
Mishcon de Reya has agreed a £75m revolving credit facility with three banks, newly published accounts show. The credit line will be used partly to exploit ‘investment opportunities’ said the London firm, which last year abandoned a stockmarket flotation.
A leading litigation funder has reported further losses despite rising turnover. Accounts filed for Augusta Ventures Limited show that losses for calendar 2022 were £1.4m, compared with £262,000 in 2021. Turnover rose 4.5% to £9.2m but this was offset by administrative expenses going up by 17% to £10.6m. Net liabilities almost doubled to £2.9m as the amount owed to creditors within one year rose by more than £2m to £6.8m.
17 November
Master of the rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos confirmed that guideline hourly rates will increase from 1 January as part of wider costs reforms. Vos also told the Civil Justice Council’s national forum that he will establish a working group to determine the methodology underpinning future rates.
Volunteers are needed at sites across the country to help charity Support Through Court continue assisting people facing civil and family courts without legal representation. To find out more and sign up, visit supportthroughcourt.org.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is hoping to publish by the end of the year guidance for employers to support in-house solicitors in complying with their regulatory duties, a conference of local government lawyers heard.
Rebecca Lawrence (pictured), chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service, announced her departure from the organisation following the settlement of an employment tribunal case in which Lawrence brought claims of discrimination on the grounds of age and sex.
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