All articles by Eduardo Reyes – Page 35
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News
Progress report on Lord Justice Jackson's civil justice reforms
In public, Sir Rupert Jackson (pictured) is circumspect about the government’s implementation of civil justice reforms based on his report. In private, he could be forgiven for feeling disappointment over the execution of changes to which he has lent his name. In addition to time ...
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News
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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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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News
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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News
CofE’s wedding rules can be elastic when it wants them to be
Is the Church of England taking a consistent moral line over gay marriage? At one level it would be nice to think so. While I do not share the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage, no one is truly comfortable with tales of parents feigning faith to obtain a church school ...
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News
‘Hundreds’ of miscarriage of justice claims over legal advice failings
Hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees convicted of immigration-related offences such as failure to produce a passport may have been the victims of miscarriages of justice, the Gazette can reveal.
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News
Social mobility in the legal profession
Holes will be picked by some lawyers in Alan Milburn’s ‘progress report’ on social mobility and the professions, published today - even though he was nicer about lawyers than other professionals. As was argued with his previous findings, critics will point out that law firms cannot use their selection policy ...
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News
High Court backs Collyer Bristow
The High Court has found for City law firm Collyer Bristow and two of its former partners in a litigation fund-backed claim that centred on the failure of 19 complex investment schemes. The defendants had faced a claim for £60m, brought by 555 claimants. The claim, ...
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News
Stobart Barristers: did the legal earth just get flatter?
Legal services liberalisation has been a phoney war, but I think that ends with today’s news that logistics company Stobart Group is entering the market with the launch of Stobart Barristers. For sections of the bar, it makes the ProcureCo model look like Betamax to the green and yellow giant’s ...
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News
Is economics useless?
Is economics any use? That sounds like the start of a rant/ a joke/ or a quip in an after-dinner speech (all the easier to make as many economies, presumably advised by fine economic minds, struggle to recover and grow). So let me be more ...
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News
A difficult combination: 'mis-sold' complex derivatives products
In private some commercial litigators marvel at the fact that more litigation has not emerged from the banking crisis and the UK’s prolonged period of recession and slow growth. But one source of potential claims against the UK’s four largest banks has been getting increasing attention this year - small ...
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News
The coalition’s tin ear problem
Today sees prime minister David Cameron and his Lib Dem deputy Nick Clegg ‘relaunch’ the coalition. It’s hard to imagine most lawyers being anything other than sceptical about this exercise, for reasons I’ll come to below. I probably have more time for politicians than most, ...
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News
News International under pressure to waive advice privilege
Media giant News International last week came under pressure at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards to waive privilege over advice from its solicitors.
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News
In praise of learned Lords
It seems likely that any move to make the House of Lords a predominantly directly elected chamber would reduce the number of lawyers who sit on its red benches. It has been a generation since the Commons, whose traditional hours reflected the need of many MPs to practise law in ...
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News
Justice and Shakespeare
I’m thinking about William Shakespeare today - after all, it is his birthday. I realise that many fellow English-folk are more focused on a Third Century Roman Soldier from the Middle East who never visited our shores but, well - I’ll leave them to their chargrilled dragon vol-au-vents, or however ...
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News
Reaching a verdict: miscarriages of justice
For lawyers there are few more emotive matters than a miscarriage of justice. Small wonder then that the angst around the failures of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is much more than existential. Defence lawyers and campaigners for reform of the CCRC describe an organisation that is hamstrung by ...
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News
Client emails to be evidence in mis-selling claims
Emails between bank staff and owners of small businesses who bought interest-rate hedging contracts will be evidence in mis-selling claims totalling up to £1bn, the Gazette can reveal. Norton Accord, the company that has secured funds to launch up to 4,000 cases, said that client emails ...
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News
The FOI Act cannot be compared to legal privilege
Is it possible to deliver frank, robust, clear advice if you know it might become public? This is one of the key points members of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee must consider in their post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information Act.
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News
£1bn swaps claims going ahead despite settlements
The first wave of funded claims against banks by business owners who bought interest-rate hedging contracts are close to being ready, the Gazette can reveal. Norton Accord, the company that has secured the backing of funds to bring up to £1bn of claims, confirmed today that ...
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News
A&O sounds note of caution over Asia-Pacific growth prospects
Asia-Pacific economies will not meet the growth expectations of international business because of the slow pace of regulatory reform in China, a magic circle firm has warned. A survey of large international businesses conducted last year by Allen & Overy predicted that by 2020 six ...