All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1592
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Law Conference 2012 preview
In the original Star Wars film, answering Luke Skywalker’s scepticism about the space-worthiness of his ship the Millennium Falcon (‘What a piece of junk!’), interplanetary smuggler Han Solo reassures the young traveller: ‘She may not look like much but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've made a lot ...
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Law firms are acknowledging that they have a responsibility to solve the problems of their peers
‘Help’ can be the hardest word for a lawyer to utter. As reported in this week’s feature, a call for assistance clearly goes against the grain for people whose stock in trade is assisting clients of whatever type in solving their problems. Add to that the competitive and adversarial nature ...
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SRA to look again at vexed issue of race
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has pledged to carry out a second review of allegations of racial discrimination by the regulator against black and minority ethnic (BME) lawyers. The first review, carried out in 2008 by Lord Ouseley, former chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, concluded ...
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Don't exclude future legal aid lawyers
I am disappointed to see that my name has been missed off both the Queen’s birthday honours list and the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY). I suppose they should now be Public Funding Lawyer of the Year but PFLY (Phillies?) does not have the same ring to it. ...
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Canadian firm among .law domain applicants
A Canadian firm is seeking rights to the suffix .law on website addresses instead of current ‘top level domains’ such as .com. Merchant Law Group LLP is listed among eight applicants for the suffixes .law or .lawyer in a new list of potential domains issued ...
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A-Z of boundary disputes
‘I do not… accept that the days are gone when a party can litigate over a tiny strip of land, although I would certainly agree that it is usually economic madness to do so, but a person remains entitled in law to protect and preserve that which is his or ...
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Strasbourg holds a whip-round to clear backlog
The European Court of Human Rights has called for voluntary financial contributions from member states to fund extra lawyers to clear its backlog of cases.
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Banking giant faces landmark mis-selling case
Key defences relied on by banks in interest rate swap (IRS) mis-selling claims are set to be tested in court this October when the claim of business-owner Sara Pearson against Barclays comes to trial.
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Broader picture
I write in response to the article ‘End traditional training, says watchdog’. The part that concerns me is the suggestion to ‘end the "general practitioner" model’.
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Shifting the burden: support for stress
The suicide last year of a senior local authority solicitor who felt unable to cope with the demands placed on him following a 30% cut to his department’s budget shocked the profession. The pressure to do more with less is evident across all areas of practice, ...
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Mortgage funding change
Mortgage funds must be transferred directly from the lender’s to the seller’s solicitor where conveyancers act only for the lender under new instructions published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
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Law firms' collaboration helping to combat climate change
by Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society This week business and political leaders are meeting for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – dubbed ‘Rio+20’.
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Outcry over family court closure plan
A group of 160 leading family lawyers and social workers has written to senior judges raising concerns over the proposed closure of a court rated a ‘centre of excellence’. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is considering plans to close the Inner London and City Family Proceedings ...
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‘Huge mistake’ in College of Law exam paper
The College of Law is investigating an apparent error in one of its exam papers after students claimed that one question was impossible to answer. A student in the second year of the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in London’s Bloomsbury contacted ...
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Healthy competition
I should point out the irony contained in your report of the comments of Alasdair Douglas (London ‘boosted’ by foreign competition), in which he spoke of the fillip to London from foreign competition. He is reported as saying that EU attempts to introduce a single contract law could undermine the ...
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Costs confusion
As a non-specialist, I hope some claimant personal injury practitioner will explain just what (apart from the unearthly phraseology) is novel about the government’s latest bright idea on costs - qualified one-way costs-shifting ('QOCS rules "will deter valid claims"'). Surely it always used to be the case that if a ...
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Theresa May is improperly cutting corners
Ministers could benefit from a short induction course on the constitution. Theresa May might then have been reminded of what she probably already knows: it is odd to threaten the judiciary in the terms that she just has on immigration. ‘If they don’t [pay heed to non-statutory provisions] then we ...
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Plans drawn up to expand patent opinions service
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has set out proposals to expand its patent opinions service and is seeking views on improving its mediation service to help cut the costs of resolving patent disputes.
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No pain, no gain
I write in relation to the letter from Max Hill QC concerning a unified approach by solicitors and barristers to tackling the threats posed to the criminal justice system by funding reforms and cuts.
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Let things get worse
I refer to the news item ‘City aid sought for post-LASPO project’. The scheme intends to seek the help of City firms to address the lack of funding in the legal aid sector. Although the initiative is well meaning, should the Law Society get involved? To me the answer is ...