Headlines – Page 1501
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Texting your clients should be normal practice, if you love them
Are you using text messaging to communicate with your clients? Most of us carry mobiles, so your text reaches your client instantly when there is something significant to report. In many cases, this can be more effective than phoning, when your client might not be available and neither are you ...
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Crime figures show drop in fraud and criminal damage
The number of people sentenced for fraud and criminal damage fell during the last quarter of 2008, while fewer juveniles and young adults were sent to prison, statistics released today reveal. Provisional Ministry of Justice data show that from October to December last year, 75,300 people ...
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SharePoint learns to love Firefox and Outlook
Most supplier conferences about their technology are not, let’s be honest, fun. They can often be interesting, however, and one I went to this week on Microsoft’s SharePoint document management/collaboration/etc business software was exactly that. It’s a technology which – once Microsoft has shaken out some obvious problems with it ...
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Information technology: data retention regulations
The contentious Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 came into force on 6 April, in the face of opposition from privacy campaigners and serious questions from lawyers. Billed as a vital tool in the fight against terrorism and other crime, the regulations stand accused of being yet another snoopers’ charter.
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Criminal evidence
Admissibility – Hearsay evidence - Witnesses – Need for evidence to show reasonable steps taken R v T(D): CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Thomas, Mr Justice King, Judge Moss QC): 4 June 2009 ...
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Immigration
France – Removal – Right to respect for private and family life – Member state’s assumption of responsibility for asylum claim R (on the application of Shayanth) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice ...
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Civil procedure
Costs orders – Hourly fees – Lawfulness of reduced rate for travel and waiting time R (on the application of Schwartz) v Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court: QBD (Admin) (Lord Justice Sullivan, Mr Justice Wilkie): 3 June 2009 ...
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Family law
Care proceedings – Findings of fact – Non-accidental injury – Standard of proof Re D (Children) sub nom NH v (1) A County Council (2) NH (3) RD & SD: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Thorpe, Wall, Elias): ...
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Does the Coroners and Justice Bill go far enough - and is there enough money
In Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, the coroner’s court is in the back room of a pub, the Sol’s Arms (geddit?). The coroner is drunk and the inquest is held – and a verdict dispensed – while a game of skittles rattles in the background. Of course, this is Dickens at ...
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Bach handed compliment
Lord Bach, legal aid minister, must look forward to facing audiences of legal aid lawyers as much as Daniel looked forward to his engagement in the lions’ den. The minister has received a rough ride at events lately, but at the Legal Action Group’s conference ...
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Scourge of the establishment
Obiter enjoys needling the establishment – it’s part of the journalist’s job. But he’s never attained the heights of iconoclasm achieved by Heather Brooke, who 12 months ago wrote a piece about her High Court freedom of information (FoI) victory ...
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Bower power
Bruce Bower is the latest reader to join the select club of lawyers who have journeyed from Land’s End to John O’Groats by muscle power. Bower, a private client solicitor at Everys Solicitors in Devon, averaged 137 miles a day during the 956-mile journey and ...
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Attention deficit
Current debates about the judicial selection process are amusing Clive Jones, a consultant with Wrexham firm GHP Legal. He recalls, after some contested advocacy, being invited in to the private room of a senior county court judge and asked if he would consent to be recommended for appointment to judicial ...
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Addressing concerns about periodical payments in personal injury cases
The Court of Appeal in Thompstone determined that periodical payments for future losses for care and case management should be linked to an earnings index which annually has historically risen by 1-2.5% higher than the RPI.
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Open the cage
Last week’s front page: ‘Solicitors face road traffic fees cut’, ‘Final nail in the coffin of legal aid firms’, ‘Compensation fund levy could hit £875 in 2010’ (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 1). Open the cage and let me in! ...
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Monopoly supplier
I note that Land Registry fees are to rise from early July by about 30%. Presumably, this is to remedy the lack of income caused by the diminution in the volume of conveyancing work.
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Packing a punch
We write with reference to a report by Catherine Baksi about cost-price HIPs (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 2). We at Donaldson West have been dealing with HIPs in this way since their inception.
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Pinochet pointer
My letter (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 9) was an attempt to present a less critical view of the role of Lord Hoffmann in the Pinochet case than that offered by Joshua Rozenberg in his article celebrating Lord Hoffmann’s retirement.
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Best use of taxpayers’ money
In the piece, ‘Criminal legal aid is under threat like never before’ (see [2009] Gazette, 4 June, 17-20), Paul Marsh expressed concerns about best value tendering (BVT), which are important to address.
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Depressing decision to hold Iraq war inquiry behind closed doors
Has New Labour’s unremitting assault on civil rights passed its high-water mark? There have been encouraging signs of late. Parliament’s battered credentials were given a fleeting boost when Jack Straw dropped proposals for secret inquests. And new home secretary Alan Johnson seems less enthusiastic about ID cards than predecessor Jacqui ...