All articles by Jonathan Rayner – Page 20
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News
Sixty suitors for troubled Yorkshire firm Atteys
Yorkshire firm Atteys – which last week announced it had given notice of intention to appoint administrators – is to be broken up and sold, the Gazette has learned. Interim chief operating officer Mark Feeney said more than 60 local firms have expressed an interest in ...
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Fresh controversy over Cobbetts deal
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rebuffed calls to review its approach to pre-pack sales, amid renewed controversy over the buyout of high-profile law firm casualty Cobbetts by DWF. Last Wednesday, the Gazette exclusively revealed that Cobbetts’ unsecured creditors are set to recoup just 2p in ...
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PM ‘mad’ to cut legal aid for EU immigrants
Solicitors have condemned David Cameron’s proposal to deprive EU immigrants of access to legal aid. The prime minister told parliament last week: ‘There are many parts of our current arrangements that don’t pass a simple commonsense test in terms of access to housing, access to the ...
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ProfileInterview: Boma Ozobia
Commonwealth Lawyers Association president Boma Ozobia is nothing if not ambitious. Her sights are set on changing the global legal landscape.
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Cable hails unified patent court boost
Business secretary Vince Cable today finalised the deal for a new London-based unified patent court, which he said will deliver a £200m-a-year boost to Britain’s legal sector. The new court and patent system creates a one-stop shop for pharmaceutical, medical technology, hygiene and chemicals companies wanting ...
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News
Two law firms on Cameron’s Indian mission
National firm DLA Piper and southern England firm Dutton Gregory have joined David Cameron’s business delegation to India. They are among 100 businesses on the delegation, which aims to present the UK as the ‘global partner of choice’. One of the key messages the prime ...
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News
Cobbetts’ demise and resurrection – the full story
Unsecured creditors of Cobbetts are likely to recover just 2p in the pound following the ‘pre-pack’ deal that saw the collapsed firm acquired by DWF, the Gazette can reveal. Owed an estimated £41m, creditors are not expected to receive any money for some years. According ...
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News
Concession over EU sales law
The Law Society has welcomed an important concession from the European Parliament on the proposed common European sales law. Following lobbying by Chancery Lane, the new instrument is now to be applied only to contracts involving distance selling, particularly online transactions. The ...
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News
Lawyers slam Theresa May’s ‘populism’ on immigration
Immigration lawyers have rejected Theresa May’s ‘populist’ assertion that judges are misinterpreting the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and wrongfully allowing overseas offenders to escape deportation. The home secretary (pictured) has claimed that the courts are wilfully going against parliament’s wishes by refusing to ...
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News
Yorkshire firm to go into administration
Yorkshire law firm Atteys is to go into administration, putting at risk 140 jobs unless a buyer can be rapidly found. Finance director Andy Tuke said today: ‘As a result of continuing financial pressures, Atteys has engaged BDO Leeds to assist in looking for a buyer ...
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News
The trade deal to end all trade deals
The world’s two biggest economies have begun negotiating a deal to create a £3.3 trillion free-trade zone – and yet my pulse isn’t racing at the prospect of the biggest trade deal in history. (Three trillion is three followed by 12 zeros, although you probably knew that already.) ...
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News
European AML directive ‘unlikely to be effective’
The fourth European money laundering directive, published last week, is likely to impose significant but ineffective burdens on solicitors over the ‘vexing issue’ of identifying beneficial owners, the Law Society has warned.
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News
Sri Lanka bars lawyers
The Sri Lankan government has refused to allow an international delegation of lawyers to visit the country to assess the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. One delegate, former Supreme Court of India chief justice J. S. Verma, said he had his entry ...
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News
Charter firms improve their diversity profile
The partnerships of the firms that have signed up to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter are overwhelmingly white, heterosexual, male and able-bodied, new research has revealed. However, 70% of the firms that in 2012 completed the charter survey for the second successive year achieved ...
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News
City firms eye China scheme
An initiative to promote business and legal ties between China and the UK has attracted leading City firms, its backers said this week. The UK-China Legal Partnership Initiative (LPI), to be formally launched this month, will run annual seminars, to be held alternately at China’s ...
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News
Part-time judges win pensions battle at Supreme Court
The Supreme Court today ruled that part-time judges are entitled to the same pension, pro rata, as their full-time colleagues. The ruling will have important implications for solicitors currently working as part-time judges in courts and tribunals, as well as other part-time workers. ...
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News
EC proposes new money-laundering controls
A long-awaited directive against money laundering published by the European Commission today includes new mechanisms to ensure that beneficial owners of companies are identifiable. The commission’s fourth anti-money laundering (AML) directive includes a regulation governing information that accompanies fund transfers. The commission said the proposals ...
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News
CILEx announces advanced legal apprenticeship
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) is to introduce a new advanced apprenticeship in legal services which it says will provide a springboard to qualification as a lawyer. The Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal is being developed in partnership with Skills for Justice and ...
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ProfileInterview: Nigel Savage
The education and training lawyers receive is one of the most emotive subject matters facing the profession.
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News
Education and training review delayed again
Publication of the Legal Education and Training Review’s (LETR’s) research report, which is expected to recommend the most fundamental reform of legal education in 30 years, has been delayed for a second time with no revised date for when it is likely to be released.