Features – Page 76
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Piercing the corporate veil
The unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court in Petrodel Resources Ltd v Prest led to a media circus. Now the dust has settled, we have more clarity on the repercussions of the case for those involved in family and company law.
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FeaturePrivate client: pitfalls of using will-writing companies
As a solicitor specialising in private client work, I am becoming increasingly frustrated by attacks on my profession by big businesses muscling into the legal arena
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Private Client: a new quality standard
Last week, Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson formally launched the Society’s new accreditation scheme for wills and inheritance work
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Turkey: challenges for international law firms
Turkey is going through troubled times with anti-government protests - at times involving local lawyers - dominating the headlines since 28 May.
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FeatureInternational Marketplace Conference: report
London is the global hub for legal services and English law remains the law of choice for business transactions worldwide.
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Arbitration agreements and anti-suit injunctions outside the EU
The sanctity of the arbitration agreement is well known. Parties can only refer their dispute to an arbitral tribunal if the parties have agreed to resolve their dispute through arbitration. This agreement can either take the form of an arbitration clause incorporated within a contract between the parties, or it ...
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FeatureCase fee decisions
We all like to complain. There is probably somebody sat nearby in your office complaining about something right now.
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Increased use of Tasers is a potential breach of human rights legislation
The recent Law Society public debate about the use of Tasers and human rights was well timed as there has been a dramatic increase in the use of Tasers across the country, especially on the vulnerable. This needs to be addressed. In Kent, 50% of Taser use is on those ...
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FeatureNew legal aid regulations
The latest criminal legal aid regime came into force on 1 April for all grants of legal aid made on or after that date. The old law will continue to apply for a considerable time in relation to cases where legal aid was granted before then. Because of changes to ...
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FeatureDoes the Legal Education and Training Review live up to its billing?
There is one quote in the long-delayed Legal Education and Training Review report that gives the game away
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How agents work when the SRA intervenes into a failing firm
When the Solicitors Regulation Authority intervenes in a failing practice, it is a fast-moving process – and one that is often misunderstood by clients, creditors and practitioners alike. Within hours of the decision being made, the firm’s practice accounts will be frozen and within days its files, computers and accounting ...
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A transatlantic trade pact could reshape market rules
A transatlantic free trade agreement between the US and the EU, long dreamed of in some policy circles, is suddenly close to becoming a reality. In February, a high-level transatlantic working group published a recommendation that negotiations over the envisaged Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should start. The European ...
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Specialist courts under microscope on costs budgeting
Exempting mandatory costs budgeting for claims in excess of £2m may be ‘unnecessary and inappropriate’, a newly established sub-group of the Civil Procedure Rule committee has suggested. An intervention from the Judicial Office in February ensured that high-value commercial cases would be exempt from impending Jackson reforms. It meant that ...
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Employment tribunals
Oddly, I am both young enough and old enough to remember the ‘@’symbol on a typewriter being redundant. The days of calculating ‘8 apples @2d each’ were long past, and yet we remained in an age when the headmaster of my school banned me from taking typing lessons on the ...
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Case management and evidence
Changes were made to this on 1 April in parts 3, 16-19, of the Civil Procedure Rules, including: 1. It should be more robust, and wherever possible multi-track cases should be case-managed by the same judge throughout (docketing)(not in the rules but guidance given to judges). 2. Replacement of the ...
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Bribery Act: ‘facilitation payments’
The ‘Star Chamber’, a somewhat sinister-sounding governmental group tasked with reducing bureaucracy, is to carry out a review of the Bribery Act 2010 with a view to examining facilitation payments.
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‘Fast track’ to probate in Jersey
Did your client die domiciled in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey or the Isle of Man with an asset in Jersey? Has a Grant of Representation been issued in the deceased’s country of domicile?
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How To: turn your firm around
Five years into the downturn, there seems no end in sight to the economic gloom. As many have already said, we are living in an age of the ‘new norm’. Every week or so, yet another law firm goes to the wall or undergoes an intervention by the Solicitors Regulation ...
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Trademarks in toys and games – part one
A recent High Court judgment concerning the Scrabble ‘tile’ trademark highlights the tension between trademarks and the functional elements of toys and games.
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Extradition: emerging pilot judgments
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW), introduced in 2003 to expedite the extradition of suspects accused or convicted of criminal offences within EU member states, has been fiercely criticised during its short life.