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14 August 2013 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7573 / Categories: Features
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Making mischief

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Dominic Regan is in the mood for some end-of-term high-jinx

Ennui. Boredom. Call it what you will but we have reached that time in the year when a bit of mischief is justified. Here are a few tried and tested antics.

  1. Flag down a taxi and ask the driver for the right time.
  2. Go into a shop, select an item and then tell the assistant you have unilaterally decided to reduce the price by 30%. For some inexplicable reason this is known as “doing a Grayling”.
  3. If ever you suspect you have been overcharged by a supplier wait five years and then, rather than asking for a refund, announce that you are going to launch a public enquiry. This too is known as “doing a Grayling”. It is beyond me.
  4. Ring the clerk to the barrister you most despise and ask if counsel is free to do a week before the Supreme Court or a three month trial in the Bahamas. Leave it there.
  5. People walking and texting simultaneously drive me mad, particularly when crossing the road. Bursting a balloon next to their ear is
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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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