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10 December 2025
Issue: 8143 / Categories: Legal News , Technology , Procedure & practice , Housing
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Vos MR calls for responses on online procedure rules

Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, has asked lawyers to respond to a five-week consultation on ‘very straightforward’ online procedure rules

The Online Procedure Rules Committee consultation, launched last week and due to close on 15 January, covers the ‘basic general’ rules for online civil, family and tribunal proceedings, Sir Geoffrey said.

The online rules ‘will be far more simple and accessible than the current Civil Procedure Rules’, he said; for example, that parties have duties to ‘take all reasonable steps to settle their disputes’. View the draft rules here.

Sir Geoffrey, speaking at the Housing Law Practitioners’ Association conference last week, said the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which will end ‘no fault evictions’ in May, ‘will undoubtedly create more contested possession cases than we have had hitherto’.

He said the ‘first iteration’ of the online platform for property and possession claims is expected in the late spring of 2026.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

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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