All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1399
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News
Legal profession
Administrative law – Bias – Conflict of interest – Disciplinary tribunals R (on the application of Kaur) v Institute of Legal Executives Appeal Tribunal: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice Foskett): 23 November 2010 ...
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News
Tuning into mediation
Simon Cowell is determined to bag the Christmas Number One, after splashing out £1m to record five different winners’ songs for X Factor contestants. However, the bullish impresario now has a formidable rival, in the unlikely form of Norwich solicitors Hatch Brenner. Partner Mark Fitch has written and recorded a ...
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News
Mystery shoppers to test will-writers
Mystery shoppers will test the service provided by will-writers early next year, as part of a Legal Services Board project. Research agency IFF Research has been commissioned by the LSB, the Legal Services Consumer Panel and the Office of Fair Trading to recruit individuals to report ...
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News
Where there’s a will
Your recent article, Rise in number of intestacy disputes, highlighted two interesting issues: hard times encourage people to contest inheritances; and intestacies offer more opportunities for such disputes to take place. My summary of this state of affairs is that necessity and greed are powerful motivators of human behaviour, and ...
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News
Is more mediation in divorce cases missing the point?
In recent speeches legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has emphasised the government’s commitment to increasing the use of mediation, particularly in disputes over arrangements for children, property and finances that arise when family relationships break down. As well as the obvious desire to achieve savings that ...
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Youth crime has fallen, report suggests
The volume of crime committed by young people has fallen by 25% over the last decade, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. However, the report reveals that those offenders who receive serious community sentences or custodial sentences remain just as likely ...
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News
Consumers unattracted by non-legal brands, survey suggests
Two-thirds of consumers would not want to buy their legal services through non-legal brands, according to a survey of 2,000 clients seen exclusively by the Gazette. In the poll by law firm referral service Contact Law, 66% of consumers said they would not be happy to ...
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Leading Sheffield firm falls victim to downturn
Century-old Sheffield law firm Ashton Morton Slack LLP has collapsed into administration, becoming the latest regional casualty of the economic downturn. Administrators from BDO, appointed by the limited liability partnership’s members last Friday, blamed the firm’s demise on cashflow problems arising from declining volumes of work and increasing overheads. ...
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News
A single telephone number for Europe
Here’s a good idea. The European Commission is consulting on a single numbering service for businesses in Europe which have branches in more than one member state.
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News
Will parliament spot the real problem with legal aid cuts?
by Paul Rumley, a partner in the clinical negligence team at Withy King As shown in president Linda Lee’s excellent summary piece it is clear that the government has a simple arithmetical problem (over and above the deficit itself). The debate on legal aid today in ...
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News
Allen & Overy faces lawsuit over employee sacked for erotic blog
A former Allen & Overy solicitor sacked for writing an erotic blog that allegedly used the names of her co-workers and a client is claiming £3.5m compensation from the firm for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. Former senior associate Deidre Clark, 44, who wrote under the ...
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Government announces court closures
The justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today that 93 magistrates’ courts and 49 county courts will be closed as part of the government’s drive to improve the justice system. The government says the move will save an estimated £41.5m, alongside a possible £35.8m raised from the ...
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW Gangland Soho
Author: James Morton The Gazette’s own James Morton, stalwart of Obiter, is a serial chronicler of London’s inter- and post-War gangland and its retinue of hangers-on, including the often dubious lawyers and journalists who operated on its fringes. ...
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Impact of the VAT rise on law firms
On 4 January 2011 the standard rate of VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20% – the third change in the standard rate in the last two years. This impending rise may have prompted some savvy partners to buy their new refrigerators or computers now instead of next year, but ...
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News
10% of your earnings to charity?
Three of the five magic circle firms publish corporate social responsibility reports, outlining, among other things, their charitable giving in terms of time and money. According to these reports, and where figures were available, in 2009/10, Linklaters donated £2.5m to charity and Clifford Chance £2.4m. Over ...
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Firms set to be forced to publish diversity data
Law firms and barristers’ chambers will be forced to publish data about the diversity of their legal staff, under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Board today. Publishing a consultation, Increasing diversity and social mobility in the legal workforce: transparency and evidence, the LSB said that ...
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News
£1bn paid out to law firms for handling coal miners’ claims
Some 19 law firms each received more than £10m in fees for handling claims on behalf of former coal miners who contracted lung disease in the course of their work, parliamentary records show. More than 500 firms handled at least one claim for chronic obstructive pulmonary ...
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Aluminium deal, London IT, Euro 2012 football, healthcare and telecoms
UEFA on track: The London office of French firm Salans advised European real estate investment management firm Meyer Bergman on a €200m (£169m) joint venture to redevelop the main railway station in Katowice, Poland, in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2012 football tournament. ...
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BME solicitors must act now to survive upheaval in legal services
by Nwabueze Nwokolo, chair of the Black Solicitors Network and Law Society Council member, Minority Ethnic Concerns It is with great pleasure that I take on the role of chair of the Black Solicitors Network. I have campaigned all my professional life for the elimination of ...
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW Leadership for Law Firms: after the Legal Services Act
Author: Patricia Wheatley Burt Leadership for Law Firms: after the Legal Services Act is a report ...