Last 3 months headlines – Page 1192
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Europe reviews cross-border claims
The European Commission is to review the operation of a cross-border claims service, after admitting it has failed to make an impression with consumers. The European Small Claims Procedure was launched four years ago to resolve cross-border disputes worth less than €2,000. ...
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Cutting fees already pared to the bone could be fatal to existing providers
Is it acceptable for the state to dictate who represents a criminal defendant? One cannot help but recall lurid headlines about US public defenders taking on too many cases to effectively defend their clients – or worse, falling asleep at counsel table during a death penalty trial.
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Judiciary ‘not ready’ for Jackson reforms
A High Court judge has told parties involved in some clinical negligence claims to ignore the Jackson reforms for at least six months. A practice note written last month and distributed to law firms by Master Roberts, one of two High Court clinical negligence masters, revealed ...
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Career breaks: return journey
Traditionally, practising lawyers follow a linear career path from trainee to partner. But does a career break, whether from choice (to go travelling, try something new or raise a family) or enforced (through redundancy, illness or addiction) have to break your career? A heavy emphasis on ...
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EU accession to the ECHR will change Euro legal framework
For as long as I have been a legal journalist, I have tried to explain to people that there are two separate European courts run by two unrelated European bodies. The 47-member Council of Europe administers the European Convention on Human Rights and supports a court in Strasbourg that decides ...
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Jackson reforms could take a bite out of balance sheets
by Alex Fox, a partner at Manches The Jackson reforms, which came into force on April Fools’ Day, provide that a defendant who rejects a part 36 offer is at risk of paying a penalty of up to £75,000, in addition to the usual interest and ...
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Making a new EU
The passing of Baroness Thatcher has triggered a swell of emotion, and some parts of her legacy permeate today’s politics. The UK’s relationship with the EU at least partly defines her premiership. David Cameron says he wants to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with Europe and ...
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Start of an experiment
Back in 1979, the Gazette reported Margaret Thatcher’s arrival in Downing Street with a huge front-page picture of Lord Hailsham, her first lord chancellor, magnificent in wig and robes (those were the days when we had real lord chancellors).
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String theory
Could you tell the difference between a world-famous nightclub mogul and a West Kensington criminal defence solicitor? It seems that, for some, this is a challenge. Obiter had the pleasure of meeting Peter Stringfellow, principal at Stringfellow & Co, to discuss the likely impact of the government’s plans for price-competitive ...
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Mrs Thatcher and me
There hasn’t been much written in the Gazette about the death of Mrs Thatcher. Maybe the other contributors are too young to have lived through her premiership? I was not a fan, and so if you are one of the millions who voted for her and continued to adore her ...
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Supreme Court justices sworn in
The Supreme Court last week swore in its two new justices. Lord Justice Hughes (pictured, top left) succeeds Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Toulson (pictured, top right) succeeds Lord Walker. Hughes will first hear a case from Northern Ireland concerning the admissibility of electronic fingerprinting ...
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SRA moves to calm fears over indemnity insurer
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has sought to reassure hundreds of law firms using Balva for professional indemnity cover after the Latvian company was placed under new restrictions. The Financial Conduct Authority has updated its register following a decision by Latvian regulators to prohibit Balva from writing ...
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Conveyancers want more training to tackle fraud
Mortgage fraud and money laundering are the biggest risks facing conveyancers, but three-quarters of firms want more training to tackle them, according to research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In a thematic review of conveyancing, the regulator revealed that a quarter of 100 randomly selected firms ...
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Hoff colour
Obiter’s search for firms with names crying out for a merger continues to attract suggestions. Alice Biggar, trainee at Southampton firm Trethowans, notes that local firms Knight Polson and Watkins Ryder could merge to create Knight Ryder, with managing partner David Hasselhoff. (A noted Hollywood ...
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Human rights accession breakthrough
A ‘decisive’ breakthrough has been made in the 33-month-long negotiations on how the EU is to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. Negotiators for the EU and for the 47 Council of Europe signatories to the convention finalised a draft accession agreement on ...
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Chancery Lane wants voice at whiplash inquiry
The Law Society has demanded that solicitors’ voices are heard when MPs come to hear evidence on whiplash. The House of Commons transport select committee will invite witnesses to appear in parliament later this year having today closed the call for evidence. ...
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Reforms must work, family division head warns
‘Revolutionary’ reforms to the family justice system to speed up cases and cut costs must be made to work, the head of the Family Division has warned practitioners. In an update to the profession on the ‘revolutionary’ changes, Sir James Munby (pictured) noted the family justice ...
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To hear is to obey
Don’t clients sometimes drive you mad? Happily this won’t happen any more because they are no longer ‘clients’ but ‘consumers’. I am grateful to the people who responded to my last blog by pointing out the Legal Ombudsman’s site refers to them as consumers. I also note chief ombudsman Adam ...
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Cabinet Office to tackle ‘excessive complexity’ of legislation
The rule of law is among the victims of unnecessarily complex legislation, the government’s chief legislation-drafter warns today. In a report examining the causes of complexity, Richard Heaton, first parliamentary counsel and permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, says the ‘current degree of difficulty’ is neither ...