Headlines – Page 1365
-
News
New advocacy proposals 'prejudice' solicitors
A proposed new quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates could prejudice solicitors because it places too much weight on the views of judges, an advocates group has warned. The Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) has voiced concerns about the ‘over-reliance’ on judicial evaluation proposed ...
-
News
Supreme Court backs right to police station advice
Defence lawyers have welcomed a Supreme Court ruling confirming the right to legal advice at the police station, and warned that the Ministry of Justice will have to ‘think carefully’ before introducing any reform that seeks to limit it. Giving judgment in an appeal from the ...
-
News
New book offers intriguing analysis of role of feminist judges
Is it possible to be both a judge and a feminist? That’s the intriguing question posed by Baroness Hale in her foreword to a fascinating new book, Feminist Judgments from Theory to Practice (Hart Publishing, £22.95). Hale is, of course, the UK’s most senior woman judge. ...
-
News
LSC rules out appeal against family tender judgment
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it will not appeal against the High Court’s judgment following the Law Society’s successful challenge to the family tender process. It said any appeal would only prolong uncertainty over the future of the family contracts, causing difficulties for ...
-
News
Sketch show
You can’t beat a good courtroom drama. So Obiter was delighted to receive a review copy of court artist Patricia Coleman’s sketches, brought together in a book with text by Evening Standard courts correspondent Paul Cheston. It includes scenes from some of Obiter’s favourite cases, from the appearance of Catherine ...
-
News
Excellence adventure
There was quite a buzz at the Law Society’s packed Excellence Awards at Old Billingsgate in London last week. Nigel Priestley, who received the prestigious gong of private practice Solicitor of the Year, used the podium to praise the success of Huddersfield Law Society’s twinning project with Uganda, which he ...
-
News
Blonde ambition
Another chance for Gazette readers to win tickets to Obiter’s favourite legal-themed West End show, Legally Blonde: the Musical. For anyone unfamiliar with the plot, college sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods (played by Sheridan Smith) ‘doesn’t take no for an answer’. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone ...
-
News
Proactive firms are setting the pace for change
Membership of a respected profession once conferred a much greater equivalence of proficiency and status than it does today. Consider the almost comical horror with which many lawyers formerly greeted the notion that solicitors should be allowed to differentiate themselves...
-
News
Radmacher judgment will boost demand for pre-nups – but issues remain
by Alison Bull, team leader associate at Mills & Reeve Publicity surrounding the Supreme Court’s judgment in Radmacher (rather than the outcome of the case) is likely to be the single most important factor in increasing demand for pre-marital agreements.
-
News
Vulnerable people 'not consumers'
In the interview with Jonathan Djanogly it is interesting to note that, while not wanting to discuss the legal aid budget, the minister is quoted as saying: ‘Our priority is not about what lawyers do or the number of lawyers there are doing things. Our priority is legal representation ...
-
News
Slur on my firm's services
I can only applaud the action taken by Hertfordshire firm Judkins and its partner Paul Judkins. My own firm has recently had its appeal concerning removal from the Santander panel, for Abbey, denied. I regard this as an act in restraint of trade and a slur on my firm’s services. ...
-
News
Solicitors are still having difficulty with service of proceedings
The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) are generally seen as being a success. True, they have not brought down the cost of litigation, but they have given a degree of certainty as to procedure. The fact that solicitors are still falling foul of the CPR when it comes to service by ...
-
News
Future LPC students need to be better informed about career prospects
In your article ‘LPC aptitude test risks "clones"’, you quote Kevin Poulter of the Junior Lawyers Division as stating that ‘there are between 10,000 and 20,000 LPC graduates currently looking for training contracts’. This almost certainly overestimates alarmingly the oversupply of LPC graduates. No one knows how many LPC graduates ...
-
News
Civil procedure
Committal for contempt – Suspended committal orders – Judgment debtor’s failure to attend court Broomleigh Housing Association Ltd v Emeka Okonkwo: CA (Civ Div): 13 October 2010 The appellant (O) ...
-
News
Relevance of happiness to the legal profession
There is something for everyone in Nancy Levit and Douglas Linder’s book The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law. Levit and Linder are law professors at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and what they say about the US is relevant to the English legal profession. ...
-
News
Local authority publicity and housing possessions
That the government shop is under new management is clear. It has a radical new look and feel – and an impatient determination to slim the entire operation and to reshape fundamentally the focus of policy. These impressions were reinforced on 29 September when Communities and Local Government issued its ...
-
News
Where will the legal aid lawyers of the future come from?
As uncertainty over the future of legal aid contracts deters firms from taking on the expense and commitment of traineeships, one wonders who is going to train the next generation. Two weeks ago, I attended the Legal Aid Practitioners Group annual gathering in Leeds. Given the ...
-
News
Freeman tops ranking of high-profile solicitors
Defence lawyer Nick Freeman topped the rankings for the solicitor most frequently mentioned in the national press over the last year, according to figures compiled by Sweet & Maxwell. Freeman (pictured), founder of Manchester firm Freeman & Co and known as ‘Mr Loophole’, was the most ...
-
News
Who's afraid of computer generation?
Significant parts of Richard Susskind's The End of Lawyers? focus on the role of technology and automation in the production of legal documents. In particular he looks at the use of software that enables the client, with the use of what is basically a decision tree, to generate employment contracts ...