All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1403
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News
Supporting the Law Society to fight for access to justice
Your lead letter of 16 December was misleading to those who are unaware of current discussions in the Law Society Council, of which the writer is a member, to develop policy on the government green paper affecting access to justice.
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Legal advice
Access to justice – Disability equality duty – Mental health – Tender process Public Interest Lawyers v Legal Services Commission: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice Cranston): 13 December 2010 The claimant ...
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Solicitors must stand together to face daunting challenges ahead
During the first six months of my presidency of the Law Society I have travelled overseas and across England and Wales to speak to lawyers from sectors such as the City, small high street practitioners, sole practitioners, in-house solicitors, private practice and solicitors working in publicly funded roles. This includes ...
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Law firms' middle-class bias risks excluding a diversity of talent
by Dr Louise Ashley, research fellow at the Centre for Professional Service Firms, Cass Business School, part of City University London It may come as no surprise that the legal sector has a bias towards middle-class candidates. A range of research has attributed this situation to ...
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‘Big fall’ in number of conveyancing practices expected
Property specialists are predicting a ‘significant’ fall in the number of conveyancing firms in 2011, as regulatory pressures on the profession rise and transaction volumes drop. Eddie Goldsmith, chair of the Conveyancing Association and a partner at London firm Goldsmith Williams, predicted that two-thirds of firms ...
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Localism Bill – running the rule over council powers
The Localism Bill, published on 13 December, is a substantial and important piece of legislation. It has 207 clauses in eight parts and 24 schedules in 406 pages.
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Gotta lotta bottle
Obiter has always suspected that the legal profession is partial to a tipple (indeed, see Memory Lane’s report of the Solicitors Wine Society annual banquet). The phenomenal response to our Christmas competition, with more than 100 entries, rather seemed to prove the point.
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New Year honour for LSC chief
The chief executive of the Legal Services Commission and the pro bono leader at City firm Hogan Lovells were among those recognised by the Queen in the New Year’s honours list. Hogan Lovells pro bono manager Yasmin Waljee received an OBE for services to the Muslim ...
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Deciding who gets a training contract
In her letter of 18 November, Judy Solomon suggested that there should be a restriction on those entering the LPC, relating to A-level grades, to ensure that ‘only the best are allowed to practise as solicitors’.
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Virtual courts – increasing the cost of delivering justice
The government’s non-committal response to a detailed report evaluating the year-long virtual courts pilot is disappointing. Though occasionally lapsing into mandarin-esque understatement and equivocation, the study is clear enough. Conceived as a straightforward way to save money, the scheme actually increased the cost of delivering criminal justice compared to the ...
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The ins and outs of obtaining information relating to debtors
It is a well-known scriptural principle that ‘unto every one that hath shall be given… but from him that hath not shall be taken away’. Extracting assets from the hath-nots, however, is not always easy, as the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Broomleigh Housing Association Ltd v ...
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Older partners - deciding when it's time to go
James Davies makes a number of good points in his discussion of retirement ages for partners. Certainly firms should consider the implications carefully before either retaining or abolishing a retirement age, not least because of the messages it sends out about the firm. As we have seen in other areas ...
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RSPCA victory in disputed will
The RSPCA has won an appeal in a dispute over a testator’s intentions where he left assets ‘up to the inheritance tax threshold’. George Mason, who died in June 2007, had written a will leaving ‘the maximum’ that could be free of IHT to his ...
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Facing the sack
Christmas cards – of the paper variety, not the pert and pointless email attachments that fill up mailboxes and nobody ever clicks on – have long been a civilised method of sending seasonal good wishes. But one pressure group, Justice for All, has spotted the opportunity they represent for making ...
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Family law
Administration of justice – Human rights – Jurisprudence – Children’s hearings Principal reporter v K: SC (Lords Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Kerr, Dyson, Lady Hale): 15 December 2010 The appellant ...
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Remembering Lord Goddard
I have always enjoyed articles in the Gazette by James Morton, including a recent item about judges. I first saw Lord Goddard in the late 50s, while an articled clerk in London. I often dropped in to the Royal Courts of Justice for a bit ...
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Human rights
Detention – Drug trafficking – Right to life – Death of drug smuggler Ayesha Al Hassan-Daniel (in her own right and as representative of the estate of Anthony Daniel, deceased) & Anor (appellants) v Revenue & Customs Commissioners (respondent) ...
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Human rights
Local government – Penology and criminology – Declarations of incompatibility Peter Chester v (1) Secretary of State for Justice (2) Wakefield Metropolitan District Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger (MR), Lords Justices Laws, Carnwath): 17 December 2010 ...
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Keep your wig on
There is nothing the papers love more than an eccentric judge, so there was plenty of coverage of Beatrice Bolton’s outburst when she was found guilty of breaching the Dangerous Dogs Act at Carlisle Crown Court last month. London newspaper Metro reported that the 57-year-old judge (pictured), who was told ...