Headlines – Page 1326
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£20,000 law firm donation kickstarts head injury fund
A fund for families of people with head injuries has been kick-started by a £20,000 grant from a litigation law firm. The long-established Stewarts Law Foundation, a charity fund founded by the firm’s partners, donated the money to the Headway Emergency Fund earlier this month. ...
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New CLLS chair vows to uphold English law ‘brand’
The new head of City of London Law Society (CLLS) has vowed to uphold the English ‘brand’, already so prominent throughout the world. Alasdair Douglas has been confirmed as the new CLLS chair, representing law firms that employ 14,000 solicitors and have an annual turnover of ...
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Judges should not sit in judgment over advocates
I had a turbulent seven-year relationship with my old English teacher. He had a pompous air of superiority, talking to pupils like Mr Bumble addressing the orphans and wistfully dreaming of the university professorship he surely craved but never achieved. Worst of ...
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Immigration
Anonymity - Asylum seekers - Deportation - Detention Shepherd Masimba Kambadzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department: SC (Lord Hope (Deputy President), Lords Rodger, Brown, Kerr, Lady Hale): 25 May 2011 ...
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Criminal evidence
Criminal procedure - Criminal appeals - Fresh evidence - Identification R v George Davis: CA (Crim Div): (Lord Justices Hughes (Vice-President), Henriques, Macur): 24 May 2011 The appellant (D) appealed ...
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Civil procedure
Conflict of laws - Jurisdiction - Stay of proceedings Striborg Ltd v (1) FKI Engineering Ltd (2) FKI Ltd: CA (Civ Div): (Lord Justices Mummery, Rix, Wilson): 25 May 2011 ...
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Criminal procedure
Criminal evidence - Human rights - Scottish devolution issues - Miscarriage of justice Stephanie Baker (Respondent) v (1) Nat Gordon Fraser v HM Advocate: SC (Lords Hope (Deputy President), Rodger, Brown, Kerr, Dyson): 25 May 2011 ...
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Administrative law
Employment - Local government - Social welfare - Children’s services R (on the application of Sharon Shoesmith) v Ofsted and Ors: CA (Civ Div): (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury MR, Lord Justices Kay, Burnton): 27 May 2011 ...
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Law firms and retirement
Until 6 April, law firms could safely give notice to ‘retire’ employed staff at 65 under the default retirement age (DRA) exemption. Provided they followed the correct statutory retirement process, the retirement would be ‘fair’ with no age-discrimination risk. Indeed, ...
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Tackling dishonesty among legal partners
Dishonesty among partners has recently hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. While such dishonesty is by no means rife, it is important to acknowledge that it can happen, especially as practices are increasingly coming under financial pressure. That ...
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Proportionate orders for sale
In a previous column (see ‘Charging to the front of the queue’), I pointed out that the scope for the court to refuse a creditor a charging order over a debtor’s property was more limited than many debtors would wish. What of the enforcement ...
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SRA has been engaging with legal profession in preparation for OFR
Since the beginning of May, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been visiting towns and cities across England and Wales to meet solicitors to talk about the SRA Handbook and outcomes-focused regulation (OFR), our new approach to regulation which starts on 6 October. By 16 June, ...
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Notarial profession of England and Wales ahead of European counterparts
I write in connection with the European Court of Justice decision of 24 May relating to notaries. The decision states that Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Greece breached the law by attempting to reserve access to their countries’ notarial professions to their own nationals. ...
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Law theory test
I read Jonathan Goldsmith’s recent column with more than a passing interest. The perspective with which I read it was the exact opposite of the German lawyer to whom he alludes, in that I have just moved from private practice into academia. ...
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Unwilling to listen
I read your recent news article highlighting the report from three expert judges who issued a stark warning about current proposals to reform the civil litigation system. It is extraordinary that the government continues to push through its ideas regardless.
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Alex Salmond is gunning for the Supreme Court
The last reported prosecution for ‘murmuring’ – or slandering – judges under Scottish law seems to have been in 1870 and the offence must now be obsolete. So there seems little chance of seeing the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, in the dock for ...
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Solicitor-advocates seek to block evaluation scheme
Solicitor-advocates will make a last-ditch attempt in the coming weeks to halt plans for compulsory evaluation of their performance by judges. Up to 1,400 advocates who handle criminal cases are set to be formally assessed from next spring as part of the Quality Assurance Scheme for ...
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Patient data leaked to personal injury claims worker
A claims company employee has been fined after using his former girlfriend to obtain patients’ confidential records. Martin Campbell (pictured) was supplied with the personal data of 29 people by his then partner Dawn Makin, who worked as a nurse at walk-in health centres in Bury. ...
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Jackson reforms could trigger business debt headache
Insolvency experts have warned that civil litigation funding reforms could deter small businesses from trying to reclaim debts. Provisions in the government’s forthcoming Justice Bill will prevent successful claimants from recouping their solicitors’ success fee from losing defendants, or recovering an after-the-event insurance premium. ...
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Tighten rules to protect young witnesses, say charities
Children’s charities have called for ground rules to be enforced in court to prevent the exploitation of young witnesses. A report released this week by the NSPCC and Nuffield Foundation found that inadequate procedures and a lack of training for legal professionals were having detrimental effects ...