Headlines – Page 1559
-
News
Upholding decency
I read with much emotion and ever-increasing indignation the brave and intimate feature by Jonathan Rayner concerning the serial failure of the ‘system’ to deal humanely or in any way appropriately with his son ‘Patrick’, particularly once the latter was introduced into the criminal process (see [2009] Gazette, 5 March, ...
-
News
Age-old concern
Joyce Glasser’s letter about students and newly qualifieds in their late-30s or 40s and 50s, captured the situation in a nutshell (see [2009] Gazette, 19 February, 11). I am a newly qualified solicitor who was also made redundant on qualification due to organisational structure changes.
-
News
Trading blows
On 26 February you carried a special In Business report, ‘Marketing – the next generation’ (see [2009] Gazette, 26 February, 12-14). Significantly, both articles were written by marketeers and predict the demise of solicitors, when large corporate businesses are expected to enter the solicitors’ market.
-
News
The ‘rules of the game’ on terror have not changed
The International Commission of Jurists was lucky in the timing of its report on counter-terrorism and human rights: Assessing Damage, Urging Action. In the US, the new administration of President Obama was but a month old, promising a review of his predecessor’s ‘war on terror’. ...
-
News
Legislation planned to bar solicitors convicted of fraud from practice
Plea negotiations are to be introduced and Crown Court powers will be extended to make fraud prosecutions more effective, Attorney General Baroness Scotland (pictured) announced today (18 March). Legislation is also planned to allow the Crown Court to bar convicted fraudsters from practising in certain key professions, including as a ...
-
News
Quality before price
Ian McLachlan’s view (see [2009] Gazette, 19 February, 11) is worrying from a professional indemnity and risk management point of view.
-
News
Murder conviction quashed after 27 years
A man who has spent the last 27 years in prison had his conviction for rape and murder quashed by the Court of Appeal today (18 March). Sean Hodgson, now 57, was given a life sentence in 1982 for the murder of barmaid Teresa de Simone, ...
-
News
Legal aid lawyers are paying the price for economic disaster
The principal lesson of the financial crash – that markets are not always the best solution for all areas of society – appears lost on Jack Straw (see [2009] Gazette, 12 March, 1). As trillions of pounds are thrown at banks, it seems that legal aid practitioners must pay the ...
-
News
Saying the right things
Few lawyers can name the eight official branches of the legal profession – solicitor, barrister, legal executive, licensed conveyancer, trademark attorney, patent agent, notary and costs lawyer/draftsman – but juggling their different demands and needs is one of the many tasks facing the Legal Services Board.
-
News
Parklife to court life
Fans of Blur (a popular music group, m’lud) are delighted that the band are gearing up for a series of gigs this summer, including Hyde Park in July – their first live performance since 2000. Drummer Dave Rowntree has another matter on his mind: law ...
-
News
Mind games
In these difficult times, at last some good news. A chap called Steven Pearce writes to tell us that redundancy isn’t so much the end of employment but the beginning of the chance to bounce back in life. In fact, Pearce, who describes himself as a business coach, has written ...
-
News
Mr Grumpy piles on the agony
Judges don’t always have it their own way, writes John Moore, of Dixon & Templeton in Hampshire. When Moore started articles in 1959, he recalls sitting in a Court of Quarter Sessions presided over by a terrifying recorder whose demeanour suggested the possibility of suffering ‘a recurring and somewhat unpleasant ...
-
News
Law firm staff win landmark TUPE claim
Firms winning legal service contracts from competitors could face a ‘landslide’ of six-figure claims for unfair dismissal if they do not take on staff on reasonable terms along with the contract, the winner of a landmark employment tribunal case said this week. In the case, Liverpool ...
-
News
Baby P review could end child care court fees
Local authority solicitors have welcomed a government decision that could lead to the ending of court fees for child care proceedings. A review of fees is one of 58 recommendations in Lord Laming’s report into the protection of children commissioned following the 2007 death of London toddler ‘Baby P’. ...
-
News
SRA drops plans for board changes in BME row
The Law Society has dropped a plan to cut short the term of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board as debate continues over ways to tackle the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors facing disciplinary hearings. It has also turned down a proposal to co-opt two non-voting ...
-
News
Law Society wins loans pledge from high street banks
The Law Society has voiced fears that increasingly centralised decision-making at Britain’s embattled retail banks could damage the finances of law firms as the recession deepens. Chancery Lane fears that local branch discretion will be reduced and that this will result in banks walking away from more deals and terms. ...
-
News
Lawyers' long march triumphs in Pakistan
Pakistan’s lawyer-led long march demanding the reinstatement of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry withstood baton charges, tear gas attacks and mass arrests, a British solicitor told the Gazette from Lahore. Razi Shah, a partner at Berkshire firm Appleby Shaw and a Law Society council member, said ...
-
News
First ABSs expected by 2011
The first alternative business structures should open for business in 2011, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board predicted last week. Chris Kenny told the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen’s annual conference in Harrogate that the recession would encourage new ventures.
-
News
Tories consider private solution to legal aid shortfall
A future Conservative government may look to the private sector to top up the legal aid budget, the Gazette has learned. Tory policymakers are considering how the UK’s legal aid budget could be financed if they take power at the next general election. Earlier this month, ...
-
News
Release partners for pro bono bench placements, says LCJ
Major law firms should allow junior partners to seek part-time judicial appointments as part of their pro bono activities, the lord chief justice said last week. ‘We must find a way of tapping into the talents of the brightest and best solicitors,’ Lord Judge told ...