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Ian Smith pays homage to the Law of Sod

In last month’s column I was rash/stupid enough to say that the government’s employment law review seemed to have gone temporarily to sleep. This obviously aroused the ire of the gods in charge of that well known area of British jurisprudence, the Law of Sod, because we have seen this month a veritable outpouring of papers and announcements (most recently in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement) on proposed and possible reforms.
 

  • The Department for Business, Information and Skills (BIS) and the Courts and Tribunals Service published Resolving Workplace Disputes: Government response to the consultation,
  • the BIS/DWP working party on reforms to sickness absence laws reported,
  • and Underhill P has been deputed to review the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure by next spring.

This has been supplemented quite separately by an informal report for the prime minister by a ministerial adviser (Adrian Beecroft—strangely perhaps not Adam Werritty) which argues for a more root and branch approach, and in particular has spawned one especially hot potato, namely the idea that there should

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Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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