Headlines – Page 1430
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EC raps UK government over environment failure
The government is facing ‘costly and embarrassing’ legal action for not providing affordable access to justice for individuals seeking to challenge decisions affecting the environment, lawyers have warned. The European Commission has issued the UK with a reasoned opinion, or final warning, following its failure to ...
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Marketing in the community – join up and join in
With all the debate about referral fees, it is important to recognise that all marketing activities have a cost. Often, rather than hard cash, this is the cost of your time invested in building your personal network.
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One in five consumers surfs internet to find a solicitor
The internet has become the second most popular means of finding a solicitor for conveyancing or advising on a will, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has shown. A YouGov poll of 2,266 people commissioned by online solicitor directory legallybetter.com revealed that personal recommendation remains by ...
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Lawyers and torture: should we see the memos?
One of the characteristics of the US is that they take good things to excess - witness their presidential election process, or the 37 different varieties of salad dressing offered in a deli. At present, they are taking another good thing to excess: arguing over the role of lawyers in ...
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Sleepwalking complaint
I was interested to note that Zahida Manzoor, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, has announced in her valedictory annual report that LCS managers and staff are to be praised for meeting all three of targets of the service (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 2)
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Too little, too late
While the announcement that the Legal Services Commission will be delaying payments to solicitors should not, in itself, have any long-lasting impact upon the profession, it just goes to show how much power the LSC has over us.
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Top firms fear fee pressure
Commercial law firms see downward pressure on fees as the greatest threat to their profitability in the year ahead, research has revealed. A survey of finance directors at the top 100 law firms, commissioned by publisher Sweet & Maxwell, showed that 60% thought fee pressure would ...
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MoJ reveals top-earning legal aid firms
London firm Duncan Lewis topped the tables published today by the Ministry of Justice of the firms that earn the most from legal aid. In the year ending March 2009, Duncan Lewis received £9.9m from the community legal service’s annual £900m budget, almost twice as much ...
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Accreditation reforms
I am writing with regard to the letter headed 'No level playing field' (letters online, 11 March). The credibility of the immigration system and the lawyers that work within it rests on this accreditation scheme, which took its current form in 2004 to provide a high level of assurance on ...
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Could unqualified prosecutors lead to miscarriages of justice?
The regulator of the Institute of Legal Executives, ILEX Professional Services, is consulting on proposals to grant extended rights of audience to associate prosecutors (APs) in the magistrates' court.
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Justice secretary announces court closures
Justice secretary Jack Straw has announced the closure of 20 ‘under-used’ magistrates' courts. The following courts will close: Bourne; Bridport; Cheshunt; Cullompton; Dorking; Eastleigh; Gainsborough; Havant, Launceston; Louth; Mildenhall; Linehead; Sherborne; Sleaford; Stamford; Wantage; Wareham; Wells; Whitby and Widnes. The majority, ...
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Criminal law: sentencing, costs and confiscation
On 26 October 2009, the sentencing guideline for statutory offences of fraud came into force. The guideline does not deal with the offences of conspiracy to defraud or cheating the public revenue, where case law will continue to apply. Since many fraud offences are broadly defined, some types of activity ...
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Sentencing
Custodial sentences – Return to custody – Sentence length R v Jamie Costello: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Hughes (vice-president), Mr Justice Mackay, Mr Justice Lloyd Jones): 2 March 2010 ...
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Civil procedure
Admissibility – Civil recovery proceedings – Proceeds of crime Ronald Olden v Serious Organised Crime Agency: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Rix, Wilson, Sir Scott Baker): 26 February 2010 The ...
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Family law
Human rights – Local government – Care proceedings – Child sexual abuse – Cross examination Re W (children): SC (Lady Hale, Lords Walker, Brown, Mance, Kerr): 3 March 2010 The ...
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Heir of the dog
Family lawyers know only too well that divorcing couples all too often end up fighting like cat and dog over their finances, children and homes. So as we know they are increasingly making prenuptial agreements to head off the acrimony. But according to one Manchester solicitor, pets can also be ...
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Wildest dreams
As any successful orator knows, there is nothing quite like ‘sexual shenanigans’ to liven up an otherwise dry, albeit erudite, presentation. Obiter was reminded of this during Mr Justice Eady’s address at the launch of City University’s new Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism. Eady galloped through the history of ...
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Grim peeper
A new hot (sic) topic is currently being debated in the world of indirect tax – what VAT should apply to peep shows? A legal update sent out by chambers 2 Bedford Row reveals that the owner of a sex shop in Bruges has appealed against a tax authority’s decision ...
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The Eagle has landed
National firm DLA Piper swooshed past rivals to win the Midlands Corporate Ski Challenge this year, with Nick Jew, Craig Armstrong and Nicky Randle beating 50 or so challengers to take the prize in the first year the firm entered the competition.
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Proposals to restrict the right to prosecute ‘universal jurisdiction’ offences
Lawfare was first defined in 2001 as ‘the use of law as a weapon of war’. Last week, it was the focus of an important conference in New York organised by the newly-established Lawfare Project. The metaphor of war is never far from the courtroom. ...