Headlines – Page 1533
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Jackman collects legal aid gong
Angela Jackman, a partner at London firm Fisher Meredith, received an award for outstanding achievement at last night’s Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards. Jackman was recognised for her work in the development of education law to ensure justice for disadvantaged children, as well as ...
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Event to remember Henry Hodge
An event to celebrate the life of Sir Henry Hodge is to be held next week. Sir Henry, who was one of the first solicitors to become a High Court judge, died this month. The event will take place at 4pm on ...
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Professional independence in danger, incoming president warns
The legal profession is in danger of losing its independence, incoming Law Society president Bob Heslett warned last week. Heslett (pictured), who assumes the office next month, has identified three key themes and 11 objectives to tackle during his year in office. The themes will ...
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What voting for the Pirate Party means
Here in Brussels, we are still trying to come to terms with the European election results. Voters have had their fun kicking Gordon Brown, rewarding Silvio Berlusconi for the topless women at his villa, or giving a seat to the Pirate Party in Sweden...
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Serious concerns are raised with the first non-jury criminal trial
By Raj Chada, a partner in the criminal department at Hodge Jones & Allen The recent bout of soul searching with regard to jury trials has come as a result of a Court of Appeal decision in the Menzies World Cargo trial, which has allowed the ...
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Local government: surveillance powers, tenancy and effective consultation
There is always a public authority tension between what might be called 'customer-centred governance' and regulation. So while most local authorities will try to be 'customer responsive' to their council tax payers and other stakeholders, their regulatory functions mean that not everyone will always feel treated as a 'customer'. For, ...
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Criminal procedure
Legal advice – Living expenses – Money laundering – Proceeds of crime Crown Prosecution Service v Susan Jane Campbell: Michael Joseph McInerney v Financial Services Authority: Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency v Graeme Trevor Carlton: CA (Crim ...
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Despite the recession Birmingham continues to attract new talent
One-time workshop of the world, today a metropolis renowned for its diversity and commercial nous, Birmingham has grown accustomed to reinventing itself. Since the early 1990s, England’s second city has been in a long regeneration phase. And although the recession has hit it hard, major development projects are keeping Brummies’ ...
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Top dogs herding cats
Obiter has always lived by the maxim ‘be nice to your human resources people, for when the chopping starts, it is they who will be wielding the axe.’ But perhaps such thinking is for losers and wimps. Certainly ...
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Show of separation
Social stigma around marital breakdown isn’t what it used to be. News has just reached Obiter of a new event in the social calendar, the Divorce Show. Launched to a fanfare of softly weeping violins, the show at the NEC is aimed at more than two million people in the ...
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Dressing down
Judicial interest in the fashion sense of female lawyers is not a purely British phenomenon. We read in the New York Times that a distinguished panel of US judges has been debating this vital issue. According to the newspaper, Judge Michael P McCuskey, chief judge ...
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Navigating mental health law
A barrister friend sent me a copy of Jonathan Rayner’s moving and disturbing article on his family’s experience of the law and mental health (see [2009] Gazette, 5 March, 14).
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On the brink
The Legal Services Commission says that my figures in respect of the number of firms that may fold following implementation of best value tendering (BVT) are ‘inaccurate’ (see [2009] Gazette, 4 June, 2).
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Providing answers
In last week’s Gazette, the LSC’s spokesman said the commission is working with representative groups and planning how best to support providers.
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Clarity on TUPE
In your article titled ‘Law Society calls for halt to BVT rollout’, [Law Society chief executive] Des Hudson expressed concerns about BVT (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 3).
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We cannot ignore the arrival of alternative business structures
You may have noticed that lawyers opposed to the prospect of supermarkets, banks and other non-legal firms running legal practices recently protested outside the Royal Courts of Justice (pictured, left). They handed out cans of baked beans labelled ‘Legal services by supermarkets is as ridiculous as lawyers selling beans’. ...
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Solicitors need to take initiative and plan for the future
The lord chief justice, Lord Judge, has not spoken much about the organisation of the legal profession since assuming the role, which made last week’s slightly cryptic call to arms all the more interesting. There was some head scratching at the Institute of Legal Executives luncheon ...
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New fixed-fee deal could cut payments for low cost accident claims
Solicitors handling the hundreds of thousands of straightforward road traffic accident (RTA) claims brought every year look set for a significant cut in the fees they receive, the Gazette can reveal. Talks to agree a new fixed-fee claims process for RTA claims worth less than £10,000 ...
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Defence fee caps will be final blow for legal aid, practitioners say
Government proposals to cap payments made to acquitted defendants who have paid privately for their defence are the ‘final nail in the coffin’ of criminal legal aid firms, a leading practitioner group has warned. The Ministry of Justice announced this week it is to press ...
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Chancery Lane defers decision on compensation fund levy
The Law Society’s Council yesterday deferred a final decision on the level of this year’s compensation fund levy until its next monthly meeting in July.Society president Paul Marsh said this was to accommodate further discussion with the SRA on the matter. Papers for yesterday’s meeting include ...