All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1393
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News
End of the public-private world
A few years ago, BBC journalist Mark Easton gave a talk to clients at DLA Piper’s London office. His title at the time was ‘home editor’ – a title with a breadth he liked. His basic theme was the informed ‘bet’ he had made that, in the future, the private ...
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News
The EU may have something to say about any coalition attempts to cut legal aid
Viviane Reding is a tough cookie. Now EU commissioner for justice, freedom and security, she previously saw off the mobile phone companies and reduced their charges. France is smarting under the lash of her comparison of its Roma policy with that of Hitler’s Germany. And now she threatens to get ...
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Herbert Smith to open document centre in Belfast
City firm Herbert Smith has announced it is to open an office in Belfast next year. The new branch will focus on reviewing and analysing the large volumes of documents found in major contentious work, notably in litigation, arbitration and regulatory investigations. ...
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News
Counting the cost of the Big Society
'Big Society is a great idea, but it doesn't come for free,' says Citizen Advice Bureau manager Pi Townsend. The funding squeeze could mean a stark choice, she tells me, between paying utility bills at the CAB's three premises in Tunbridge Wells, or paring services to the bone at a ...
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Discrimination claims carry extra risks in law firms
Discrimination claims can be as devastating for employers as they are for employees. They divert attention from core business priorities, disturb working relationships and cost a great deal. All employers share this joy but for a solicitors’ practice there is the further jeopardy created by the regulatory regime of the ...
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News
Rapid population growth will fuel demand for legal services
Emerging global economies will fuel a massive demand for legal services by 2030 and provide opportunities for UK law firms, according the Law Society. The Society said firms must respond to that increased demand, or miss out on vital opportunities. It said ...
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News
Trial judges should put questions to jurors, says Lord Justice Moses
Judges should present a list of questions to jurors in criminal trials to guide them in reaching a verdict, a senior judge suggested yesterday. Lord Justice Moses said the move, which was recommended in Lord Justice Auld’s 2001 review of the criminal courts, would reduce the ...
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Law Society to fund panel action
The Law Society has agreed to fund an opinion from counsel on whether a Hertfordshire firm can sue Santander and Lloyds Banking Group after being removed from their conveyancing panels. Paul Judkins, a partner at Judkins, said more than 50 firms had contacted him to express ...
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News
Rule of law in the age of austerity
Toby Brown writes about the Access to Justice campaign concerning awareness of the recoverability of pro bono costs. This is a major advance in support of pro bono litigation. However, he failed to mention the biggest impediment to the initiation of much pro bono litigation, which is the threat of ...
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News
Whitehall proposals ignore people who could fill civil legal aid void
The most common reaction to last week’s Ministry of Justice green paper on legal aid is shock. That shock is manifested among legal aid practitioners, clients and the groups that speak for clients.
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News
Unite and fight legal aid cuts – Kennedy
Baroness Helena Kennedy has called on the legal profession to pull together to fight against proposed legal aid cuts that will ‘leave a real lacuna for those most in need’ and increase the risk of miscarriages of justice. Her plea came as the Law Society launched ...
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BME firms told to embrace alternative business structures
BME firms should embrace alternative business structures to stay in business, the new chair of the Black Solicitors Network told the Gazette this week. Nwabueze Nwokolo, who is also the Law Society council member for ethnic minorities, said: ‘Most black lawyers work in small firms, but ...
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW Annotated Companies Legislation
Author: edited by John Birds, Robert Hildyard QC, Robert Miles QC, Nigel Boardman and Malcolm Davis White QC Annotated Companies Legislation is one of the few section-by-section commentaries on the Companies Act ...
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QualitySolicitors take fight to big-brand competitors
The government’s legal aid proposals gave rise to a new traffic record for an item on the Gazette’s website. But that record didn’t last long, you might be surprised to learn.
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News
Call to reshape criminal justice system
by Dru Sharpling, HM Inspector of Constabulary There are swingeing budget reductions ahead for the network of agencies that make up the criminal justice system (CJS). By 2014/15 the Ministry of Justice budget will drop by 23% in real terms and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) funding ...
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Calls for major reform to law training
Pressure mounted for sweeping reform of the education and training of lawyers this week, as regulators announced a root-and-branch review of the current framework. The review was unveiled as research seen by the Gazette suggested that there are currently three times more final-year law students who ...
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News
Immigration cap unveiled
The Home Office has announced a 21,700 annual cap on the number of skilled immigrants from outside the EU allowed into the UK, in a move that will disappoint those in the legal profession concerned that the limit will prevent them from employing the foreign lawyers needed to service clients. ...
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News
Food merger, coal deal, children's car seat sale, and petroleum loan
Food for thought: City firm Herbert Smith advised food group Northern Foods on its merger with Irish food company Greencore Group, advised by magic circle firm Slaughter and May, to create £500m FTSE 250 company Essenta Foods. ...
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News
Class ceiling
Obiter was intrigued by a recent study on cuts to first-class travel, which are costing the legal profession a whopping £15,500 in lost productivity per employee per year, apparently.
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Lord chief justice fears new threats to jury trial
There must have been sighs of relief at the Ministry of Justice last week when officials realised that they would not be required to abolish trial by jury. The threat this time was not from the department’s grandly titled Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses. Louise Casey’s absurd demand this month ...