Court of Appeal: Draft judgments not an “invitation to treat” – Litigaiton Futures

Posted June 4th, 2019 in appeals, drafting, interpretation, judges, judgments, news by sally

‘Receiving a judge’s draft judgment is not an “invitation to treat”, nor is it an opportunity to critique the ruling, enter into negotiations or reargue the case, the Court of Appeal has made clear.’

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Litigation Futures, 4th June 2019

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Criminal lawyer was “duped by fraudster” over football club deal – Legal Futures

‘A criminal law solicitor who “appeared to have been duped by a convicted fraudster” has been fined £5,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).’

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Legal Futures, 4th June 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Gateley found negligent over redevelopment agreement – Legal Futures

Posted May 29th, 2019 in drafting, negligence, news, solicitors by tracey

‘The High Court has found national law firm Gateley negligent in its advice to the owner of land in Nottingham that led to him missing out on some of the profits from its redevelopment.’

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Legal Futures, 29th May 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Challenge to delegation of costs lawyer’s work fails – Litigation Futures

Posted May 13th, 2019 in costs, drafting, legal profession, legal services, news, solicitors by sally

‘A challenge to a costs lawyer’s delegation of work to unqualified colleagues has failed, with a judge saying that to rule otherwise would make their work for members of the public “impossible”.’

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Litigation Futures, 13th May 2019

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Re-baselining construction projects: drawing a line in the sand – Practical Law: Construction Blog

Posted May 2nd, 2019 in construction industry, contracts, damages, delay, drafting, fees, news by tracey

‘As construction disputes lawyers, we see our fair share of settlement agreements. And not just the traditional full and final settlements, but also one page final account settlements, and “line in the sand” agreements in which the parties seek to renegotiate elements of the contract while it is in progress. These “line in the sand” agreements seem to feature disproportionately in court judgments, and in this blog I will look at the reasons why this might be the case.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 1st May 2019

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Negligence claim over football club chairman’s divorce to proceed – Legal Futures

Posted April 5th, 2019 in divorce, drafting, law firms, negligence, news, substitution by tracey

‘A judge was wrong to stop a case against a law firm that had incorporated since potentially negligent advice was given when the wrong entity was named in the claim, the High Court has ruled.’

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Legal Futures, 5th April 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Solicitors must think about “impression created” by NDAs – Legal Futures

‘Solicitors must think beyond the drafting of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality agreements to the “impression created” by them, a panel of experts has warned.’

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Legal Futures, 1st April 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council: Court of Appeal gives important guidance on development agreements and options, and declares contract ineffective – 11 KBW

Posted December 11th, 2018 in appeals, competition, drafting, local government, news, public procurement by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has given judgment in Faraday Development Ltd v West Berkshire Council [2018] EWCA Civ 2532 . The main judgment was given by Lindblom LJ. The claimant’s appeal against the first instance judgment of Holgate J was allowed, and the Court made the first declaration of ineffectiveness seen in an English public procurement case since the remedy was introduced in 2009 (there has previously been one such declaration in Scotland).’

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11 KBW, 15th November 2018

Source: www.11kbw.com

Improvement clauses needing improvement – Nearly Legal

Posted November 23rd, 2018 in appeals, drafting, housing, injunctions, landlord & tenant, news, repairs by sally

‘An object lesson in the need for clarity in tenancy agreements. This was an appeal from a first instance decision of HHJ Luba QC. Mr H was Network’s assured tenant of a flat in a block used for a sheltered housing scheme. Following a fire safety inspection, Network proposed to replace all the flat entrance doors. Mr H would not give access to Network to do so unless certain conditions were met. No agreement was reached and Network applied for an injunction for access.’

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Nearly Legal, 22nd November 2018

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Family lawyers told to draft court orders on the day – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted November 21st, 2018 in delay, drafting, family courts, news by tracey

‘Family lawyers will be expected to come to court with their laptops and draft orders on the day as part of a policy drafted to reduce delays caused by growing workloads and dwindling staff resources. The court orders policy came into force at London’s Central Family Court last week.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 20th November 2018

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Expert who sent first draft of evidence to solicitors “not a hired gun” – Litigation Futures

Posted August 17th, 2018 in drafting, evidence, expert witnesses, news, solicitors by sally

‘It was “a serious transgression” for an expert witness to make changes to his evidence after sending a first draft to his client’s solicitors, the High Court has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 16th August 2018

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Vexatious ex-solicitor “said first thing that came into her head” – Legal Futures

Posted August 10th, 2018 in drafting, news, solicitors, vexatious litigants, wills, witnesses by sally

‘A struck-off solicitor called to give evidence over a will she drafted often said “the first thing that came into her without reflecting on whether it was correct”, the High Court has found.’

