Archive

EHRC calls for abolition of compulsory retirement age

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called on the government to abolish the default retirement age. The move comes as the committee stage of the Equality Bill resumes today in the House of Lords.

No "inalienable" right to holidays, EAT rules

Workers can lose their holidays if employers put in place the “proper opportunity and mechanism” for them to be claimed, the EAT has ruled.

Straw wants ten per cent cap on success fees for libel

With a general election looming, justice secretary Jack Straw is planning to cut the uplift libel lawyers can add to their success fees from 100 per cent to 10 per cent of base costs.

Doubts over LSC's new civil contract timetable

The Law Society has said it is "very doubtful" whether there is enough time for the new civil legal aid contracts to be introduced in October after the LSC announced that the tendering process for some contracts would not begin until early March.

Unreasonable pressure

The ruling in Carver encourages claimants to settle their claims before unacceptably high costs are incurred, so why did Jackson LJ resist calls not to reverse it, asks Richard Langley

Shifting patterns

Lord Justice Jackson's review of costs in civil litigation proceedings promised to deliver recommendations for a fairer, more proportionate access to justice. One year and nearly 600 pages later, Sir Rupert has made a set of inter-dependent proposals turning the principle of full recovery on its head. Fraser Whitehead gives his analysis of the report from the claimants' perspective and Raj Patel and Saqib Khan provide the defendants' view; Richard Barr considers the likely implications for clinical negligence claims, and Rod Dadak looks at the consequences for libel cases

Land of the living

Landowners are constantly looking to improve their businesses and are making the most of the opportunities available, but they are also facing difficulties – not least the implementation of the Marine and Coastal Access Act. Jenny Ramage reports

Use without abuse

Pre-action disclosure is a helpful tool but only if it is properly deployed, says DJ Julie Exton