Headlines – Page 1129
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Just say no
Your correspondents (letters, 6 September) argue that public servants should not on grounds of conscience refuse a service to a consumer; and that it is reasonable to dismiss such a public servant. Presumably they would argue for the dismissal of doctors who refuse to carry out abortions. The service they ...
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Getting it right
It is ironic that the government's consultation paper on the future of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme should be called Getting it right for victims and witnesses, when it intended introducing swingeing changes that would remove compensation for people who currently have injuries worth up to £2,500.
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FFW and Osborne Clarke decline comment on merger
Top 40 law firms Field Fisher Waterhouse and Osborne Clarke have separately confirmed that they are keen to secure a merger – but refused to comment on speculation that it is with each other. Speculation mounted today that the firms – which together posted turnover ...
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Colombia's continuing struggles - The Colombia Caravana 2012
She was a lawyer and they dismembered her alive. When the Colombian police found her body, they mistook it for a dog that had been repeatedly run over. It was her 12-year-old son who was called upon to identify her. Witnesses at the trial of ...
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McNally gets legal aid as MoJ portfolios announced
Liberal Democrat peer Lord McNally has been handed the legal aid portfolio following last week’s government reshuffle. The Ministry of Justice today confirmed McNally (pictured) – the only justice minister to survive the reshuffle – will take over that responsibility from Jonathan Djanogly. McNally, who helped ...
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Council lawyers warn of red tape bind
New rules on transparency could leave councils tied up in red tape and ‘swamped by minutiae’, senior legal officers have warned. The new rules will create a ‘huge and unsustainable bureaucratic burden’ and tie up local government in the very red tape that it is ...
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Could a cover-up on the scale of Hillsborough happen again?
I was in Sheffield the day of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. Not at the Sheffield Wednesday ground, but just over a mile south at the university, at a conference for youth and student groups. Of course no one had a mobile phone, so news filtered in slowly with whispers and ...
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SRA offers support to struggling firms
Law firms facing financial problems as a result of the recession have today been urged to contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority for support and advice. SRA supervisors are already getting in touch with practices that may need help, as part of the regulator’s new approach under outcomes-focused regulation. ...
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Complaints hike follows surge in unrepresented litigants
An increase in litigants in person has been cited as the reason for a sharp spike in complaints against barristers, alleging discrimination. The Bar Standards Board yesterday heard there were eight complaints in the first quarter of 2012/13, compared to just nine in the whole of ...
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Intellectual property
Design - Design right - Infringement - Claimant company holding community registered designs and community trademarks Pollen Estate Trustee Company Ltd Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft v Round and Metal Ltd and another: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice Arnold): 27 July ...
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Intellectual property
Trademark - Infringement - Passing off - Confusion Fine & Country Ltd and other companies v Okotoks Ltd and another company: ChD (Mr Justice Hildyard): 31 July 2012 The claimant ...
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Government should have been more sophisticated on squatters
The article about changes in the law relating to squatters elicited a cascade of comments from my colleagues. They were polarised – from those supporting householders to a few supporting squatters.
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‘Right’ is wrong
Joshua Rozenberg applied his considerable intellect to a razor-sharp dissection of Lillian Ladele’s case, simplifying a complex issue for the passing reader such as myself.
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Professional duty
Joshua Rozenberg is correct that ultimately the human rights issues raised by the appeals on faith grounds to the ECHR raise a question of balancing competing ideals. But he is wrong to come down on the side of the appellants. Ultimately we are dealing with the obligations of professionals.
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Court in a crisis
Many congratulations to the Gazette for focusing so crisply upon the real issues over the misconceived proposals for unsociable magistrates’ court hours. The Law Society’s president is also on the case. Her language may need to be relatively diplomatic. That said, these proposals are either half-baked ...
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Bump up fees?
Affidavits and declarations attracted fees of £3.50 plus £1 for each exhibit from 1 July 1988, but were increased to £5 plus £2 for each exhibit on 18 October 1993.
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Planning – costs and material considerations
Can a planning authority take cost into account when considering whether or not to revoke a planning consent? And just what are ‘material considerations’ in planning legislation? If the answer to these questions has been keeping you anxiously awake, you can now sleep peacefully. The Supreme Court has recently prescribed ...
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Does new justice secretary’s lack of legal experience matter?
Judging by the look of its website on Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Justice still seems to be reeling a week after the replacement of almost all its ministers. There was little more on its main news page than a staged photograph of Chris Grayling, the new justice secretary and ...