Headlines – Page 1386
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Challenging arbitration awards
One of the fundamental policy reasons behind the enactment of the Arbitration Act 1996 was the need to allow parties to resolve their disputes through arbitration and without judicial intervention.
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Insolvency
Administration – Insolvency practitioners’ proposals – Law firms – Pre-pack administrations In the matter of Halliwells LLP sub nom Halliwells LLP v (1) Shay Bannon (2) Dermot Power (administrators): Ch D (Mr Justice Kitchin): 30 July 2010 ...
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Real property
Agency – Equity – Professional negligence – Estoppel by representation Jean Sarah English v (1) Colin English & Yvonne English (2) Hodge Jones & Allen (a firm) (3) Swift Advances plc: Ch D (Judge David Cooke): 3 August 2010 ...
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Criminal law
Acquisition of criminal property – Fraudulent dealing – Mens rea – Money laundering R v Michael Geary: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Mrs Justice Rafferty DBE, Judge Gilbert QC): 30 July 2010 ...
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Establishing causation when an injury has more than one cause
Where an injury could have had more than one cause, what must be proved to establish causation? This issue has engaged the House of Lords on several occasions, and two differing answers have been forthcoming. The differing and inconsistent tests are categorised as the ‘material contribution’ test and the ‘but ...
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Penny-pinching
Times are tight at the moment, so you would expect the Legal Services Commission to be doing all it can to maximise its income. But Obiter had to chuckle at two letters received this week which reveal the full extent of penny-pinching at the legal aid body. A letter from ...
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Decimal point
Obiter was taken aback by readers’ reaction to the Gazette’s recent front-page headline, ‘Family law "decimated" by LSC tender’. Quite right, you might think – after all, it is appalling that so many firms should have lost their family legal aid contracts. But ...
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Summing up
The age of the alternative business structure is nearly upon us. In this utopia, lawyers and accountants will work in perfect harmony to provide a seamless client service. That’s the theory, at any rate. But, as one source who used to work for Garretts, once the law firm arm of ...
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Nude of the world?
When out and about in the company of solicitors, as Obiter often is, it is not uncommon for members of the profession to suggest improvements to this publication. Obiter is duty bound to listen, of course. But a suggestion made at a drinks party this week caught us rather by ...
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Obiter dictaphone
Criminal defence solicitor Jeremy Leaning cc’d Obiter on this letter to justice secretary Ken Clarke. He promises to keep us posted of the minister’s response. Dear SirPermission to bring a handheld voice recorder/dictation machine into courtOn 4 August I attended East Cornwall Magistrates’ Court at Bodmin ...
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What is going on?
I read with interest the interview with the new LSC chief executive Carolyn Downs. I am very sorry to hear that she is upset by what she sees as aggressive and adversarial behaviour on the part of legal aid providers. Unless she masters the facts of her brief rather than ...
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Everyone loses
I am a solicitor specialising in mental health law. Last week a hospital administrator asked me to represent a patient. It became apparent that the patient did not want me to represent her but wanted to use the solicitor who has represented her for the last seven years. This solicitor ...
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Cyril Glasser remembered
The Gazette’s report of the death of Professor Cyril Glasser did not allude to the fact that he was an outstanding and much-loved law teacher. Some of our members attended his seminars at University College London, where he delivered weekly lectures on civil procedure with specific ...
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Be careful what you wish for
The Gazette’s opinion of 5 August is headed Big bang theory. There is already a ‘big bang’ going on in the profession with regard to access to justice for clients.
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August is proving to be a busy month for small and medium-sized firms
Not so long ago, the August hiatus was a soporific experience for the Gazette. Just two issues and no interactive website to tell you about real-time developments – not that there often were many, mind you, as the profession’s great and good decamped to southern Europe.
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Law firm found to have broken ABS rules
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that a law firm overstepped the rules on alternative business structures in an arrangement with an outsourcer. Publishing an investigation into the agreement between Bradford, Glasgow and Newcastle firm Optima Legal and outsourcing company Capita, the SRA said that ‘while ...
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Cashier stole £1.6m from Midlands law firm
A former cashier at a Midlands law firm has admitted stealing £1.6m from her employer. Louise Martini from Solihull pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and theft of £1.6m from the accounts of Solihull and Shirley firm Williamson & Soden, in a hearing at Gloucester ...
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Call to SRA to loosen solicitor conduct rules
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to scrap the conduct provisions that prevent a solicitor from acting for both seller and purchaser, and for both lender and borrower in a conveyancing transaction. Responding to the SRA’s current consultation on its ...
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Social welfare warning over Manchester CLAS delay
The delayed timetable for Manchester’s new Community Legal Advice Service (CLAS) will make it impossible for some clients to obtain advice on social welfare problems, the Law Society has warned. The Legal Services Commission told the Gazette it will announce the bidders who have won contracts ...
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Gazette seeks nominations for Legal Personality of the Year Award
The Gazette is looking for legal professionals who are ‘influential, inspirational and in the public eye’ for its inaugural Gazette Legal Personality of the Year award, with just over a week to go until the deadline for nominations. The award aims to recognise those who have ...