EXCLUSIVE -EXPEDITED APPEAL FOR TEST VETERANS

The Supreme Court is to spend 4 days starting on november 14th hearing the appeal. It is being taken seriously with 7 , rather than the conventional 5,sitting ( Brown,Philips,Hale,Walker,Mance,Wilson and Kerr).

AUTUMN CONFERENCES

 The season kicks off on september 9th with the Exeter and Devon Medico-Legal Society at Exeter University. The audience consists of a fascinating mixture of medical types and  lawyers . Speakers include an eminent silk  and Dr Stephanie Bown of the MPS  . I will be talking about the future of experts and clinical litigation .
The Liverpool Law Society employment conference is on october 12 .
My own talks are presented by MBL in London,Leeds and Manchester.

HOLIDAY READING

It is that time of year . For me Italy beckons .Anyway, the cheapest range of books can be found in the High Street chain,'The Works'. Easily overlooked but within you will find BBC audio books as well as decent titles heavily reduced such as Inspector Morse for 59 pence and intriguing hardbacks too.

WHAT IS A WHIPLASH WORTH?

£441,227 decided the High Court in London on may 12th.You take your claimant as you find them.
The claimant nurse was hit by a lorry driven by a drunk.She had to give up work as a result.Thanks to Tom Jones of Thompsons whose firm acted in this matter.

NUCLEAR TEST VETERANS OFF TO SUPREME COURT !

My thanks to Michael Goodridge of  9  Gough Square , the man with his hand on the pulse of litigation as opposed to a Stella glass.The Supreme Court has today granted permission to appeal in these ancient ,difficult cases.

EVADING EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS

Having now read Autoklenz , a decision containing only one judgment, i see that it is accepted that a genuine substitution clause ,although never invoked , is considered to be an absolute barrier to the acquisition of employment law protection. A great dodge.

A MORNING IN COURT

I spent yesterday morning at the Royal Courts watching an interim appeal in a claim put at millions . The dispute was between the Eaton Square property company and a tenant . Two things impressed me and one filled me with dismay.
The Judge was MacDuff J. , a consummate operator .Despite raging toothache he ploughed on and offered to return to finish the appeal after his hour at the dentist.He case managed with his opening words, giving each side an hour to put their submissions.
The appellant was represented by Adam Rosenthal of Falcon Chambers. He will take silk sooner rather than later.Exquisite preparation and presentation.
 It was sad to see massive lever arch bundles of documents.My bundle expert estimated that one file (and there were several ) ran to 900 pages. The sooner these are committted to disc the better.

WHO IS AN EMPLOYEE?

The Supreme Court today rightly upheld the decision in Autoklenz which took a realistic view as to whether dressing up a working relationship as a commercial one took it outside employment law . It did not .

COSTS CONSEQUENCES OF A WITHDRAWN OFFER

My good clients, Ince and Co , had a great success in a recent Admiralty case,SAMCO EUROPE ,  where a withdrawn offer was rightly held to be material on the issue of costs.

R V COTSWOLD GEOTECHNICAL LTD

All practitioners should take note of this Court of Appeal ( Criminal Decision ) judgment published on 20th July.The Court upheld a fine so large as to put the defendant company out of business.This arose in the context of  a corporate manslaughter conviction but is surely a sign that in a bad Bribery case the sanction could kill the company.For a large entity that might be a fine running into millions of pounds.

QUALITY SOLICITORS IN SMITHS!

QUALITY SOLICITORS

I have just received the very useful Legal Futures newsletter claiming an exclusive preview of the stand that is to be installed in branches of W H Smith. If you are sad enough to want to see one in the flesh then go to the Bath branch where it is already installed.Imagine my consternation last Monday when I popped in to find that the shelving which housed 'Big Boobed Babes' had been removed to make way for a big TV embedded in a wall rack with a hotline phone attached .
The graphic reproduced by Neil Rose was reminiscent of Boo.com which crashed horribly .

THE JACKSON BILL

The relentless progress of the Bill continues with the committee stage listed for September 6 and 8.

HOT GOSSIP

The Supreme Court delivers judgment next wednesday in Autoklenz, a major case about employment status.
On thursday it hears oral argument on whether to entertain the Nuclear Test veteran appeals.
Baroness Hale gave my eldest boy ,Nico ,his degree at Bristol today.She is tiny.What did become of the Krankies ?
There was much excitement at the Crown Office Row party last night.The Ayala Champagne helped ( the house has been quietly acquired by Bollinger ) as did the strong rumour that a member of Chambers has been asked to be counsel to the Murdoch enquiry.Two years work for someone there.

OUTSOURCING

Herbert Smith are so happy with their Belfast operation that they have decided to recruit more staff there .

Meyer Brown

My thanks to Kate Elsmore for swinging me an invite to their office party last Thursday which was excellent ( and they have a senior partner who is human too).

Do I owe a duty to my opponent in litigation.?

The Court of Appeal is to consider this issue during the last week of October.Is it incumbent upon a solicitor to tell the other side they have made a mistake in proceedings ? Where would it end ? If you help your opponent are you not thereby doing down your client?
My thanks to RPC for telling me about this case.

PROTECTION FROM HARASSMENT ACT 1997

Jones v Ruth ,published yesterday,is a significant decision .The court awarded damages under the 1997 Act.

PART 36

Another day,another Part 36 decision from the Court of Appeal.
My thanks to Marie-Therese G at Lexis for grabbing me the transcript of SHOVELAR V LANE 12th July . The parties spent £320,000 arguing over £134,000. It was held just to be just to give the claimant Part 36 rewards too. Better to mediate than to litigate said Ward LJ.
An amended Part 36 is being rushed in and will kill CARVER with effect from this October .

