All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1169
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Comparative advertising - the ECJ fizzes it up
In a ruling that could have a noticeable impact on advertising in the UK and across Europe, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last month ruled that businesses can use the distinctive trademarks of their competitors when comparing their goods and services.
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'Shoddy' phone advice for bail defendants
The telephone advice service for people detained by police on less serious offences is giving a ‘shoddy service’ to some defendants arrested in breach of bail terms, a leading criminal lawyer has claimed. Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said practitioners were beginning ...
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Alcohol test for care cases
A new rapid call-out service to test for evidence of alcohol abuse by parents might be used to speed up the launch of child care proceedings, its manufacturers claim. Trimega Laboratories says hair samples will be taken within 90 minutes of an initial request. Test results, ...
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Anonymity balance
In his comment, Ian Kelcey, chairman of the CLSA, argues that witness anonymity could seriously damage a defendant’s right to a fair trial, and acknowledges that ‘there may be some cases where it is desirable to achieve a conviction [sic], but at what cost?’ (see [2008] Gazette, 17 July, 8). ...
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Searching for answers
We do not accept private searches on behalf of clients or their lenders and would insist on carrying out a proper local authority search, because the conditions of such searches contain a proviso that the information has been obtained by a personal inspection of public records and other legitimate sources ...
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Automatic higher rights plan 'threat to standards'
Proposals to give solicitors automatic rights of audience in all courts undermine consumer interest and will enable barristers to market themselves as superior advocates, the chairman of the Bar Council has told the Gazette. Tim Dutton QC said the proposals to end the current requirement for ...
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Barking eyes new legal markets
Local government will take a further step towards entering the open legal services market this week when the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham announces the reorganisation of its legal team along private sector lines. The council has lured three senior ‘partners’ from neighbouring authorities: ...
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Setting Sail for Beijing
City firm Charles Russell gave paralympic sailor Helena Lucas a hearty send off on her way to the Beijing games last week. Lucas, a member of the Skandia Team GBR, will be racing in the 2.4m single-handed keelboat class. The firm has provided the sailor, tipped to bring home a ...
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Planning Bill under fire
Two key parts of the government’s planning reforms have come under attack from environmental law experts this week. Members of the UK Environmental Law Association’s (UKELA) planning and sustainable development working party described some provisions of the Planning Bill – which has been delayed in ...
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Bolly good show
Word reaches Obiter of yet more Bollywood action in the legal world. Elizabeth Mitchell, 34-year-old partner at York firm Wood Sherwood Solicitors, is currently preparing for her second Bollywood role after appearing in the West Yorkshire Playhouse summer production of Bollywood Jane last year, see Obiter 24 May 2007. ...
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Starmer sets out CPS brief
Ensuring the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the public’s full confidence will be top of the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) to-do list, Keir Starmer QC has told the Gazette.
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A model campaign
Your last edition rightly concentrated on the government’s proposals to (mostly not) change the system for claims for personal injury, housing etcetera (see [2008] Gazette, 24 July, 1). You framed much of your coverage in terms of the winners and losers – the government, the unions, insurers – essentially asking ...
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Challenging times
As the saying goes: ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ And some people will go to extreme lengths to keep dullness at bay. Edward Hardy (pictured far right), a senior solicitor at the Nationwide Building Society, is a case in point. He and a team of ...
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Changes in dentistry prompt hike in negligence claims
The decline in NHS dentistry and an increase in cosmetic dental treatment have led to an surge in negligence claims referred to solicitors, practitioners have told the Gazette. Simon Elliman, head of clinical negligence at regional firm Withy King, said the department has seen more enquiries ...
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Lawyer hits out at Red Cross confidentiality
A leading human rights lawyer has condemned the Red Cross’s confidentiality policy as ‘colluding in the secrecy’ of regimes that torture and breach the rule of law, and called for its charitable status to be questioned.
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Security for costs
The recovery, or not, of pre-action costs in an application for security for costs just got a little easier to work out, say Chris Warren-Smith and Ian Pegram In adding up the costs incurred ...
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Defamation
Absolute privilege – Complaints – Police – Slander Richard Anders Westcott v Sarah Westcott (2008): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Sedley, Stanley Burnton): 15 July 2008 The appellant ...
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'Quotas undermine diversity'
Intense competition between firms eager to demonstrate their diversity credentials and the use of quotas to measure recruitment of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff only serve to undermine equality, Stuart Popham, senior partner at magic circle firm Clifford Chance, has warned. Popham claimed the trend ...
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RICS drops Quinn from PII list
Quinn Insurance, which provides lawyers with professional indemnity insurance (PII), has been removed from the preferred PII list of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Gazette has learned. RICS, whose preferred insurer list mirrors the lawyers’ preferred insurer pool, removed Quinn after it withdrew ...
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Employment
Local government – Discrimination – Equal pay – Legitimate aim – Proportionality – Trade unions Allen & Ors v GMB (2008): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Tuckey, Smith, Maurice Kay): 16 July 2008 ...