Headlines – Page 1134
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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. ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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.
-
News
‘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.
-
News
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.
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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.
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
Cable called in over conveyancing panel culls
Business secretary Vince Cable has been asked to intervene to resolve problems caused to law firms and consumers by banks restricting membership of their conveyancing panels. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has asked Cable to mediate talks between the Society, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, ...
-
News
Council lawyers create first-time buyer boost
A local authority has launched a £12m scheme to revive the housing market by giving first-time buyers an affordable way to take out mortgages of up to £350,000. The scheme, drafted by Kent County Council’s (KCC) legal team, is designed to help hundreds of first-time buyers purchase homes with a ...
-
News
Personal injury firms face rising claims
Negligence claims against personal injury firms for under-value settlements are increasing rapidly, the Gazette has been told. Professional negligence lawyers say that firms’ reliance on under-qualified staff, a lack of face-to-face contact with clients and failure to understand medical reports are all factors in the trend.
-
News
Late LSC fees ‘drive barristers out of practice’
Late payment of fees by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) is driving barristers out of private practice, it has been alleged. Gareth Roberts, a barrister at Linenhall Chambers in Chester, said that delays in payment have lengthened since the LSC took over the processing and payment ...