LEXIS AUTHORS PARTY

The party at the Savoy last night was wonderful.Nicky Briggs has a demonstrable affection for her authors .Christian Fleck,the new MD ,is a whirlwind .We shall have fun.Irene 'darlink' Kaplan is the most unlikely person on the planet to be head of tax,that droll topic.
I also met for the first time the abstemious Clare McMahon,my Tolleys Employment handbook editor.
The saintly Jan Miller has agreed that we can do a free webcast on the Jackson Bill and that should be broadcast later this month.
My personal highlight was a long ,funny chat with Michael Kershaw QC , the loveliest man one could ever meet.He won for the claimant in the House of Lords in Rigby v Ferodo, all about unilateral pay cuts,and was a brilliant Mercantile Judge in Manchester.So modest,so wonderful.

LEGAL AID IN CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE WORK

I think it wrong to take it away,always have done.
I understand that Lord Justice Jackson is troubled too and may yet advise against this terrible move.For the avoidance of doubt that is not something he has told me ,directly or indirectly.He has a great sense of justice and it would be no surprise were he to speak out.

ONE WAY COSTS SHIFTING IS SHIFTED

In a radical move it has now been decided that it will be means-tested and every eligible claimant will have to contribute , just like legal aid days again.

LEGAL AID BILL

It enters the committee stage today.
Intriguingly,the NHS Litigation Authority has complained that the withdrawal of legal aid from clinical negligence could ultimately make claims more expernsive ( see article Guardian today page 15).

ROAD TRAFFIC INSURERS

The Panorama expose is broadcast tonight BBC1 at 8.30pm.

THE PRESS AND THE LAW

The announcement this morning by the Prime Minister that the Press Complaints Commission is useless and that we are ,rightly,to have a judicial enquiry into the hacking scandal will present a superb opportunity to consider super-injunctions and what the media can and can't do.

THE $1,000,000 MAN

Warren Collins of DAC is at the forefront of serious injury litigation and he has recovered vast sums for his clients.Beachcroft are looking to take over his firm.What then? They act for the NHSLA , his common opponent.Willl he not be conflicted out overnight?
Perhaps there will be an undignified fight to lure him away.What he earns for his firm is eye-watering.

AL-SKEINI

By a narrow margin ( 17-0) the ECHR has decided that Britain was an occupying force and so had a legal obligation to investigate deaths in Iraq.The judgment was published yesterday afternoon .

CREDIT HIRE

The Court of Appeal is dedicating a fortnight to this messy topic ,starting October 3rd .

39 Essex st party

Other chambers may struggle but the party last night was first rate with superb champagne and black pudding ,as good as it gets.
The costs counsel cabal of Jeremy Morgan QC and Judith Ayling were there as was also insurance litigator Ben Williams and I had lovely chats with all of them .
Camilla Church is a major new personal injury talent at 39. Mark my words ,she
is destined for great things .
Guests included Jef Mitchell of the MOD who knows more law than anyone I can think of .

CIPD CONFERENCE

The annual employment event yesterday was a tremendous success thanks to a brilliant chairwoman ,Kay Willis, whom Lovells should be very proud of.The employment minister had to go to Poland but his stand in gave an honest assessment of likely reforms.
September 15th will see the first of a series of big announcements about employment law reform.
The audience were also great fun and Prof Ian Smith was on the greatest form too.A happy event.

JACKSON IMPLEMENTATION

The agreed date for implementation of the Act and subordinate legislation to fix fast track costs is 1st October 2012.The Samaritans are taking on extra staff.

THE BLOG

I am pathetically grateful to those who read my blog .
May I recommend the one I follow religiously and that is the one written by Chris Dale whom I got to know after The Times asked me to interview him last year.He is a solicitor who understands technology and is the maven of e-disclosure . He writes with a rare passion.

CUT JUDICIAL SALARIES

The New York Times today reports that Judges in the city have not had a pay rise since 1999.
How long before the Ministry of Justice applies cuts to judicial salaries?

PART 36-WHAT ARE PROCEEDINGS?

Thanks to Mike Shiers at Nash +co for drawing to my attention the case of THOMPSON V BRUCE,a decision of John L Williams sitting in the High Court.Essential reading.

PENNINGTON LEGAL SERVICES

My thanks to all who came to this lovely event at Old Trafford .Guests have so far donated over £2,500 to my chosen charity .

VIRGIN TRAIN FARES

If you think them a tad high it might be because Branson drew a dividend of £48,767-12 last year.That is of course per day,everyday.

EMPLOYMENT LAW FOR FREE

The very greatest asset is the employment bulletin produced with evident love by barrister Michael Duggan.It is a work of genius,listing every recent case of note .You can subscribe by writing to mdugg@aol.com.A major revision has just been published.
I recently had to help a high flying executive with several high powered posts to get her head round employment law.This would have been invaluable.

EXETER AND DEVON MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY

On friday 9th september the superb bi-annual conference takes place at Exeter University.A combination of important doctors and silks and Simon Singh and me will deliver a days worth of talks .The last event was full so the sooner one books the better the chance of securing a place.the cost is ludicrously low.

LORD YOUNG AND INJURY REFORM

The Health and Safety Executive published revised guidance for schools organising school trips.In place of the current 50 pages of material ,which goes so far as to specify how many safety pins to take,we have a curt 8 page set of sensible principles.Proof that this Government is determined to push through reform;this is exactly what Lord Young proposed last autumn.