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 April 2013 and there has been a number of cases since then relating to interpretation and enforcement.
Significantly, and just before Christmas, His Honour Judge Simon Brown QC completed his series of articles on the reforms which was published online by the New Law Journal at http://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/nlj/content/fall
In typically robust style, the learned judge categorises his article as reassurance to “nervy post Mitchell practitioners” that it is all quite simple provided you follow the rules and guidance already given.
This final article is also significant and important because it contains case studies of two recent cases decided by the judge as well as his informed commentary and also carries links to important related articles, so you have a compendium of the reforms and a commentary all in one place.
Well worth a read and perhaps practitioners may wish to tuck away the link for reference purposes as the year moves forward.
Which brings me to The Lawyer round up of the top 20 litigation cases for 2014
While it is gratifying to see so many cases where Millnet has been involved in providing advice and assistance to the parties, the list of cases goes to show that there is a huge amount of litigation going on at this time. The need for practical and cost effective advice is ever present if practitioners are to comply with the civil justice reforms.
Happy New Year.