Headlines – Page 1405

  • News

    Djanogly sticks to October 2011 timetable for ABSs

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    ‘All lawyers’ should be preparing for the introduction of alternative business structures in October 2011, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week, as the coalition government gave the first public confirmation that it will press ahead with the reforms and will stick to the timetable already in place. ...

  • News

    Five solicitors shortlisted for Gazette Legal Personality of the Year Award

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Five solicitors have been shortlisted for the Gazette’s Legal Personality of the Year Award, with the winner to be announced at the Law Society’s Excellence Awards ceremony in October.

  • News

    Five firms ‘put in intensive care’ by banks

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Five of the UK’s top-30 law firms have been put into ‘intensive care’ by banks, a top solicitor claimed this week. Mark Jones, chairman of national firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London that he fears another law firm failure ...

  • News

    Bonanza for lawyers - it’s all in the angle

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    I came across an article on the Telegraph website the other day which is almost certain to outrage hardworking lawyers – but hey, I’ll force it upon you anyway because once we get over the annoyance, there’s a lot to be learnt from it.

  • News

    Injury claims carry a ‘social stigma’

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The public’s ignorance of the law is one of the major obstacles that is preventing people from gaining access to justice through personal injury claims, and most believe that making a claim would be ‘working the system’, according to a report by National Accident Helpline based on a poll of ...

  • News

    Law Society wins family tender challenge

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has won its High Court challenge to the Legal Services Commission’s family tender process. Lord Justice Moses said the process was ‘irrational’. He said it was ‘contrary to the LSC’s own ends’ not to have given firms the details ...

  • News

    Family contracts quashed

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Family contracts have effectively been quashed following today’s judgment in the Law Society’s successful judicial review of the family tender process. Giving judgment this evening, the High Court declared the LSC’s failure to give advance notice of the requirement for panel membership as unlawful. It also ...

  • News

    High thrive

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Obiter tips his thermal cap to Chris Rawstron (pictured), consultant and former managing partner at national firm DLA Piper, who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania this month to raise an impressive £10,000 for Marie Curie. Do you have any pics of solicitors in ...

  • News

    Neighbour boundary disputes

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The days when solicitors spent hours poring over plans drawn on ancient conveyances are long gone. Articled clerks (as they were then called) spent days tracing land ownership through successive generations. The carefree draftsperson cobbled together a parcels clause, or adopted unquestioningly a re-photocopied plan thereby doubling the width of ...

  • News

    Female perspective

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Obiter is intrigued by a new book to be launched by Hart Publishing next month entitled Feminist Judgments. The book takes bone fide Court of Appeal and House of Lords judgments and rewrites them with a feminist slant, making a point about how ...

  • 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

    PII spend predicted to hit record high

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors are facing the ‘most challenging’ professional indemnity insurance market in years, commentators said this week ahead of Friday’s renewal deadline. The news came as the Law Society launched a SafetyNet scheme designed to help firms that cannot obtain cover. Brokers ...

  • News

    Life of crime

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Sir Ivan Lawrence QC’s new autobiography, My Life of Crime, could spark a revival in lawyers’ memoirs, which have gone out of fashion of late, writes James Morton.

  • News

    Counsel count cost of Halliwells collapse

    2010-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The protracted demise of Halliwells was set to enter its final chapter on Tuesday as administrators awaited creditor approval for proposals that would see the defunct firm formally wound up. As the Gazette went to press, it remained unclear how much secured creditor Royal Bank of ...