Headlines – Page 1366
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Bar Council cautions against ‘DIY litigants’
The government’s ‘crude and brutal’ legal aid cuts will trigger a surge in ‘DIY litigants’ that risks ‘gridlock’ in the courts, the Bar Council has warned. Responding to the government’s consultation on legal aid, which closes today, the bar’s representative body said the cuts, which are ...
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Pro bono figures are a credit to the profession
Last week’s report by the Law Society on pro bono activity by solicitors was a real credit to the profession. The study showed that private practice lawyers performed a whopping £475m of pro bono work in 2009/10, up 19% on the previous year. ...
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Stoke personal injury firm launches iPhone app
Stoke-on-Trent personal injury firm Attwood has launched an iPhone app that allows users to upload images of their injuries prior to launching a claim. Launching the app today, which allows users to value and make a claim, the firm said that uploaded information can be downloaded ...
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Law academics slam Jackson’s civil justice proposals
An independent panel of law academics has branded Lord Justice Jackson’s proposals to reform civil litigation costs as ‘misleading and ‘inconsistent with a fundamental principle of civil justice’, as it published a report today. The 11-strong panel, chaired by Bristol University tort law professor Ken Oliphant, ...
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A popular choice
Thumbing through the latest speech given by an esteemed member of the judiciary last week, Obiter read something so unexpected it almost – though not quite – caused one’s glass of brandy to tilt to a dangerous degree. In a complete reversal of normal events, ...
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Local government
Legal advice and funding – Champerty – Conditional fee agreements – Indemnity clauses Danri Morris and Anor v Southwark London Borough Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury MR, Lords Justices Lloyd, Gross): 25 January 2011 ...
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Turning a brief encounter into lasting romance
‘Perhaps you have seen someone you like in a cafe, bar or a shop; you may have passed each other on the street or caught their eye on a train. It is fate that you were in the same place at the same time. Don’t let that chance pass you ...
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Glam-tastic
It’s official; solicitors are glamorous. Confirmation, if ever we needed it, came last week when Glamour magazine named solicitor Lisa Morgan (pictured) alongside the likes of Cheryl Cole and Kate Middleton as one of the most influential women in Britain. Morgan was named junior lawyer of the year at the ...
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Civil procedure
Civil evidence – Affidavits – Case management – Committal for contempt (1) Consolidated Contractors International Co SAL (2) Consolidated Contractors (OIL and GAS) Co SAL v Munib Masri: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony May (president QB), Lords Justices Smith, ...
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Redefining the defence of fair comment
Most parents have experienced the plaintive cry of ‘it’s not fair!’ hurled from the mouths of offspring made to tidy their rooms or deprived of the must-have of the moment. But the words have also recently sprung from the lips of our judiciary and government ...
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Supreme Court backing of Twitter reflects badly on mainstream media
Why did the Supreme Court announce last week that it was offering what its president, Lord Phillips, describes as ‘a green light to tweeting and other forms of [text-based] communication’? There have never been any restrictions on sending texts from the Supreme Court or, until recently, ...
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The campaign against proposed legal aid cuts gains public support
Last week’s adjournment debate on legal aid cuts in the House of Commons marked a change in tone among MPs who, before Christmas, had not made much of the Ministry of Justice’s proposed £350m annual cut to the legal aid budget. What became evident in the debate, secured by Labour ...
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Government faces intense pressure over legal aid cuts
The government faced intense lobbying over its legal aid reforms this week, as the Law Society put forward a raft of alternative measures to preserve the legal aid budget, and the shadow legal aid minister warned that the government’s cuts will ‘destroy’ civil legal advice. The ...
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Pro bono thrives in private practice
The value of pro bono work provided by private practice solicitors has reached £475m, according to Law Society research. The figure represents a 19% annual increase and is equivalent to an estimated 2% of the total gross income of private practice. The ...
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Legal services comparison website launched
The latest legal services comparison website to enter the market was launched by a Hertfordshire solicitor last week. Michael Welsh has launched fixed costs comparison site comparelegalcosts.com, which offers consumers a choice of three firms based on their postcode.
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Supreme Court ruling puts children first in immigration cases
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the ‘best interests of the child’ at the centre of decision-making in immigration cases involving the deportation or removal of their parents. Giving judgment last week in the case of ZH, a Tanzanian woman who had made three failed ...
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Supreme Court gives green light for courtroom tweeting
The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for people to ‘tweet’ from inside the courtroom last week. The court issued guidance on the use of live text-based communication from the courtroom by legal teams, journalists and members of the public. Since the guidance ...