Headlines – Page 1179
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Pole position
The things lawyers do to get their books in the news. Paul Tweed, of Belfast and London firm Johnsons, persuaded a client, the ultra runner Richard Donovan, to read his latest work Privacy and Libel Law: the Clash with Press Freedom at the North Pole. (Tweed represented Donovan in a ...
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Brighton rock
What’s pink, can have an ‘adverse effect on activity and attention’ and has the Council of Europe running all the way through it? No, it’s not justice secretary Kenneth Clarke. It’s a stick of Brighton rock, compliments of the Ministry of Justice. The MoJ ordered 500 customised sticks of rock ...
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Exit wound
It seems the insurance industry can get into Downing Street no problem - but exits are a little more tricky. Nick Starling, director of the Association of British Insurers, must have been happy to have survived an hour in the presence of claimant lawyers. Indeed, ...
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Judges can and should be involved in pro bono
I have heard it said that judges cannot get involved in pro bono work. On the contrary, I can think of many and various ways in which judges might get involved. And, in fact, a good number are already doing so.
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Competition reform could boost collective litigation
Government proposals to reform competition law, making it easier to bring class actions against firms in breach, could ‘fuel’ claims and ‘create a new business in collective litigation’, the Confederation of British Industry has warned. A consultation published this week by the Department for Business, Innovation ...
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LASPO bound for statute book after cliffhanger final vote
The government’s controversial legal aid reforms are set to become law after it won its final battle over the bill in the House of Lords yesterday. Peers had inflicted 14 defeats on the government in votes on proposed amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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Long con artist’s sinking feeling
It is 150 years since Lady Tichborne, who never accepted that her son Roger had died when his sailing ship sank somewhere between Jamaica and Rio de Janeiro in 1854, began a newspaper campaign to find her lost boy.
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Supreme Court dismisses Seldon age discrimination appeal
The Supreme Court today ruled against a former equity partner who had brought an age discrimination case against his law firm for unlawfully making him retire aged 65. It sent the case back to the Employment Tribunal to decide an issue that remains outstanding.
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Whiplash claims need objective evidence, say insurers
The body representing the insurance industry has called for compensation for whiplash claims to be withheld until there is ‘objective evidence’ of injury. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has urged the government to look at radical action to tackle growing numbers of whiplash claims. Speaking ...
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In praise of learned Lords
It seems likely that any move to make the House of Lords a predominantly directly elected chamber would reduce the number of lawyers who sit on its red benches. It has been a generation since the Commons, whose traditional hours reflected the need of many MPs to practise law in ...
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French probate
Anyone who has dealt with a probate in England will be familiar with obtaining a grant of probate if there is a will and letters of administration if there is no will. Broadly speaking in England the executors or administrators of the estate are obliged to pay any inheritance tax ...
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Legal aid bill back in Commons for latest ping pong round
The government suffered three more House of Lords defeats to its plans to cut legal aid last night, setting the scene for a further tussle in the Commons today. The parliamentary ping pong follows 11 defeats initially inflicted by peers on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of offenders bill, ...
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Clarke in Jackson reform climbdown
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke today made a surprise U-turn to postpone Jackson reforms for mesothelioma cases. The issue has been the most controversial aspect of part two of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, with the Lords voting for a second time on ...
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Double ABS first for NewLaw Legal
A personal injury firm based in Cardiff has become the first Welsh practice to be licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS). NewLaw Legal, founded in 2004, was confirmed as the fourth ABS by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. It is also ...
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Tragic effects of Ched Evans case
Perhaps the saddest element of the Ched Evans case is the effect on future victims of sexual offences. Footballer Evans was convicted on Friday of raping a girl in a hotel room who was too drunk to give consent. The Sheffield United and Wales striker, who ...
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An overview of the EU’s week
I try in this blog to describe weekly European news affecting the legal profession. Although I don’t expect sympathy, it can be a head-scratching challenge, since there are not always weekly developments on tap. Policy-makers receive daily updates of EU news, and I scan the headlines ...
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Will-writing must become reserved activity, LSB says
Proposals to regulate all providers of will-writing and estate administration come a step closer today as the Legal Services Board confirms plans to make the services ‘reserved activities’. Under proposals published today, designed to provide greater consumer protection, all providers of such services would be regulated. ...
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Plant: firms 'deluded' to think ABSs won't have impact
A regulation chief has warned the UK’s biggest commercial firms that they are ‘deluded’ to think alternative business structures will not affect them. Solicitors Regulation Authority chairman Charles Plant told the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers conference on Friday that no firm could assume they ...
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The right kind of feedback
This week in a gap between seeing clients I went to buy a light bulb for my car. I had noticed I had not been very bright (if you see what I mean). It is the sort of thing you usually never get around to sort out. Buying a new ...
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Consumers ‘in the dark’ on CMC practices
A quarter of consumers are not aware that claims management companies (CMCs) take a cut of their mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) claim, a survey has revealed. The joint survey by consumer watchdog Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com found that claimants were unaware of their rights and the ...