All articles by James Dean – Page 4
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News
Fears grow over EU contract law 'confusion'
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy warned that a pan-European contract law could create ‘confusion and uncertainty’ for business, as the deadline for submissions to a European Commission consultation on the issue passed this week. The firm also criticised a lack of business representation on the ...
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MoJ drops bill to modernise law of damages
The government dropped proposals to modernise the law of damages last month. The Ministry of Justice has decided not to proceed with the Civil Law Reform Bill published in December 2009. The bill had put forward several amendments to the law on damages, as recommended ...
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Law firm not liable to loan losses, says appeal court
A law firm that gave negligent advice to a bank before the bank lost £28m in loans advanced to two local authorities does not have to reimburse those losses, the Court of Appeal ruled last week. Overturning a High Court decision, the appeal court ruled in ...
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Appeal court backs CFA costs agreement
Solicitors must be allowed to shoulder the risk of adverse costs orders on behalf of their clients to ensure proper access to justice, the Court of Appeal has ruled, in a judgment welcomed by the Law Society. Giving judgment in Sibthorpe and Morris v London Borough ...
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SRA makes training appointments in advance of review
Slaughter and May human resources and training chief Louise Meikle has been appointed as one of five external members of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s education and training committee, which is to conduct a fundamental review of training. Meikle is responsible for the recruitment, development and retention ...
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Regulator presses for steeper fines against ABSs
Alternative business structures (ABSs) must face fines far in excess of the £150m maximum proposed by the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority recommended last week. Responding to an LSB consultation on the issue, the SRA said that ‘the largest commercial entities might require a ...
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News
Replace ARP with three-month ‘grace period’, Law Society says
The assigned risks pool (ARP) should be scrapped and law firms should instead be given a three-month grace period by insurers in which to either find alternative professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover, merge, or close down, the Law Society is to recommend. Outlining the Society’s proposal, ...
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MoJ confirms delay of Bribery Act
The Bribery Act will not come into force in April, the Ministry of Justice confirmed today. An MoJ spokeswoman said that the ministry is working on implementing guidance ‘to make it practical and comprehensive for business’. Business leaders had criticised the legislation ...
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National Grid slashes legal panel
National Grid has cut the number of law firms it employs on its panel by a quarter, the utilities giant announced today. The company said that it has ‘sought to introduce fixed pricing and other innovative billing solutions wherever possible under the new arrangements, which also ...
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News
Campbell privacy ruling exposes 'deeply flawed' CFA system
Bumper success fees for lawyers in libel cases will soon be a thing of the past following last week’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Naomi Campbell case, solicitors predicted this week. Kevin Bays, partner at London firm Davenport Lyons, who ...
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News
DLA Piper to merge with Australian firm
National firm DLA Piper is poised to merge with its Australian associate firm DLA Phillips Fox, the firms announced today. If partners approve the merger, DLA Piper, which posted global revenues of £581m for the 2009/10 financial year, would have the biggest Australian operation for a ...
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Jackson attacks government's partial reform plan
Lord Justice Jackson criticised the way the government plans to implement his reforms to civil justice costs in a sternly worded letter to the justice secretary last week. Jackson (pictured) said the detailed package of reforms aimed at reducing civil litigation costs, which he published last ...
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News
Coalminer court actions set for 'special hearing’
All pending court actions brought by former coalminers who allege their solicitors did not claim adequate government compensation on their behalf have been suspended pending a special hearing in April, the Gazette has learned. The miners allege their solicitors did not claim adequate compensation for vibration ...
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News
Six solicitors defend £50m fraud charges
Six solicitors charged with offences relating to a series of alleged commercial mortgage frauds worth a total of nearly £50m appeared in Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which brought the charges, alleges that the six solicitors and two non-solicitors ‘participated in ...
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News
Calunius Capital raises £40m fund
Third-party litigation funder Calunius Capital has raised £40m from a private fundraising in Guernsey, marking the first successful closure of a third-party litigation fund for 15 months. Calunius, which previously acted as a broker rather than an investor in litigation, will use its Calunius Litigation Risk ...
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News
Chancery Lane hails landmark ruling on access to justice
Solicitors must be allowed to shoulder the risk of adverse costs orders on behalf of their clients to ensure proper access to justice, the Court of Appeal ruled today. Giving judgment in Sibthorpe and Morris v London Borough of Southwark, the court said that a conditional ...
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News
'Poor financial management’ at MoJ, committee concludes
The Ministry of Justice risks making ‘ill-informed’ cuts to services when attempting to slash £2bn from its budget, unless it gathers adequate data and fully understands what it spends, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said today.
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News
Withers to open in Zurich to meet high-net-worth demand
City firm Withers will open an office in Zurich to cope with increasing demand from high-net-worth clients, the firm said today. The new office, set to open in April, will be headed by UK tax and trust partner Judith Ingham. The firm, which opened an office ...
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News
Prosecute solicitors who lie to PII insurers, says Law Society
The Solicitors Regulation Authority should prosecute every solicitor who lies on their professional indemnity insurance (PII) application form, the chief executive of the Law Society said yesterday. Speaking at an Association of British Insurers (ABI) seminar on solicitors’ PII, Desmond Hudson said that the profession 'needs ...
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News
'Ambulance chasing' lawyers attacked
A government transport minister has attacked the ‘abhorrent’ practices of ‘ambulance chasing’ personal injury lawyers who deal with road traffic accident (RTA) cases. The Law Society has hit back at the claims. Giving evidence to the transport committee’s inquiry into the cost of motor insurance ...