Headlines – Page 1611
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Intellectual property
Criminal law – Media and entertainment – Circumvention of copy protection – Computer games – Copyright R v Neil Stanley Higgs (2008): CA (Crim Div) (Lords Justice Jacob, Hughes, Justice Andrew Smith): 24 June 2008 The appellant (H) appealed against ...
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Landlord and tenant
Local government – Mental health – Possession claims – Public sector tenancies – Schizophrenia Lewisham London Borough Council v Malcolm (2008): HL (Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Scott of Foscote, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury): 25 June 2008 ...
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Grandee of the law wades in
Lord Woolf has witnessed ‘the transformation of almost every aspect of the legal scene’ For many people, the name Lord Woolf will always be synonymous with the revolutionary reform of the civil court code in the late 1990s: the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). ...
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Long road from the LSA
Leading figures from the profession recently debated the likely shape of a post-Legal Services Act world. The Gazette was granted exclusive access. It is some consolation for the legal profession that Professor Richard Susskind, the leading commentator, has put a question mark at the end ...
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In-house beautiful
Almost a quarter of practitioners now work in-house, and very few of them appear to have any intention of returning to private practice. As the old days of aiming for partner and owning a stake in a law firm slowly pass away in favour of ...
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In defence of the victims
Matthew Hickling’s criticism of the Criminal Procedure Rules does not stand up to scrutiny I write as one who prosecutes daily in the magistrates’ court.
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Court calamities
I feel compelled to respond to Majid Shafiq’s ‘challenge’ to find ‘a bigger failure by a court to conduct business in an acceptable way’ (see [2008] Gazette, 26 June, 11). My recent experiences of various courts include: A telephone ...
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Silver lining?
In the light of recent turmoil on the stockmarket, there would appear to be scope for charities to gain substantially from estates which include shares in companies that have declined dramatically in value (such as banks, builders and property companies). Where there is a taxable estate ...
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Immigration issues
As an immigration consultancy based in Sheffield we recently read with great interest an article published in March concerning the quality of advice for Turkish workers (see [2008] Gazette, 6 March, 4). While we agree that the quality of immigration services is high, we do not ...
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Correction
Dr Ann Barker, the Bar Standards Board’s new complaints commissioner, was wrongly named Parker in last week’s issue. Apologies.
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Showing the way
Our changes to guidance on the transfer system safeguard the public interest while minimising any adverse consequences An area of our work that has attracted considerable interest is the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) recent decision to improve the arrangements which allow lawyers qualified in a number ...
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Matters of discretion
A new sentencing commission could make those responsible for policy more accountable Lord Justice Gage’s report on sentencing will make interesting reading – not so much for what he says but more for the degree of restraint with which he says it. The appeal judge – ...
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Fox on the gun...
Has legal legend Ronnie Fox finally unveiled the secret of his success as a top partnership law and employment lawyer? Talk about shock tactics. Sadly, Obiter cannot reveal that Ronnie – who runs Fox Lawyers in London – attends meetings with the opposition in a Sherman ...
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Sole practitioners
Yet more news of fast lady lawyers – and Obiter believes the fastest lady lawyer in the land may finally have been chased down.
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State of the nation
Just after the poor darlings at Queen Mary College, University of London got their degree marks, the results of something far more important came up – those of the first Field Fisher Waterhouse Essay competition for the QM law students who help out at the university’s London Legal Advice Centre. ...
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Breaking down the barriers
Here’s a thought: the law is to be fully exposed to the unfettered free market, yet the neo-liberal orthodoxy which has dominated government policy for three decades – and which gave birth to the Legal Services Act – is suddenly tainted. Does this matter?
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Employment law needs reality check
Whitehall is right to abandon the controversial Dispute Resolution Regulations. Ever since the ill-fated Dispute Resolution Regulations 2002 were first introduced, there has been a groundswell of opinion, led by the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA), to have them reversed.
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Councils launch court fee challenge
Four local authorities have joined forces to launch a judicial review against the government, claiming that new powers forcing councils to bear the full cost of child-care cases are unlawful, the Gazette can reveal. Hillingdon Borough Council in London, Leeds City Council, Liverpool City Council and ...
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Shape up to survive, conveyancers told
The Law Society has warned conveyancers not to panic as the property market stagnates, but to take action to ‘trim’ themselves down.
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Titan prison plans under attack
The government’s plans to build its way out of prison overcrowding came under attack last week from the authors of a seven-year investigation into the criminal justice system.