All articles by Eduardo Reyes – Page 35
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‘Bill of Rights’ consultation shows how bad laws get made
For anyone curious to see the process of rubbish ideas being turned into statutes that operate sub-optimally, I recommend reading the second consultation of the ‘Commission on a Bill of Rights’. This is not to say that Sir Hugh Lewis, the commission’s chair, is ...
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LinkedIn 'can help profession innovate'
‘Crowd-sourced’ innovations can help lawyers temper the worst excesses of government cuts to access to justice, incoming Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff said this week.
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IRA interviews judgment - history is the loser
This week a US appeal court was asked to choose between the value of law and justice on the one hand, and the value of political stability and academic history on the other. In ordering Boston College to hand over interviews conducted for an oral history project with a convicted ...
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Law Society steps up pressure on Fiji
Fiji’s continued refusal to allow foreign scrutiny of its rule of law has come under public criticism from outgoing Law Society president John Wotton. Wotton’s move follows the publication of a highly critical report by the Law Society Charity, first revealed in the Gazette.
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Barclays ‘faces $6bn in Libor scandal claims’
Barclays Bank Plc could face claims totalling $6bn globally following revelations that staff members were involved in the manipulation of the London inter-bank offered rate (Libor), the Gazette has learned.
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A lawyer should run Barclays
I think I have a solution to the crisis of confidence in our banks - starting with the current vacancy at Barclays, let us put lawyers at the helm of all the important ones. As what has gone awry in recent decades catches up with banks’ chief executives, do not ...
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FSA and banks buy time and credibility on swaps claims
City regulator the Financial Services Authority’s announcement that it has agreed with major banks the terms of a settlement ‘scheme’ to compensate business owners who were mis-sold interest rate swaps (IRS) products relieves some of the enormous pressure that the banks and the FSA itself has been under.
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Steer clear of CMCs, financial watchdog warns bank litigants
City regulator the Financial Services Authority has cautioned small business owners against using claims management companies (CMCs). The warning comes at the end of a damning report on the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products which highlighted banks’ ‘poor sales practices across a number of products’.
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Mis-selling claim papers sent to FSA
Court papers from an ongoing interest rate swap mis-selling claim obtained by the Gazette have been submitted to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) by the MP leading parliamentary scrutiny of the products’ sale to UK businesses.
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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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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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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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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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‘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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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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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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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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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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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 ...