All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1183
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News
First year of OPG dogged by delays and disruption
A damning report into the first 12 months of the body charged with protecting people lacking mental capacity to make decisions for themselves has revealed a track record of delays, inaccurate information and inefficiency. The body, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), came into being ...
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Family law
Care orders – Children – Parental contact Re H (a child): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Lloyd): 25 September 2008 The appellant mother (M) appealed against a care order ...
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Family law: forced marriages
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 is due to come into force on 25 November, White Ribbon day, when people will be encouraged to wear a white ribbon to show that they do not condone violence towards women. The act will insert a new part 4A into the Family ...
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News
Missing water features
Legal professionals must not overlook plumbing systems when producing home information packs. Home information packs (HIPs) have been with us for a number of months. We at the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors have noticed a number of errors in the practices of some ...
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Wall Street task force
The American Bar Association (ABA) is to establish a high-level task force on financial services regulation in response to the crisis on Wall Street. In an exclusive interview with the Gazette, President Tommy Wells said the initiative is partly aimed at defending the principle of ...
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Local government
Council tax – Motorwatys – Noise pollution – Tax bans – Valuation Charlton-Merryweather v Hunt & ors: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Waller, Rix, Dyson): 19 September 2008. The appellant ...
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Tories ready for HIP replacement
I have just read your news item speculating that the Conservative Party may abandon its pledge to scrap home information packs (HIPs) (see [2008] Gazette, 2 October, 2). This is not true. At the party conference, shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said: ‘The government is in ...
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News
Life on the inside
A scathing report of Paddington Green police station deals a blow to the 42-day lobby. The prospect of Parliament backing 42 days’ pre-charge detention in terrorist cases seems to have receded even further this week with the publication of an inside account of conditions at ...
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Matters of routine
A positive way to look at LPO is that it will enable solicitors to focus on work that genuinely requires their expertise. Kerry Underwood, as many readers will know, is not a man to pull his punches. The Hertfordshire solicitor, who was at the cutting edge ...
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News
Review of regulation
A separate compliance regime for big City corporate firms is to be considered as part of a profession-wide review of regulation, the Gazette can reveal. The development comes amid indications that some of the UK’s biggest practices are considering alternatives to the existing system of ...
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Acquisitions, sales, energy projects and land purchases
Green fingers: Ipswich firm Birketts advised Notcutts, a Woodbridge-based garden centre operator, on its £14.5m acquisition of six garden centres in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Cheshire from AIM-listed distribution company NWF Group. North-west firm Brabners advised NWF.
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How oil prices and the credit crunch affect aviation law
Airlines have gone to the wall as the price of oil rockets. How can lawyers help the industry weather the turbulence? Airlines are, metaphorically, falling out of the skies. A lethal combination of the credit crisis, the accompanying downturn in customer demand and recent high oil ...
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News
Chancery Lane paves the way for new 'affiliate' category
The Law Society has moved closer to opening its doors to non-solicitors after 63% of council members voted in favour of creating a new ‘affiliate’ category. The introduction of ‘affiliate’ status is part of the Society’s plan to become a more commercially minded outfit. ...
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PI mediation: moving to alternate methods of resolution
Many lawyers still need convincing about the benefits of mediation, but its impact in personal injury cases can be hugely beneficial. ‘I felt like I was beating my head against the door for four years, just getting nowhere. The lawyers were ...
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International arbitration: getting pricier, but still growing
When Eurotunnel sought £30m in compensation for losses incurred through illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel, damaging terminal buildings and causing disruption to services, it blamed both France and Britain: France for the Sangatte hostel fiasco, creating a so-called departure lounge for illegals and the UK for its apathy in ...
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Arbitration
Customer law – Appointments – Enforcement – Unfair contract terms Mylcrist Builders Ltd v G Buck: QBD (TCC) (Mr Justice Ramsey): 19 September 2008 The applicant building company (M) applied ...
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Solicitors assured over criminal costs
Barristers will not gain at the expense of solicitors in the stand-off over very high cost criminal cases, the new legal aid minister assured practitioners this week. In his first engagement as minister, Lord Bach said there is ‘no question’ of funding any increase in advocacy ...
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Solicitors hit back over Iceland
Local government solicitors hit back at accusations that councils acted recklessly by investing in Icelandic banks. Suzanne Bond, chairwoman of Solicitors in Local Government, said: ‘We work to government guidance, which has been followed. If it had been a couple of bodies it could be reckless, ...
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Battle to save Iceland-funded lender: latest
Talks to provide a lifeline to a specialist solicitors’ lending arm of collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki were under way as the Gazette went to press. Key Business Finance (KBF) chiefs were in crunch takeover talks with a number of banks to secure the company’s future. KBF ...