All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1178

  • News

    DLA Piper in the Middle East push

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    National firm DLA Piper has tripled its headcount in the Middle East as part of a huge push into the region and has plans for further expansion over the next two months, the Gazette can reveal. The firm, which had around 50 lawyers working in the ...

  • News

    Employment

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Tax – Contracts of employment – Information technology – Provision of services through intermediary – IR35 Dragonfly Consultancy Ltd v Revenue & Customs Commissioners: Ch D (Mr Justice Henderson): 3 September 2008 ...

  • News

    Family law

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Civil procedure – Practice directions – Trial bundles – Sanctions for non-compliance – Identification of defaulters in open court Re X & Y (bundles): Fam Div (Mr Justice Munby): 22 August 2008

  • News

    Freedom of information

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Requests to public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) are becoming more challenging. Some authorities are even receiving requests about how they handle such requests.

  • News

    When grammar 'gifts' us a lesson

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Having read the latest letter about poor grammar, I could not resist raising my pet hate (see [2008] Gazette, 11 September, 9). When did ‘gift’ become a verb? Do non-lawyers talk about ‘gifting’ a house, as almost all private client practitioners now do? ...

  • News

    High praise for a past president

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    What a refreshing, forthright article from Martin Mears (see [2008] Gazette, 11 September, 8). It reminds me why he is one of the few Law Society presidents who was actually elected by his fellow solicitors and why I voted for him. ...

  • News

    Launching into orbiter

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Obiter is used to being quizzed about which planet it inhabits, but it’s not often mistaken for a spacecraft. Until this week, when a letter arrived at Chancery Lane addressed to ‘Orbiter’. Even better, the letter was from a member of the profession ...

  • News

    Legal profession

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Negligence – Bankruptcy – Breach of contract – Causation – Conveyancing – Legal advice Sara Dayman (as trustee of the estate of Sandra Estelle Fielding, a former bankrupt) v Lawrence Graham (a firm): ChD (Judge Hodge QC): 28 August ...

  • News

    Making Waves

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Paralympic sailor and former Obiter star Helena Lucas has achieved a top-ten place at the Paralympics in Qingdao. The GBR Skandia team member was the only female selected to race in the 2.4m fleet and she finished in seventh place overall. Lucas was sponsored by ...

  • News

    Sentencing

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Attempts – Kidnapping – Sentence length – Violent nature of offence R v Jason Matthew Eminson: CA (Crim Div) (Mr Justice Mitting, Mr Justice Tugendhat): 29 August 2008 The ...

  • News

    Society stand on striking-off

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has reiterated its opposition to plans for Crown Court judges to be given powers to strike off solicitors charged with fraud, even when they have been acquitted of any offence. The Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, outlined the proposal in a consultation paper published ...

  • News

    At the whim of Westminster

    2008-09-18T00:00:00Z

    A UK bill of rights is unlikely to come soon, but there is still hope for the future. It is a pity – if only for the future of the idea of a British bill of rights – that Labour’s electoral hopes look so dire. In ...

  • News

    Calm after the storm?

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    Turbo-capitalism has hit the wall and City firms are already feeling the pain. But it could have been a lot worse, as lawyers seek to advise those affected by the market turmoil. It’s an ill wind and all that. As City law firms try to catch ...

  • News

    Agricultural law: challenging times, rewarding work

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    As Britian’s farmers grapple with disease, rising costs and red tape, agriculture is becoming a more challenging area of law. Mad cow disease, avian flu, bluetongue and bovine tuberculosis (BTB) have all blighted livestock recently, while rising labour costs and a plethora of new ...

  • News

    AIG bailout wards off PII catastrophe

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    The US Government’s $85bn (£48bn) bailout of insurer AIG has averted a catastrophe in the volatile solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market, brokers have said. However, some reported that a minority of clients remained wary of obtaining AIG cover, and that the period between AIG’s share ...

  • News

    Poles apart

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    The wolves are circling, the temperature is dropping, and darkness is all around. No, Obiter isn’t getting lyrical about the credit crunch and recession, but simply describing the icy reality soon to be experienced by a client of Sussex law firm Rix & Kay. Managing partner Bruce Hayter explains: ‘We ...

  • News

    Investigation into lawyer assassinations

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    Colombia is setting up a special prosecution team dedicated to investigating the assassination of human rights lawyers following talks between government officials and a delegation of high-profile UK legal professionals.

  • News

    Will writers attack comparison site

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    Will writers have reacted with alarm to plans by a price-comparison website to enter the legal services market. The Society of Will Writers this week warned that an online match-making service offered by the Paaleads.com venture could be ‘devastating to the professionalism’ of the industry. In ...

  • News

    Banking and finance

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    Hospitality and leisure – Credit – Debts – Dishonour of cheques – Gambling Aspinall’s Club Ltd v Fouad Al-Zayat: QBD (Comm) (Mr Justice Teare): 3 September 2008. The claimant ...

  • News

    Met safety deposit box raid slammed

    2008-09-25T00:00:00Z

    A solicitor representing owners of safety deposit boxes raided by police has spoken out against what he says is excessive use of powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). Lawrence Kelly, of London solicitors Lawrence Stephens, claimed the authorities are using warrants to trawl ...