All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1593
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News
Super grass
Obiter cannot be alone in experiencing a minor thrill from the annual permission bestowed by the annual Legal Charities Garden Party to walk past Lincoln’s Inn north lawn’s ‘Please keep off the grass’ sign.
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Intellectual property
Validity - Novelty - Defendant holding patent concerned with therapeutic agents for treatment of range of diseases by preventing growth of associated blood vessels Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc v Genentech; Bayer Pharma AG v Genentech: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice ...
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Intellectual property
Petition for revocation - Obviousness - Defendant company holding patent for a sustained release formulation of an anti-psychotic drug Teva UK Ltd and other companies v Astrazeneca AB: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice Arnold): 22 March 2012 ...
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Reputation is key
As a solicitor of over 50 years’ qualification, I have a very different take from that expressed by 360 Legal Group’s Viv Williams in a recent blog. Mr Williams is the latest in a long line of doom-mongers.
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Party politics
Ronnie Fox is quite right to say that Law Society specialist committees should be wary of being drawn into party politics. The employment law committee does not take sides in the employment relationship, acknowledging that the Society's membership comprises both employers and employees, and includes a number of the kind ...
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Right prescription
The arguments of Junior Lawyers Division chair Hekim Hannan (Comment) are, to borrow his own words, ‘ill-considered and nonsensical’. He appears to speak for less than 10% of junior lawyers, let alone black people and other ethnic minorities, who, after attaining a respectable law degree and LPC, are unable to ...
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‘Restricted’ security
There is a lot of discussion about digital working in the criminal system, but one issue the Crown Prosecution Service appears unable to address relates to the security marking of papers. When they receive documentation from the police, that documentation normally carries a security marking of ‘Restricted’. The CPS considers ...
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SRA moves to reassure firms hit by bank computer woes
Banks paralysed by computer problems have promised to indemnify solicitors against any losses caused by the breakdown, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said today. The regulator in turn promised that no disciplinary action would be taken against firms caught out by the system failures.
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The bell-curve tolls for government lawyers
The most interesting parts of Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude’s ‘Civil Service Reform Plan’ do not occupy much space in the 30-page document released this week. Controversial proposals on ‘managing poor performance’ are tucked away at the back, on the page before ‘delivering an Olympic ...
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW Localism and Planning
Author: Simon Ricketts and Duncan Field Authors Ricketts and Field (both former barristers and now partners respectively in SJ Berwin and Wragge & Co) have done well to get such a comprehensive overview text off the stocks in such ...
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Shoosmiths joins Caledonian procession
National firm Shoosmiths has announced it is to merge with medium-sized Scottish law firm Archibald Campbell & Harley. This is the fourth in a series of Anglo-Scottish tie-ups announced this year. The new business will be known in Scotland as ACH Shoosmiths, and subject to regulatory ...
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Personal injury costs reform continues apace
Behind-the-scenes work on the implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s reform of personal injury costs has stepped up a gear or three in the past few weeks. The government intends to make a ministerial statement on qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) on 19 July, which has injected some urgency into the ...
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Right message, wrong case?
Despite the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) defeat in the Upper Tribunal in FSA v Pottage (23rd April, 2012), senior management responsibility remains a key pillar to the enforcement agenda.
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Society in new drive for common PII proposal form
The Law Society today asked brokers and insurers to adopt a composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance (PII) in an effort to simplify the process of obtaining multiple quotes. The Society said it had secured support for its composite proposal form amongst ‘some of ...
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Competition and the provision of professional training
Brussels is an echo-chamber, which is a fortunate thing. A piece of news read by just a few people is soon bouncing around from contact to contact, giving it publicity. Just such an event happened this week, and I am further amplifying it by writing about it here. It is ...
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Cost disputes set to soar post-Jackson, survey predicts
Costs disputes between solicitors and their clients will become more common once the Jackson reforms are implemented, according to a survey of specialist costs lawyers published today. In a poll of 137 costs lawyers, 69% (95) expected to see an increase in disputes, once the recoverability ...
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Outside funding ‘compelling’ reason to take the ABS route
The Legal Services Act (LSA) has so far had ‘minimal’ impact on law firms, but the reforms have acted as a ‘catalyst for change’ and increasing numbers in the profession are keen to explore outside funding, two surveys have revealed. Since the Solicitors Regulation Authority was ...
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North-east firm is latest to gain ABS status
A limited company based in Stockton on Tees has become the eighth entity to be licensed as an alternative business structure by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. NAS Legal Limited’s successful application was announced by the SRA this morning. The company, which was incorporated in August ...
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PEP dips by a fifth at FFW as public sector contracts
Field Fisher Waterhouse has blamed the squeeze on public sector spending and investment in the firm’s German offices for a sharp fall in profits in the year to 30 April. Profit per equity partner dipped £100,000 on 2010/11, from £510,000 to £410,000, on revenues which rose ...
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‘Inquisitorial’ hearings planned for family litigants-in-person
Judges will adopt an inquisitorial approach to family cases, limiting cross-examination by the parties themselves, to deal with the increasing number of litigants-in-person, the judge in charge of family court modernisation has indicated. Mr Justice Ryder also said that the use of experts will be limited, ...