Last 3 months headlines – Page 1337
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Super marketing
Let’s face it: when it comes to passing trade, some law firms have an advantage over others. Obiter called in at the Co-op store at London’s Charing Cross this week for his quotidien bottle of gin and was surprised on inserting his bank card into the payment terminal to find ...
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Rude gull hit
Another tale of a courtroom wardrobe malfunction, this time from Clive Gladstone of Northumberland County Council. He recalls being called to defend an application with only a few minutes’ notice: ‘As I hastened across, a seagull scored a direct hit right across the front of my dark suit jacket. The ...
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Pancake play
No, there hasn’t been a breakdown of law and order in Lichfield. The scene is the annual pancake day race, to which Lichfield and London firm Keelys contributed a team. After last year’s triumph as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this year’s theme was ...
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The Swiss joker
Passing the London Hippodrome near Leicester Square the other day, I thought of one of the great and comparatively harmless 19th century conmen. In 1898 Louis de Rougemont sold the amazing story of his adventures to World Wide magazine, and what a success it was.
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Direct action can work, seemingly against daunting odds
HSBC trumpets that it is the ‘world’s local bank’, a claim that rings hollow with conveyancing solicitors and their clients. Having chosen a panel with just 43 members - thereby severely circumscribing a client’s right to choose their own solicitor - the bank won’t even say who those members ...
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MoJ must address the chaos
by Madeleine Lee is director of the Professional Interpreters’ Alliance We are just a month into the National Framework Agreement for interpreting and translation services in HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
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Let's separate
At last some common sense. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments in the letter from Michael Brough. It is high time that lenders and borrowers were separately represented, and we take ourselves out of the potential conflicts of interest that often arise. ...
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Scrap it all
I fully agree with Michael Brough’s letter in the Gazette. I have been saying the same thing for several years - but the Law Society seems to be afraid separate representation will put up the cost of house buying. It might do, but only by a ...
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Level playing field
Sunil Kambli's letter suggesting that the Law Society should require separate representation of mortgage lenders may point the way forward here. However, any such requirement must be imposed on all recognised bodies, including licensed conveyancers and alternative business structures. Any rule change would have to exclude borrowers' solicitors giving any ...
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No limit
I have today been faxed by solicitors acting for a prospective purchaser. They inform me they are having to deal with Countrywide as their clients are having an HSBC mortgage. I am required apparently to undertake on completion to discharge all mortgages on the property. This is of course contrary ...
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No practical joke
I refer to the letter from David Kirwan ‘Writing on the wall’. When I started the Legal Practice Course in September 1996, I was astounded to be given a spelling and grammar test, particularly since the last time I had done anything like that had been when I was at ...
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Law now reserved for the wealthy
Has the door to the law silently closed to those who are either not from wealthy backgrounds or do not have connections in the profession? How many of today’s lawyers have working-class origins, compared with solicitors five, 10 or 20 years ago?
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Learning on the job
Dr Critchlow rightly suggests that those who want to be called doctor should take a PhD or LLD. When I was in Iran on business in 2010 giving two-day courses in Isfahan and on Kish Island I was perturbed to see that the certificates of ...
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LASPO concessions a ‘smokescreen’, says Labour
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed the government’s partial U-turns on domestic violence and clinical negligence as a ‘smokescreen’ to avert losing votes on the reforms in the House of Lords. The government announced yesterday that it had tabled amendments to the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill ...
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No solicitors make the silk round
Not a single solicitor was among the 88 new Queen's Counsel appointments announced today. Of the 214 applicants, only two came from solicitor advocates; neither was successful. Since 2008, six solicitors have been made QC. Last year two out of the five who applied ...
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Society seeks civil litigation compromise
The Law Society has joined forces with two claimant lawyer groups to offer a compromise on civil litigation reforms. The Society, which has campaigned against the government’s changes, has agreed new proposals with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and the Motor Accident Solicitors Association ...
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Law Society warns on skilled migration curbs
Further restrictions on businesses bringing non-EU skilled migrant workers into the UK could stall recovery when economic conditions improve, the Law Society has warned. Law firms need maximum flexibility to be able to recruit quickly when the need arises, it said. The Society said it agreed ...
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How is social media affecting law?
When I worked as a private tutor for two years (to ease the financial burden of law school) I used to explain to parents that whilst children must spend lots of time reading, talking, and thinking, they must spend as much time again on the computer.
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10% damages uplift ‘still fair’ says Jackson
The architect of the government’s civil litigation reforms today rejected calls for a bigger uplift in damages payouts. Lord Justice Jackson said his original proposal of a 10% uplift on all settlements is still fair, despite claimants having to spend up to 25% of their ...