Headlines – Page 1141
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Grammar push
I very much agree with Lucinda Moule’s article. I am from a working class background and my school did not push me in the same way that my brother (who went to a boys’ grammar school) and my mother who went to an ‘old style’ grammar school after passing her ...
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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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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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Panel cull
I have today (24 July) received an email advising me that I have been removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel with immediate effect due to very few instructions. However, on 1 February 2012, I paid £118.80 to Santander as the fee for its annual panel membership review. ...
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Police investigation
I cannot believe the police are right to tell Angela Neale that they will not investigate an apparent conveyancing fraud unless the potential victim (the prospective buyer) complained. The police have a duty to investigate crime whenever it is brought to their attention. The John ...
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LSC to face judicial review over report costs
The Law Society is to challenge by judicial review a Legal Services Commission decision to meet just one-third of the costs of an expert witness report ordered by a county court on behalf of a child. The LSC declined to pay the full costs of the ...
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Firm pays tribute to kind solicitor
The funeral will be held next week of solicitor and father-of-three James Ward, who died last month after being shot in his office. The 58-year-old, who helped to found Wiltshire firm Morris Goddard & Ward more than 20 years ago, was described by colleagues as a ...
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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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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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Immigration red tape deters investors
A stream of ‘excessive and onerous’ restrictions on immigration risks making the UK an unattractive destination for overseas investors, lawyers have warned.
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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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Community designs and the design corpus
In a recent case in the ongoing battle between Apple and Samsung, the High Court has provided fresh guidance on assessing the infringement of community designs, and in particular the subject of the ‘existing design corpus’ (or ‘prior art’), and several passing comments which will be of interest to any ...
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In-house: delivering the goods
When an in-house lawyer looks at the risks facing their new employer, they should see that the greatest business risks are not about being perfectly right. Often the greater risks to the business would be an inability to act or make decisions. A role as an in-house lawyer is very ...
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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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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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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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Marriage maid in hell
Obiter’s reminiscences about ‘hired help’ in arranging divorces of yesteryear (8 June 2012) struck a chord with solicitor-advocate Joanna Orlebar-Reid, of John Collis Solicitors. ‘It reminded me of a tale I was told about a man who, to facilitate a divorce based on his adultery, booked himself into a Brighton ...
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Hidden Stratford
For readers who, despite it all, have yet to visit Stratford, east London, let Obiter paint a picture. On one side of the main through-road is Olympic Park, Europe’s biggest urban shopping mall and an international railway line (which from Stratford goes all the way ...
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‘Monstrous’ NGO prosecutions in Fiji
Contempt proceedings have been brought by the government of Fiji against a non-governmental organisation for quoting from a Law Society Charity report on the country. The Citizens Constitutional Forum, which supports community education and advocacy in relation to Fiji's Constitution, democracy, human rights and multiculturalism, ...