Litigation/Dispute Resolution

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a barrister against a £5,000 fine for contempt of court after he released a draft version of its ruling on the planned third runway for Heathrow airport.

A solicitor High Court judge has rejected an application to recuse himself in a case against Simmons & Simmons made on the basis of his support for other solicitors and tenuous links to that firm.

A High Court master has made the first ever order for compulsory alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in commercial litigation, according to a City litigator.

Public users of the courts generally prefer remote to in-person hearings, but they have led to declining levels of respect, formality and concentration, according to government research.

The Ministry of Justice wants the extension of fixed recoverable costs across the fast-track and in most money cases worth up to £100,000 to take effect from October 2022, it has emerged.

The High Court has struck out a barrister’s petition to wind up a company he said he loaned £30,000 so it could pay the solicitors he introduced to them.

A claimant who filed a request for judgment on the Money Claim Online system, knowing the defendant’s alleged admission had not been made, has been found liable for the tort of abuse of process.

The disruption caused by Covid last year was not a good enough excuse for a law firm missing a deadline to file amended particulars of claim by four months, the High Court has ruled.

Two clients who owe their solicitors £2.3m in outstanding fees, costs and interest have been committed to prison having been found guilty of 14 charges of contempt of court.

An unregulated law firm is offering businesses a “highly automated” debt recovery service that guarantees debts of up to £5,000 that go to court will be repaid, by the firm if not the debtor.

The Conservative chairman of the justice select committee has spoken out about the problems in the county court, saying civil justice is “nowhere near high enough up the agenda”.

Justice secretary Dominic Raab is “in the market for something quite drastic and bold” to reduce the number of private law family cases in the courts, he said yesterday in a wide-ranging discussion.

Senior judges and lawyers on a panel chaired by former Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger have called for legal reforms to curb ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’ (SLAPPs).

The Master of the Rolls yesterday signalled his intention to revolutionise civil costs and has already set the Civil Justice Council working on a wide-ranging review.

A number of large UK commercial law firms will fall into the hands of US private equity investors next year, the founder of Doorway Capital, which owns national firm Simpson Millar, has predicted.