Last 3 months headlines – Page 1505
-
News
High Court defamation claims soar
The number of High Court defamation claims has risen to the highest level since the Woolf reforms, figures have shown. Defamation claims in the High Court rose to 298 last year, up 15% from 259 in 2008, according to an analysis of judicial statistics carried out ...
-
News
Homeowners' policy could lower PII premiums
Insurance provider First Title has launched a homeowners' protection policy (HOPP) that it claims could lower professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums for solicitors, if it becomes widely adopted by clients. First Title said that a similar product launched in Canada led to a 50% drop in ...
-
News
The lie behind the money laundering legislation
I am a regular listener to Radio 4’s Any Questions programme, and always wonder about those panellists who are greeted by a round of applause after their contribution. What must it feel like? Well, now I know. Last week, I was in Vancouver for the International Bar Association’s annual conference. ...
-
News
House price fall could prove fillip for conveyancers
Conveyancing solicitors moved to calm concerns over a looming housing crash this week, and suggested that a fall in house prices could have a ‘silver lining’ for the profession. Last week, the Halifax reported a 3.6% decline in house prices in September, the biggest monthly fall ...
-
News
Is Lord Young being too harsh on personal injury lawyers?
No personal injury lawyer enjoys being called an ‘ambulance chaser’, even if, on occasion, they slip a business card into the bloodied hand of a car crash victim. Such a scene (fictional, I should add) was played out in a TV advertisement I saw last week ...
-
News
Political Risk?
Kenneth Clarke’s speech to the Birmingham Law Society and Lord Young’s pronouncements at the weekend remind me that the political risk issues I learnt about at business school are alive, well and threatening further disruption.
-
News
Political risk?
Kenneth Clarke’s speech to the Birmingham Law Society and Lord Young’s pronouncements at the weekend remind me that the political risk issues I learnt about at business school are alive, well and threatening further disruption.
-
News
SRA closes Burges Salmon investigation
South-west firm Burges Salmon will not face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal following allegations that it gave inappropriate legal advice to farmers, a long-running investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided. The SRA, which for two years considered allegations about advice given by Burges Salmon to ...
-
News
Wills and testamentary capacity
Perrins v Holland and others [2010] EWCA Civ 840 Mr Justice Lewison had applied the principles of Parker v Felgate (1883) 8 PD 171 to declare a will valid where the testator had given instructions in April 2000 but did not execute the ...
-
News
Law firms face obstacles as they seek to exploit emerging markets
As developed countries continue to wrestle with their recession-hit economies, most savvy international law firms are turning their attention to emerging markets, with BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), receiving particular interest.
-
News
Moses stars in epic
Court three of the Royal Courts of Justice was packed out for the result of the Law Society’s challenge to the family legal aid tender last week. But the press pack became somewhat disconcerted when they learned that the court’s stenographers had been engaged for the next four hours. Four ...
-
News
Advice and legal expenses insurance
I read with interest the letter from Paul Asplin, the chief executive officer of DAS UK Group I agree with what Mr Asplin said concerning the judgment in Eschig not affecting the position of already-compliant legal expenses insurers.
-
News
Carry on matron
In these pre-CPS 1960s and 70s, when officers regularly prosecuted their own cases in magistrates’ courts, it was in the matron’s room next to the cells that summary justice was often administered, writes James Morton. Some were run by ex-police women, who kept the place ...
-
News
Footing the bill for chancel repairs
I cannot accept the picture Michael Hall paints of a ‘muddle’ arising from chancel repair liability. Any conveyancing solicitor who is instructed by a purchaser identifies and investigates matters affecting a property his client wants to buy, and reports to the client (and probably a ...
-
News
French toast
Obiter raises a glass to personal injury solicitor James Wood for recently becoming the first man with an injured spinal cord to swim the English Channel. Wood, whose spine was broken in a road accident in 1990, causing him to lose the use ...
-
News
Sour smell of success
Pity Nigel Jones QC of Hardwicke, who has learnt the hard way how the British like to keep talent in its place. His mini-biog at the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London last week included a Legal 500 quote describing the barrister as ‘refreshingly in tune with business ...
-
News
QualitySolicitors steps up expansion with 50 new branches
Law firm franchise QualitySolicitors is to launch 50 new branches next month, the ...
-
News
CMC sector and lacking value
I note the reply of Kally Sahota of Select Claims Ltd to my letter. He appears to seek to justify his existence as a business by reference to the regulatory regime under the stewardship of Kevin Rousell. I do not accept his premise.