Chancery judge Mr Justice Peter Smith has been involved in a number of controversies during the course of his career. At the moment, he stands accused of bias after a row over an article written by Blackstone Chambers’ Lord Pannick QC last year.
Following a hearing in the Court of Appeal this week, Peter Smith J is now blocked from hearing cases argued by members of Blackstone. And we revealed later in the week that Addleshaw Goddard is among firms which cannot appear before the judge, following another bias row almost a decade ago.
Also in the courts this week was a landmark judgment involving predictive coding, the use of technology for document review, with Berwin Leighton Paisner securing victory for its client.
Meanwhile we also reported that litigation boutique Signature Litigation has displaced Debevoise & Plimpton on a major mandate for mining giant ENRC, defending the company against a civil claim brought by the Serious Fraud Office.
Away from the contentious world, two major corporates are restructuring their legal teams. Banking giant Barclays is looking at its structure ahead of regulatory reforms designed to minimise risk in the financial sector, while Centrica is restructuring in a move expected to see a dramatic reduction in lawyer headcount across both British Gas and Centrica Energy.
The other trend of the moment is for private practice firms to cut costs by moving their business services teams to low-cost jurisdictions. Norton Rose Fulbright jumped on the bandwagon this week, announcing it was shifting 170 jobs to the Philippines.
Linklaters, meanwhile, last week became the first magic circle firm to sign a deal with artificial intelligence provider RAVN. The company’s software extracts specific pieces of data and information from large documents more efficiently than by using lawyers or paralegals.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is also in the midst of change and the magic circle firm’s latest move is to review its finance practice in a bid to boost profits.
The top 10 stories last week was completed with a popular special report on agile working, in conjunction with consultancy JLL.
The top 10 stories in full
1) Peter Smith J blocked from hearing Blackstone cases after bias row
2) Revealed: Peter Smith J banned from hearing Addleshaws cases in historic bias row
3) BLP secures victory in first contested use of predictive coding in court
4) Exclusive: Barclays restructures legal team ahead of ring-fencing reforms
5) Exclusive: Freshfields reviews finance practice in bid to boost profits
6) Norton Rose to relocate 170 business services roles to the Philippines
7) Linklaters becomes first magic circle firm to sign deal with AI provider RAVN
8) Exclusive: Centrica restructures legal team and moots global panel
9) Exclusive: ENRC drops Debevoise for signature litigation on SFO civil trial