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Civil way: 12 December 2025

Costs and AI behaviour; ‘A landlord nor a bailiff be’?

AND YOU SHALL BE CONTINUALLY GUIDED

Do not venture inside the Senior Courts Costs Office (SCCO) without mugging up on its latest guide. Nothing earth-moving, but recommended by Lord Justice Birss, which is good. During its former incarnation and as a novice articled clerk up from the sticks to the smoke, the only guide I had was the managing clerk who let me loose there on a substantial four-column bill listed for assessment. He told me not to worry about any party and party items going over to common fund (legal aid). The master told me that the receiving party client with a fat contribution would have boxed my ears if they could have witnessed my concurrence in massive transfers.

Now you might have thought that Birss LJ would have been working on a speech for his swearing-in as the new High Court Chancellor. But no. As well as devouring the SCCO guide, he has been going through the revised artificial intelligence (AI) guidance for judicial officeholders

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Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

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NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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