All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1608
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News
Intellectual property
Hearing - Practice - Defendant seeking to launch television service called ‘NOW TV’ Starbucks (UK) Ltd v British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and other companies: ChD (Patents) (Mr Justice Arnold): 29 June 2012 ...
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW Community Care Law and Local Authority Handbook (2nd edition)
Author: Jonathan Butler What is community care law? It is an area that has grown up comparatively recently and not easy to define. It is the law of obligations owed by the state - often local authorities - to ...
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News
Regulators’ knuckles rapped on complaints handling
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is failing to comply fully with its duty to ensure complaints are properly handled, a review has found. All legal regulators were this week ordered by the Legal Services Board (LSB) to improve the way they handle complaints. In a letter to ...
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News
Inquisitorial judges at heart of family reform proposals
Greater case management by judges is at the heart of the judiciary’s proposals for the modernisation of family justice, published today. Mr Justice Ryder, the judge in charge of the family court modernisation process accompanying the Crime and Courts Bill, set out his plans to improve ...
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News
Law Society at ABA conference
Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is to discuss strengthening links between the UK legal profession and the world’s developing and mature economies at a global meeting of 8,000 lawyers. Scott-Moncrieff, attending the American Bar Association (ABA) conference in Chicago between 2-7 August, will also meet with ...
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News
End of term report on legal aid: could do better?
I do not think anyone would claim the legal aid scheme is perfect anymore than the NHS is. Far from it, most people would say, but both could be worse. The NHS has much more support from the public than legal aid is ever going to get. The perception of ...
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News
'Disproportionate intervention targets BME solicitors'
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) continues to target black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors disproportionately for intervention, figures released earlier this week revealed.
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News
Hundreds of firms fail to nominate compliance officers
Some 800 law firms failed to nominate compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and compliance officers for finance and administration (COFAs) by yesterday's deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed today. These two roles are a key part of the SRA's move to outcomes-focused regulation ...
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News
No replacement yet for £10m High Court IT failure
Justice officials have admitted they cannot say when a new computer system will replace a £10m failed attempt to upgrade IT in the High Court. The Electronic Working System, designed to speed up cases in the Royal Courts of Justice, was ditched in March after what ...
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News
Lawyer trust accounts 'could help fill legal aid gap'
A national scheme to use interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA) could help fund access to justice in the wake of the impending legal aid cuts, the director of the Law Centres Federation, Julie Bishop, has suggested. Bishop has resurrected the debate on whether client money, ...
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News
Commercial uncertainty that lenders are bringing to conveyancing is affecting all
At one level one can, with regret, understand being bested, beaten, out-negotiated or dropped by a business of ruthless efficiency. What is a little galling for conveyancing solicitors who have been dropped from lenders’ panels is that the major banks with whom they are dealing seem to use systems that ...
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News
Skills for Justice project can open way to paralegal apprenticeships
by Camilla Graham Wood, a member of the JLD executive committee Widening access to the legal profession can only be a good thing, which is why the Skills for Justice project to develop a paralegal apprenticeship has been welcomed by many.
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News
Bar victory over ‘cab rank’ rule
Changes to the ‘cab rank’ rule approved last week will pave the way for new standard contractual terms between solicitors and barristers. Under amendments to the Bar Standards Board’s code of conduct approved by the Legal Services Board, the cab rank rule will apply where work ...
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News
Being British and a ‘good sport’ - the story of ‘Sport and the Law’
It is a sepia photograph and the four young women are posed in modest shift-like swimming costumers, homemade union jacks hand-sewn to their fronts. A fully clothed, stern-faced woman - trainer or chaperone? - is there in the photo with them. She is staring away from the camera lens, her ...
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News
Briefs encounters
If you want a break from the Olympics, tune in to ITV1 tonight at 9pm to catch the first of a revealing two-part behind-the-scenes documentary about the lawyers and colourful clients at the Manchester office of Tuckers.
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News
Damages uplift ruling sparks call for clarity
Lawyers have called for extra guidance after claiming a judicial announcement on damages raises more questions than answers. The Court of Appeal last week handed down a judgment that will lead to a 10% increase in general damages in most civil cases from 1 April next ...
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News
City lawyers cautious on fast-track scheme
City lawyers have cautiously welcomed government proposals for a fast-track procedure for smaller businesses launching private actions under competition law. The City of London Law Society said a fast-track scheme would make bringing an action cheaper and simpler for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Responding ...
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News
Kent partner drums at Olympics ceremony
Pete Kenyon, 38, a partner at Kent corporate and commercial firm Vertex Law, spent three months rehearsing for his drumming role in the Olympics opening ceremony. He said: ‘We were all a bit jetlagged when it finished.’ So what’s next? ‘Just the closing ceremony,’ he ...
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News
Quotas and targets will help change mindset
I write in response to Lucinda Moule’s comment entitled ‘Wrong targets’. I agree that there needs to be more opportunities given to children attending comprehensive schools. However, I do not believe creating more selective schools is the answer. This may be the answer for law firms, but not for the ...