Headlines – Page 1172

  • News

    Proceeds of crime

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Sentence - Confiscation order R v Bagnall and another: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Moses, Mrs Justice Macur and Mrs Justice Sharp): 18 April 2012 The Court of ...

  • News

    Benefit claims

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    This article was prompted by the case of Coventry City Council v Vassel [2011] EWHC 1542 Admin. It explores some of the technicalities that arise in connection with section 112 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended: ‘Failure to notify a change in circumstances.’ In particular, it looks ...

  • News

    Living life on the edge

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest your feature ‘Time out’. As a solicitor who failed to achieve a work/life balance, I hope that my experience may be a lesson to others. I was a partner in a small firm for 23 years. For 21 of those years, I was a full-time working ...

  • News

    Competitive instinct

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    It was gratifying to read about the final of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting’s annual mooting competition, held at the Law Society.

  • News

    Tackling fraud

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Kenneth Clarke is making the important problem of fraudulent whiplash claims unnecessarily complicated. The answer to the problem is not only staring the government in the face, it is positively jumping up and down and screaming.

  • News

    Advice warning

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    May I suggest that there are three reasons why solicitors should not accept the invitation extended by District Judge Richard Chapman in his recentComment.

  • News

    Employment

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Age discrimination - Contract of service - Both parties appealing Homer v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: Supreme Court (Lords Hope DP, Brown, Mance and Kerr SCJJ, Lady Hale): 25 April 2012 ...

  • News

    Expert review

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors who need to instruct a psychologist in a family matter may be wondering what to do after recent media coverage of the report from Professor Jane Ireland.

  • News

    Out of pocket

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest the comment from Peter Lewis, head of CJS Efficiency Programme. I am beginning to lose count of similar claims and ‘recommendations’ for us to sign up to this new system.

  • News

    Disputing costs

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    The suggestion by Laura Kelly that £400 to £500 after-the-event policies are responsible for the ‘mess’ in the civil legal costs system should be taken with a big pinch of salt.

  • News

    So, farewell then

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    It is obvious to everyone in the road traffic accident claims business that in the last four to five years things have changed. The number of claims, whether false, exaggerated, or genuine but minor, has exploded.

  • News

    No career choice

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    With the season of work experience students upon us, I am very glad that we have accepted few applicants this year. I am sure they are enthusiastic young things who just want to ‘help people’, but I would be curmudgeonly enough to advise them not to bother with the legal ...

  • News

    Civil court system faces ‘meltdown’

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    The civil and family court system is facing the prospect of chaos as the government prepares to cut face-to-face counter services and problems persist at the Salford civil claims centre, lawyers have warned.

  • News

    Grieve spells out ‘modernise or die’ message to adversarial system

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    The adversarial criminal justice system will survive only if practitioners embrace modernisation, the attorney general warned solicitors last week. Dominic Grieve QC told the Law Society’s criminal law conference that he believed ‘passionately’ in the adversarial system, which ‘delivers qualitatively better outcomes’ than cheaper regimes. ...

  • News

    Solicitors could access fraudster register

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Insurers have suggested they may be willing to accede to solicitors’ demands to share information on known fraudsters. Personal injury lawyers have urged insurers to give them access to records of people who have made false claims. The Association of British Insurers is preparing a new ...

  • News

    Criminal

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Trial - Fitness to plead - Voyeurism - Defendant suffering from autistic spectrum disorder R v Burke: CA (Crim) (Lord Justice Aikens, Mr Justice Blake (Recorder of Redbridge)): 20 April 2012 ...

  • News

    Tax

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    European Union - Value added tax - Government proposing removal of low-value consignment relief in respect of certain goods imported by Channel Islands R (on the application of Minister for Economic Development of the States of Guernsey) v ...

  • News

    A difficult combination: 'mis-sold' complex derivatives products

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Solicitors have ‘duty’ to disclose funding options

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    A leading US litigation funder has claimed lawyers have a ‘legal and ethical duty’ to tell clients about alternative funding options. Selvyn Seidel, co-founder and chairman of Fulbrook Management, told the Gazette that there is still a lack of information about the industry, despite most of ...

  • News

    Human rights

    2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Extradition - Inhuman or degrading treatment - Applicants being accused of terrorist offences by US government Ahmad and others v UK: ECtHR (Judges Garlicki (president), Björgvinsson, Bratza, Hirvelä, Nicolaou, Bianku, Vucinic and L Early (section registrar)): 10 April 2012 ...