All articles by Jonathan Rayner – Page 31
-
News
Immigration service users unaware of its closure
Clients of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) remain unaware that the not-for-profit provider went into administration six months ago and are still trying to gain access to its premises, the Gazette has learned. There is no guidance information on the locked doors of the central London ...
-
News
No ‘hidden agenda’ in Irish legal reforms
Ireland’s government has denied the existence of any ‘hidden agenda’ behind sweeping reforms to the legal system imposed following the country’s bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The minister for justice, equality and defence, Alan Shatter (pictured), was responding to growing international concerns, first ...
-
News
An obscene waste of money?
You might not want your wife and servants to watch them, but a jury at Southwark Crown Court has just decided that DVDs showing fisting and other hard core male-on-male sex action are not obscene under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. The failed prosecution arose in ...
-
News
European and US lawyers warn IMF on threats to independence
Two bodies representing 1.4m lawyers across Europe and the US have formally warned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that reforms imposed as part of economic rescue measures could undermine the independence of the legal profession.
-
News
Online PC renewals open
The online practising certificate (PC) and registration renewals process begins today for firms and individuals whose full name starts with the letters E to Z, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced. Renewals for names beginning with the letters A to D have already started. Alphabetical placing ...
-
News
Large law firms 'not paying carbon tax'
Some of the country’s largest law firms do not pay any carbon tax, while smaller competitors are facing bills of £50,000 a year or more, according to new research. City firm Herbert Smith (pictured right), with 700 lawyers in London, pays no carbon tax, compared with ...
-
News
City judicial diversity forum has not met in two years
A group of top lawyers set up to help overcome barriers to City solicitors applying for the judiciary has failed to meet for almost two years, the Gazette can reveal. The group, part of a drive to improve judicial diversity, was also asked to find ways of encouraging more women, ...
-
News
Intestacy law reform to help cohabitants
The children, spouses and cohabitants of people who die intestate could benefit from proposed changes to inheritance laws, published yesterday. New proposals published by the Law Commission include giving more rights to the surviving partner and children of unmarried couples and removing complex and costly ‘life ...
-
News
Why law graduates give up on the law
Louise - and that’s not her real name - is not going to become a solicitor after all. She gave it a good try, the law undergraduate says, but it wasn’t to be. Louise says that when she started her law degree, she really wanted to ...
-
News
Employment tribunal fees could run into thousands
Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly today launched a consultation on introducing fees in employment tribunal cases, with the aim of saving taxpayers £84m. Two charging options are mooted in the consultation paper. In option one, a claimant will pay an initial fee of £150-£250 to begin ...
-
News
Number of CQS firms reaches 1,000
The Law Society has awarded Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation to the 1,000th firm to enter the scheme. Less than a year after applications opened, nine-partner Coventry firm Penmans today became the 1,000th accredited CQS firm, bringing the total number of law firm branches with the ...
-
News
Phillips attacks ‘popular narrative’ on human rights
Much of the ‘nonsense on stilts’ surrounding the Human Rights Act (HRA) in this country is generated by politicians and the media, Britain’s equality chief has said. In an article in The Sunday Times, Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, attacks ...
-
News
OPG defends spending on fruit and hand gel
The body charged with protecting the interests of the mentally incapacitated has defended itself against a blogger’s claim that it spends £26,000 a year on fresh fruit and anti-bacterial hand gel for its 500 staff. Claims of public sector extravagance were published by Susanne Cameron-Blackie, writing ...
-
News
More solicitors make the bench
Solicitors outperformed barristers in two selection exercises for the judiciary completed earlier this year, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) has revealed. Eleven solicitors and eight barristers were selected as district judges (magistrates’ court) and 14 solicitors and 11 barristers as lawyer chairmen of the Residential ...
-
News
Society defends in-house lawyers against EU ruling
The Law Society is to defend the status of in-house lawyers against a controversial Luxembourg ruling barring them from appearing as advocates before the European Union’s top court. The Society is to lodge an application to intervene in an appeal against a 2010 ruling by the ...
-
News
Troika’s liberalisation drive ‘threatens profession’
European governments are under pressure from the so-called ‘troika’ to rush through reforms that will erode the independence of the legal profession, the Gazette has been told. The reforms include the appointment by governments of non-lawyers to supervise and regulate the profession, with the authority to set fee levels and ...
-
News
'Sea change’ for county court claims
All claims to county courts are to be processed through a central facility in a ‘massive sea change’ designed to slash costs and processing times, the Gazette can reveal. From March, solicitors will no longer need to mail claims with a cheque to individual courts, ...
-
News
Colombia 'anarchy' is risking lawyers’ lives
The ‘black hand’ of drug smuggling, violence and political corruption has penetrated every level of Colombian society and now wields greater influence than the state itself, according to one of the country’s leading human rights lawyers.
-
News
Human rights come home
You don’t expect good news to come out of the scandal of elderly people suffering abuse at the hands of their carers. Where’s the good news in the indignity of an elderly woman left stuck on the toilet because everyone was too busy to assist her? And how can good ...
-
News
Clarke outlines judicial diversity push
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has unveiled proposals to improve the diversity of judicial appointments by extending flexible working arrangements to include High Court and Court of Appeal judges. The aim is to see more women appointed to senior judicial roles.