All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1202
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News
Legislation mooted on client bank accounts
The British Bankers’ Association and the Law Society may seek legislation to clear up confusion over compensation payable when solicitors’ client accounts are held in collapsed banks. The two bodies are considering asking the government to amend the Banking Bill, currently passing ...
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Legal advice
Breach of contract – Conditional fee arrangements – Costs – Retainers (1) Bray Walker Solicitors (a firm) (2) Bevans Bray Walkers Ltd (t/a Bevans) v Carlo Moise Silvera: QBD (Mr Justice Blake): 18 December 2008 ...
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News
Clampdown on legal aid fraudsters
The Coroners and Justice Bill creates new powers to clampdown on people who make fraudulent claims for legal aid or fail to pay their share of costs. Changes will allow data about individuals to be shared routinely between the Legal Services Commission and the Department for Work and Pensions. Courts ...
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Give it away free
As you correctly reported, the internet is about to overtake traditional channels for people to find a solicitor for simple legal work, such as conveyancing and writing a will. However, I would suggest that law firms need to look beyond this to ensure that they maintain, or increase, their market ...
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Indian 'best friends' criticised
An Indian ‘magic circle’ firm has criticised the formation of ‘best friend’ relationships in the country, saying they do not follow the spirit of rules on foreign lawyers. Rajiv Luthra, managing partner at Luthra & Luthra, told the Gazette that his firm has turned down ...
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Bill 'could damage public confidence'
Criminal practitioners have warned that several measures in the Coroners and Justice Bill could damage confidence in the justice system and accused the government of pandering to pressure groups. Ian Kelcey, chairman of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, described the bill as a complete ...
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A bird in the hand
Law Society media supremo Melissa Davis got herself a bargain when she bought a second-hand stuffed owl over the internet for a very reasonable £68. New ones – equally dead, but recently eviscerated – can retail for as much as £600, she told Obiter last ...
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Nuclear developments, energy sales and publishing buyouts
Going nuclear: City firm CMS Cameron McKenna advised energy companies RWE and E.ON on a joint venture to build nuclear power stations in the UK. The project aims to develop 6GW of capacity. ...
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Crossing continents: transnational cases raise important issues
What have the son of a Liberian dictator, a rabidly anti-Jewish Australian and a Rwandan diplomat all got in common? They are all defendants where courts in one state are seeking, or have recently sought, to decide criminal liability for alleged actions in another. As such, they illustrate the best ...
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Hard choices: software patents, open source
This summer the Court of Appeal handed down its latest decision on the patentability of software in the UK, while a new standard licence was published for open source developers.
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Connect with your clients
Our news item last week on the rise of the internet as a medium for choosing a legal adviser has touched a nerve. Traditional methods of choosing a solicitor, such as word of mouth or using the ‘family firm’, still dominate, but the web is ...
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Complex world
The reference to ‘a simple transaction, such as conveyancing or making a will’ in your article, together with the absence of any quotation marks, is yet another insulting nail in the coffin of our professionalism. If the article’s authors really have the necessary expertise to use such dismissive words in ...
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Improving justice in the family courts
Family Justice in View was published by the Ministry of Justice and laid before Parliament on 16 December 2008. It represents the government’s intended policy on creating uniformity in approach to transparency in the family courts, and is based on two consultations undertaken ...
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News
Courts system sleepwalking into crisis
A five-year strategy must be agreed between the judiciary, government and HM Courts Service to revive a civil justice system that has been ‘sleep-walking into a crisis’, a heavy-hitting report has warned. Sir Henry Brooke, former vice-president of the Court of ...
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Firms 'lose out' in fighting crime
The burden of complying with new anti-money laundering (AML) regulations is not proportionate to the funds recovered from launderers, according to new research. For every suspicious activity report submitted, an estimated £618 is recovered from criminals, according to the Home Office and Serious Organised Crime Agency. ...
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Judgment day
Obiter’s informal census of solicitor judges has drawn a healthy response, confirming our feeling that the number is now high – especially on the district bench and on tribunals. Keith Martin, of Davies Partnership in St Agnes, Cornwall, says he’s not sure whether ...
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Straw defends secret inquest plans
Justice secretary Jack Straw has defended plans to hold secret inquests, citing the need to protect those who provide intelligence for national security. Major change to the coroners system, which Straw described as the least-reformed part of the justice mechanism, is the headline proposal of the Coroners and Justice Bill, ...
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Insolvency specialists - high demand, short supply
The UK has nosedived into recession – but for some this financial cloud has a silver lining. After a relatively lean decade, the downturn is potentially lucrative for insolvency specialists. The current skills shortage in this practice area, though, is a corollary of the perception by ...
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She’s a diamond
Never, ever, underestimate a legal secretary. Last week, Obiter dared to suggest that the 39 years and five months that Ann Moody worked as a secretary for retired solicitor, Tony Mackintosh might be some kind of record. Beat that, we challenged. And, inevitably, you did.
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Dock instructions: say no, says Society
Solicitors must firmly resist requests from magistrates and district judges to take instructions from defendants while they are in the dock, the Law Society’s criminal law committee has urged. The warning follows reports of district judges and magistrates refusing to give adjournments for meetings, ...