Headlines – Page 1531
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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 ...
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Meinl affair casts shadow over common law jurisdictions
How safe is it for British businesses to invest in Austria? A flying visit this week suggests its response to allegations of white-collar crime leaves a lot to be desired. Despite reforms last year, the relationship between Austrian prosecutors, pre-trial judges and criminal defence lawyers still seems far too cosy.
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European corporate counsel told that the recession provides a ‘golden opportunity’
With impeccable timing, the European chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) convened in Switzerland for its annual conference on 8 June. A few weeks earlier, the Swiss government had released draft legislation that could give corporate in-house counsel in Switzerland a right to professional privilege that does not ...
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Tories will halt roll out of best value tendering, says Grieve
A Conservative government would suspend the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) to enable a proper evaluation of the controversial new scheme, the shadow justice secretary announced last week. Dominic Grieve QC said that pilots due to begin in Greater Manchester and Avon and ...
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Solicitors alarmed at links between Bereavement Advice Centre and probate firm
Financial links between a not-for-profit advice organisation and a probate services company have come under fire from solicitors. The Bereavement Advice Centre publishes a website with the subtitle ‘What to do when someone dies’. Solicitors say that the organisation’s leaflets publicising a helpline promoting BAC’s commercial ...
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Client-matching website takes aim at claims handling firms
A solicitor has launched a website to bring together prospective clients and solicitors who will take on their cases in an attempt to drive claims handlers out of the process. The Law Bazaar, set up by Costas Andrea (pictured), who practised as an international litigator for ...
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Kent local authority legal teams join forces
Three mid-Kent local authorities are to join forces in a shared legal services project that aims to save more than £250,000 a year. Under the new model, legal staff at Swale, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells borough councils will remain based at their authorities but support ...