All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1401
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News
Solicitor-advocate training 'not fit for purpose'
The training given to solicitor-advocates is ‘not fit for purpose’ and must be improved to conquer the perception that they are inferior to barristers, according to an independent review. In a report commissioned by the Law Society, consultant Nick Smedley said that, unless the training of ...
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Lost generation?
I write as a parent who happens to be a solicitor. Hurrah for Mr Justice Coleridge (tinyurl.com/32xekfd). It is so refreshing to hear a judge talking openly about what is a serious and untackled malaise. He has demonstrated quite clearly the detrimental effects of raising children as your ‘best friends’ ...
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Green paper warning from mental health professionals
The government’s pledge to divert mentally ill people away from the criminal justice system and towards health services is ‘strong on rhetoric’, but understates the extent of the problem, mental health professionals have warned. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke’s green paper on sentencing and rehabilitation, published this ...
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Grudge judge
As number two in the judicial pecking order, second only to the lord chief justice himself, one might expect Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to be above petty grudges. But it turns out that, in common with most advocates, he finds it difficult to accept when a ...
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Solicitor who 'shamed profession' jailed
A solicitor who ‘brought shame on the profession’ has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years at Croydon Crown Court for his part in an immigration scam. Adeyinka Adeniran, 39, a principal at London firm Julius Ceasar, supplied clients and documents to a bogus college located at a ...
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Law Society sets up lobbying working party
The Law Society has set up a working party to address government plans to force law firms to disclose the identities of their lobbying clients, after the coalition government said it will establish a register of lobbyists in a bill to be introduced next year. ...
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WikiLeaks take us into a legal – and moral – maze
Cablegate has some way to run. It is far too soon to know the final consequences for all those involved, though few may find that the affair ends well for them. We may, however, be able to glimpse the wider implications of this episode. We could, after all, be in ...
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Magnum opus
It’s Christmas (or Winterval if you’re politically correct) so it must be competition time. We are indebted to Gazettereader offer partner Averys Wine Merchants for the generous donation of six magnums (magna?) of the finest Chateau La Rose Gadis 2004 Bordeaux Rouge. One will duly wet the whistle of the ...
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Razing money
Obiter promised one, and only one, Movember pic, and here it is. These handsomely moustachioed chaps from south-west firm Burges Salmon raised an impressive £2,000 for men’s health charities by growing their facial hair, of which they are all clearly immensely proud. Nice ...
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Roll on retirement
My 9 December Gazette arrived late because of inclement weather. Just as well. Last week, I was in a really bad mood. Now, I’m just cross.
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Star trekkers
Pictured are David Green, solicitor at the Longton office of Stevens, and his wife Andrea Muckley, solicitor at TRP in Birmingham, having just completed a three-and-a-half day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru in aid of charity RNIB. Given that the 26-mile trip includes altitudes of ...
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FSA raises protection for client accounts
Client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts has been given greater protection in the event of a bank collapse, after the Financial Services Authority unveiled rule changes today. Implementing a European Commission directive, the City regulator upped the cap on the compensation available for deposits that ...
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MPs warned they will be ‘overloaded’ due to legal aid cuts
A group campaigning against the government’s legal aid cuts has sent Christmas cards to MPs warning them that they could be overwhelmed with constituents’ problems. Justice for All, a coalition of legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public, said ...
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Linklaters tops diversity league table
Magic circle firm Linklaters has topped a league table based on a survey of the demographic diversity of 48 leading law firms, published today. City firms Baker & McKenzie, Norton Rose and Trowers & Hamlins came second, third and fourth respectively. The ...
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Solicitors make errors in PII proposal forms
Solicitors continued to make errors in their professional indemnity insurance (PII) proposal forms this renewal period, according to a major broker. Illegible writing, unanswered questions, inaccurate fee breakdown between work types, and incomplete financial information continued to litter law firms’ proposals, according to Kim Swestun, associate ...
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Why are lawyers so unpopular with the public?
I thought he was going to hit me, if he didn't fall over first. He hated effing lawyers, he said. He was a bulge-eyed roaring drunk and had got it into his befuddled brain that I was a lawyer, rather than someone who wrote about the ...
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Motion to widen Society membership withdrawn
Law Society Council member Derek French withdrew his motion proposing to allow barristers and legal executives to become members of the Law Society, at the Society’s council last week. However, French said the Society’s Membership Board has agreed to prepare a paper on the issue, which ...
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How old is too old? Retirement ages for partners
Telling someone that they must stop work merely because they have reached a particular birthday is a blatant form of age discrimination. Laws prohibiting age discrimination came into force in 2006 and were this year incorporated, largely unchanged, in the new Equality Act. Age differs from ...
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Less bureaucracy for all
Christmas is coming, and so the European Commission wants to clear the decks before the holiday break. We notice this before the summer break, too. It announced last week not one, but two, initiatives affecting the work of lawyers.
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Lord chief justice allows Twitter in court
The lord chief justice has issued guidance indicating that journalists and others may tweet from the courtroom, provided this does not interfere with the administration of justice. The decision, contained in interim guidance issued today, comes after journalists were allowed to use Twitter to ...