Headlines – Page 1424
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Criminal procedure
Causation – Foreseeability – Joint enterprise – Jury directions R v (1) Reece Mendez (2) Seaon Thompson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Toulson, Mrs Justice Cox DBE, Judge Barker QC (Common Serjeant of London)): 22 March 2010 ...
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A&O is magic, right kids?
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is certainly doing well at attracting the graduates. The firm has just scooped not one but two graduate recruitment honours, from newspapers the Times and the Guardian. The Times Graduate Employer of Choice Award named A&O as the legal employer offering the best opportunities ...
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Playing the fool
As if anyone could have failed to notice, what with Radio 4’s ‘Shakespeare is French’ spoof and the Guardian’s story about Labour planning to orchestrate a Brown-Cameron punch-up to boost ratings, it was April Fool’s day last week. Though Obiter must point out that anyone who took the Gazette’s story ...
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Is honesty always the best policy? Sometimes
Politicians may be known for many things, but honesty isn’t normally one of them. So Obiter was intrigued by the disarming veracity of panel members at pro bono group LawWorks’ Question Time-style panel debate on legal aid last week. With Robin Knowles QC, LawWorks trustee, filling the David Dimbleby role, ...
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The next government must take a more measured approach to libel reforms
by Steven Heffer, head of media at Collyer Bristow and solicitor to Lawyers for Media Standards Over the past year, there has been an intensive press campaign pushing for radical reform of English libel Law. Barely a day goes by without another article by a concerned ...
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There are no votes in legal aid
‘The future holds few certainties for legal aid practitioners, whichever party forms the next government.’ Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. That observation, contained in the Gazette of 23 April 1997, eight days before the New Labour dawn, has become a truism. Still, ...
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Which? hunt
Last week Deborah Prince of Which? offered some ‘friendly advice’ (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 11). This follows repeated and public criticism from Which? of my firm for legitimately acting for my clients.
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Issues that matter
To respond to all of Andrew Hopper’s and Greg Treverton-Jones’s points about the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s prosecution policy, ‘Ticking all the boxes?’ (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 12), would be a major undertaking, but two key issues need addressing.
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Paying peanuts for legal advice
There is a certain irony in the conjunction of the headline on the front page of last week’s Gazette, ‘Consumer call for competence test’ (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 1)...
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Politicians in glass houses
It is interesting to see that our brethren north of the border have been involved in a grassroots rebellion against ‘Tesco Law’, (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 8).
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Judicial error
Reading the legal update report of Key v Key (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 14), I was struck by the judge’s emphasis on the so-called ‘golden rule’, namely that practitioners should arrange for an aged testator, or one who has been seriously ill, to be examined by and reported on ...
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‘The F word’
The Law Society’s insert in the 25 March issue highlighted the issue of fraud in relation to money laundering and mortgages.
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Seeking a wider audience
On 1 March 2007, you kindly printed a letter in which I questioned why it was that membership of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme (CLAS) and the possession of higher rights of audience was not publicly recognised by the Law Society on the ‘find a solicitor’ section ...
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It’s time to put some balance back into journalism
When did reporters stop reporting the news and become political propagandists instead? We are not just talking about the tabloids here – although much more about them later – but about local newspapers, the regional backbone of the free press of which we were rightly proud.
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Race disparity
I am writing in respect of recent articles on the issue of diversity and race in the legal profession.
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Civil litigation cases risk being ‘buried’, lord chief justice warns
The civil litigation system is at risk of being ‘buried under a mass of paperwork’ because of the way lawyers are compiling their arguments, lord chief justice Lord Judge has warned. Delivering the Judicial Studies Board lecture last week, Judge said modern technology meant lawyers were ...
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Firm found liable to pay more than £28m for giving negligent advice
A warning bell has sounded for law firms that advised on complex financial deals involving local authorities before the economic downturn, after a firm was found liable to pay more than £28m for giving negligent advice.
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South Korea ‘high growth market’ opens up for UK firms
The Law Society is to run a trade mission to the ‘high growth market’ of South Korea this month, after the signing of an agreement to liberalise legal services opened the way for UK firms to seek new opportunities in the country.
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Cap on contingency fees comes into force
Regulations which will impose a 35% cap on contingency fees in employment cases were approved by the House of Commons and came into force this week. Solicitors lambasted the new rules as a ‘dog’s dinner’ which threatens access to justice. The ...
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Criminal defence firms fail to secure legal aid contracts beyond July 2010
Criminal solicitors have warned that a ‘cull’ of firms has begun after Legal Services Commission figures revealed that 5% of firms did not secure new contracts. The recent tender for criminal contracts ended with one in 20 firms failing to secure the right to do publicly ...