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Legal Futures, 9th August 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

What are you implying? The role of implied terms in contract interpretation – Practical Law: Construction Blog

Posted August 2nd, 2018 in construction industry, contracts, drafting, interpretation, news by tracey

‘Recent cases, including the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Bou-Simon v BGC Brokers LP and the (as yet unreported) case of Harrow LBC v Engie Regeneration (Apollo) Ltd (2018) (TCC), provide a useful reminder of the strict constraints on implying terms into a commercial contract.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 1st August 2018

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Enforcement and the powers of the family court: VS v RE [2018] EWFC 30 – Family Law Week

‘Michael Horton, barrister at Coram Chambers explains the jurisdiction of the family court in relation to enforcement proceedings and highlights considerations which impact on the drafting of recitals to consent orders.’

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Family Law Week, 4th July 2018

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

“Poorly drafted” CFA that named wrong defendant still valid, Court of Appeal rules – Litigation Futures

Posted June 20th, 2018 in contracts, drafting, fees, interpretation, news by sally

‘A conditional fee agreement (CFA) that named the wrong defendant was still valid when read in the wider context of the claim, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 20th June 2018

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Practice Guidance: Standard children and other orders – Family Law

Posted June 8th, 2018 in children, drafting, electronic filing, family courts, news by sally

‘On 30 November 2017 I issued ‘Practice Guidance: Standard financial and enforcement orders’ [2018] Fam Law 89 [1]. These orders, which are available in both hard and soft formats, as well as being generatable by commercial software, have been very well received. Indeed, I have learned that they are being considered for adoption, in suitably modified form, in Hong Kong. I have no doubt that those orders are achieving the objective I identified, namely to promote national consistency, and to avoid for the future, so far as possible, ambiguities in the meaning of the wording of an order.’

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Family Law, 7th June 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Court uses correspondence to clarify settlement wording – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 6th, 2018 in drafting, insolvency, liquidators, news by tracey

‘Companies and lawyers must be clear and unambiguous when drafting settlement agreements, a court ruling has reminded them. A liquidator had to drop some claims after a court used correspondence to clarify exactly what was meant by the phrase “whole of the claim” in a compromise agreement. The ruling does not affect the liquidator’s claim against another person because she was not mentioned in the correspondence.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 5th June 2018

Source: www.out-law.com

Police error meant ‘speeding’ motorists paid fines but never exceeded the limit – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 10th, 2018 in drafting, fines, mistake, news, police, regulations, road traffic, speed cameras by tracey

‘A police force has admitted it has wrongly fined ‘speeding’ motorists after a clerical error meant the speed limit was never officially lowered. Avon and Somerset Police face having to cancel hundreds of tickets after a motorist successfully overturned his fine.’

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Daily Telegraph, 9th April 2018

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Not for the court to redraft pleadings, High Court says as it strikes out defence – Litigation Futures

Posted April 3rd, 2018 in documents, drafting, news, pleadings, striking out by sally

‘It is not the court’s role to redraft pleadings in the hope of producing an “intelligible defence”, the High Court has said.’

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Litigation Futures, 29th March 2018

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Sir Stephen Laws: Giving “Deemed” Domestic Law Status to Retained EU Law – Constitutional Law Association

Posted March 1st, 2018 in bills, drafting, EC law, legislation, news, regulations, treaties by sally

‘In his latest blog on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, Paul Craig criticises the recommendation of the House of Lords Constitution Committee (“HLCC”), at paras 70 and 93, that all retained direct EU law (defined by the HLCC to encompass all the law continued under clauses 3 and 4 of the Withdrawal Bill) should be given the status of domestic primary legislation passed immediately before exit day. He suggests, instead, a hierarchy in which some law continued in force under clause 3 should be “deemed to be a statutory instrument”. This formulation is intended, it seems, to do more than its usual job (which is confined to attracting the provisions of the Statutory Instruments 1946, which are largely irrelevant for present purposes). It appears to be intended, instead, to give the law in question the status of subordinate legislation made under legislative powers delegated to the executive. But what practical effects is it designed to produce?’

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Constitutional Law Association, 28th February 2018

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org