Headlines – Page 1535
-
News
Pro bono – not U2!
Every so often, someone comes up with the idea of coining a modern English phrase for the term pro bono. None of the suggested replacements has caught on – and doesn’t everyone understand pro bono anyway? Apparently not, Cherie Booth QC told the launch of nominations for the Law Society ...
-
News
Phil Shiner: top human rights lawyer shows no sign of slowing down
‘We have the most powerful democracy in the world because our state will use public money through legal aid to pay me to take these cases,’ says Phil Shiner, the human rights lawyer as much abused by some in the media as he is revered by his peers.
-
News
High street firms need to proclaim their virtues to survive
Now that I am in the last two months of my presidency, I have started to look forward to returning to my own firm in Surrey and to resume the life that I put on hold three years ago – that of a regular high street solicitor.
-
News
Forced-marriage case training for lawyers
Solicitors working on cases involving forced marriage and honour-based violence are to be offered specialist training and accreditation. Cris McCurley, a partner at Ben Hoare Bell solicitors in Newcastle and charity Karma Nirvana have been working with family law organisation Resolution to create an ...
-
News
Defence solicitors shun pilots of virtual court
Pilots of a ‘virtual court’ enabling defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates by video link have been snubbed by solicitors. Of the 21 firms in Westminster that are eligible to take part in the first 12-month pilot, only 11 have agreed to ...
-
News
Whitehall department struggles to recruit BME solicitors
One of the biggest Whitehall departments is having a ‘depressing’ struggle recruiting black and minority ethnic lawyers, according to its legal chief. All 30 successful candidates in an anonymised recruitment exercise at the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department last year were white, ...
-
News
China clamps down on civil rights lawyers
The Beijing judicial authorities are blocking more than 20 of China’s most prominent civil rights lawyers from renewing their licences to practise, campaigning group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported. HRW says the lawyers have angered the authorities by acting in high-profile cases ...
-
News
Accountancy body warns of clash over ABS regulation
Britain’s biggest accountancy body is expected to warn that the introduction of alternative business structures combining solicitors and chartered accountants could founder, because the codes of conduct of the two professions are incompatible. The 132,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will demand ...
-
News
Tories say new bill of rights would be compatible with ECHR
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed claims by the Council of Europe that Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) could exclude the UK from the EU. Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis, a former Labour MP, said last month that he ...
-
News
Personal injury
Court rules – Judgments and orders – Revocation – Settlement Greg Anthony Roult (by his mother and litigation friend Angela Holt) v North West Strategic Health Authority: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Carnwath, Hughes, Lady Justice Smith): 20 ...
-
News
Human rights
Photographs – Police powers and duties – Interface with right to private life Wood v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Laws, Dyson, Lord Collins): 21 May 2009 ...
-
News
Civil procedure
Legal profession – Complaints – Confidentiality – Publication (1) Michael Napier (2) Irwin Mitchell v Pressdram Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Hughes, Toulson, Sullivan): 19 May 2009 ...
-
News
India’s fastest emerging cities targeted for investment
The UK government has drawn up a list of emerging Indian cities that it will target for British investment, opening the door for City lawyers to advise British businesses heading to these locations. A report by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), a government-sponsored trade organisation, ...
-
News
Equity partners’ earnings plummet
Equity partners at top law firms will earn £110,000 less on average this year, early figures have suggested at the outset of the City’s reporting season. To date, the three major firms that have released a figure for profit per equity partner (PEP) have seen a combined average fall of ...
-
News
Road works, IT contracts and property rights
Road works: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised 16 commercial banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 15 investment banks on a £6.2bn contract for the M25 motorway. Connect Plus, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Egis Projects and Atkins, will widen the M25 ...
-
News
Employment law: bonus culture and the court of public opinion
During the G20 demonstrations outside the Bank of England I received several texts from assorted City types. In each I was urged to join them on the roof terrace of the Coq d'Argent restaurant, where apparently one could watch the riot below while drinking half-decent champagne and even participate at ...
-
News
Lawyer executives
In last week’s news item ‘Licensed conveyancer made partner’ (see [2009] Gazette, 28 May, 1), there was a reference to ‘legal executives [making] up the other 16 non-lawyer partners’.
-
News
Restraint orders
In an article that appeared in the In Practice section of the Gazette (see [2009] Gazette, 30 April, 16), John Masters questions whether the Crown Prosecution Service has locus standi to apply for a restraint order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) while a case is still ...
-
News
Fact is not stranger than fiction
I cannot leave uncorrected certain remarks made by Sir Geoffrey Bindman, solicitor for Amnesty International in the Pinochet case (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 9). As is well known, my firm acted for Senator Pinochet.
-
News
Mr Clean's mission
One upside of the MPs’ expenses saga gripping the nation is that lawyers should make a better showing in league tables of the country’s least trusted professional group. If you can’t be more palatable than politicians at times like this, then you may as well give up. ...