Headlines – Page 1374

  • News

    Small conveyancers still have weaponry against big brands

    2010-10-01T00:00:00Z

    The Gazette reported recently on some figures released by Contact Law showing the level of anxiety among the profession over the ‘threat’ of alternative business structures.

  • News

    A change in direction on electronic disclosure

    2010-10-01T00:00:00Z

    The introduction of Practice Direction 31BOn 1 October 2010, a new practice direction, 31B on the disclosure of electronic documents comes into effect. The new practice direction is designed to encourage and assist the parties to reach agreement on the disclosure of electronic ...

  • News

    Civil procedure

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Insurance – Conflict of laws – Applicable law – Choice of law Stonebridge Underwriting Ltd v Ontario Municipal Insurance Exchange: QBD (Comm) (Mr Justice Christopher Clarke): 10 September 2010 The ...

  • News

    Local government

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Employment – Equal pay questionnaires – Statutory grievance ­procedures DM Birch and 99 others v (1) Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (2) Housing 21 Ltd (3) Sodexo Healthcare Services Ltd (4) Pinnacle Housing Ltd: EAT (Mrs Justice Cox): 10 September ...

  • News

    Employment

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Discrimination – Comparators – Reasons – Unfair dismissal JP Morgan Europe Ltd v R Chweidan: EAT (Judge Serota QC, A Gallico, K Mohanty): 26 August 2010 The appellant employer (M) ...

  • News

    Negligence

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Contractual liability – Exclusion clauses – Liability insurance – Burden of proof Omega Proteins Ltd v Aspen Insurance Uk Ltd: QBD (Comm) (Mr Justice Clarke): 10 September 2010 The claimant ...

  • News

    Legal advice

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Equal treatment – Legal Services Commission – Legitimate expectation – Tender period Azam & Co Solicitors v Legal Services Commission (2010) CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Pill, Rimer, Sullivan): 10 September 2010 ...

  • News

    Terminating agency agreements – watch your language

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The court in Stephen Gledhill v Bentley Designs (UK) Limited [2010] EWHC B8 (Mercantile) considered whether the principal (the defendant) had lawfully terminated the agency agreement on grounds that the agent’s (the claimant) purported abusive conduct had amounted to a fundamental breach of contract and thereby justified the termination.

  • News

    What a HIP-free property landscape will mean for conveyancers

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Jan Boothroyd considers the new HIP-free property landscape and what this will mean for conveyancers

  • News

    High Court to rule on LSC tender review

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The High Court will rule today on the outcome of the Law Society’s expedited judicial review challenge of the Legal Services Commission’s family tender. The three-day proceedings heard by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Beatson concluded on Monday, with judgment expected to be handed down ...

  • News

    War of words

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Over the past few weeks, a theme has been emerging on this page about the profession’s veritable obsession with the correct use of language. But it transpires that it is not only solicitors of the Supreme Court who get hot and bothered about the use and abuse of English; their ...

  • News

    Will the Supreme Court survive the coalition's purge of public bodies?

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Tomorrow, the UK Supreme Court celebrates its first anniversary. Might it also be the court’s last? According to proposals leaked from the Cabinet Office and published by the BBC last week, the future of Britain’s highest court was still shrouded in uncertainly as recently as 26 August.

  • News

    Supreme Court ‘under review’ as legal quangos face axe

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors have voiced deep concern about the future of the Supreme Court, after it appeared on a leaked list of public institutions and quangos facing review or abolition by the coalition government. According to the leaked Cabinet Office list, nine legal quangos are among 177 ...

  • News

    Reform of the law relating to murder is long overdue

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    by Julian Young, senior partner at Julian Young & Co I have in front of me a copy of an Order for Assize and General Gaol Delivery, dated 1955, ordering the execution of a defendant for ... ‘the crime of wilful murder’. That sentence was carried ...

  • News

    How can this be access to justice?

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest the letter from Hugh Barrett , executive director, Legal Services Commission. He seems to have forgotten that two important components of access to justice are independent advice and conflicts of interest.

  • News

    Family lawyers must brace themselves

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Lord Justice Wall shoots from the hip when it comes to problems in the family justice system. He even took the step of writing to LSC chief executive Carolyn Downs, warning her that family judges were alarmed by the effect of the tender outcome on ‘well-respected ...

  • News

    Anti-piracy firm website breach

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The website of London anti-piracy firm ACS:Law has been attacked, leading to the leak of email archives and personal data of thousands of internet users. It is understood that the names and addresses of more than 5,000 people alleged by the firm to have engaged ...

  • News

    Flood liability warning for conveyancers

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Conveyancers could be exposing themselves to liability by failing to obtain information about flooding, which is set to become the latest ‘uninsurable risk’, a leading commercial property solicitor has warned. Suzanne Gill, a commercial property partner at McGrigors in London, said that flooding is affecting an ...

  • News

    Let CMCs operate within the rules

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    I am writing to respond to John Holtom’s letter last week. Banning claims management companies would return us to the position we were in before the Ministry of Justice launched the regulation of claims management companies (CMCs) in 2007 – where CMCs could get away with cold-calling, giving misleading ...

  • News

    Lawyers protest over proposed closure of Mayor’s and City court

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    City lawyers have criticised government proposals to close the oldest local civil court in England, which they claim is one of the most efficient and successful county courts in London. The government is consulting on closing the historic Mayor’s and City court, along with 54 ...