Last 3 months headlines – Page 1517
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Hugging the attorney
Back in the days when I was articled (how long ago did that word become obsolete?), barristers did not mix socially with solicitors, writes James Morton. Taking their instructing solicitor out to dinner was known as ‘hugging the attorney’ and was, I believe, a disciplinary offence. Certainly, they did not ...
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Grudge judge
As number two in the judicial pecking order, second only to the lord chief justice himself, one might expect Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to be above petty grudges. But it turns out that, in common with most advocates, he finds it difficult to accept when a ...
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Razing money
Obiter promised one, and only one, Movember pic, and here it is. These handsomely moustachioed chaps from south-west firm Burges Salmon raised an impressive £2,000 for men’s health charities by growing their facial hair, of which they are all clearly immensely proud. Nice ...
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Star trekkers
Pictured are David Green, solicitor at the Longton office of Stevens, and his wife Andrea Muckley, solicitor at TRP in Birmingham, having just completed a three-and-a-half day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru in aid of charity RNIB. Given that the 26-mile trip includes altitudes of ...
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Code of Conduct – conflicts of interest and conveyancing
Among the changes the Solicitors Regulation Authority is intending to make as part of its move to outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) in October 2011 is the removal of the detailed provisions, under rule 3 of the current Code of Conduct, on conflicts of interest, relating to when a solicitor may or ...
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WikiLeaks take us into a legal – and moral – maze
Cablegate has some way to run. It is far too soon to know the final consequences for all those involved, though few may find that the affair ends well for them. We may, however, be able to glimpse the wider implications of this episode. We could, after all, be in ...
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Lost generation?
I write as a parent who happens to be a solicitor. Hurrah for Mr Justice Coleridge (tinyurl.com/32xekfd). It is so refreshing to hear a judge talking openly about what is a serious and untackled malaise. He has demonstrated quite clearly the detrimental effects of raising children as your ‘best friends’ ...
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Roll on retirement
My 9 December Gazette arrived late because of inclement weather. Just as well. Last week, I was in a really bad mood. Now, I’m just cross.
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CQS needs teeth
Paul Marsh is quite right, in talking about the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), when he says ‘it is crucial that good firms of whatever size are able to compete on quality and not just on price with substandard firms’. We are a Lexcel-accredited firm with 25 ...
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Confrontation not consultation
In her latest column, the Law Society president urges us all to stand up and fight for access to justice against the threatened legal aid cuts. She writes: ‘This really is a process of genuine consultation; it is not a done deal and we still have all to play for’. ...
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The issue of what constitutes a legal adviser
When is a legal adviser not a legal adviser? Based on section 147 of the Equality Act 2010, it appears to be when he is a legal adviser. Confused? Many have been. At this time of year one’s thoughts often turn to compromise agreements. Yet as ...
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BME solicitors must act now to survive upheaval in legal services
by Nwabueze Nwokolo, chair of the Black Solicitors Network and Law Society Council member, Minority Ethnic Concerns It is with great pleasure that I take on the role of chair of the Black Solicitors Network. I have campaigned all my professional life for the elimination of ...
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Why it is going to be even harder for LLPs to borrow new money
‘All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned,’ wrote Karl Marx, alluding to capitalism’s awesome capacity for creative destruction. In this at least he was right, as evidenced perhaps by the demise of Ashton Morton Slack, a century-old mainstay of the Sheffield legal scene.
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Aluminium deal, London IT, Euro 2012 football, healthcare and telecoms
UEFA on track: The London office of French firm Salans advised European real estate investment management firm Meyer Bergman on a €200m (£169m) joint venture to redevelop the main railway station in Katowice, Poland, in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2012 football tournament. ...
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Solicitor-advocate training 'not fit for purpose'
The training given to solicitor-advocates is ‘not fit for purpose’ and must be improved to conquer the perception that they are inferior to barristers, according to an independent review. In a report commissioned by the Law Society, consultant Nick Smedley said that, unless the training of ...
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'Unrelenting' pressure on Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal is facing ‘unrelenting’ pressure from increased demand and reduced resources, the lord chief justice has warned. In his foreword to the court’s annual report, published today, Lord Justice Judge (pictured) paid tribute to the judges who work ‘late into the night ...
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Legal aid tender quality checks 'flawed'
The High Court ruled this week that the process used to check the quality standards of firms awarded public law and mental health legal aid contracts breached equality standards, but there was ‘no legal flaw’ in the Legal Services Commission’s public law tender.
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FOIL president: cut claimant lawyer fees
Claimant personal injury lawyers’ fees should be cut by extending the new road traffic accident (RTA) claims process, and by allowing insurance companies to undertake ‘third-party capture’, the new president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) told the Gazette this week.
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Legal aid backlog leaves some defendants unrepresented
Delays in processing legal aid applications are leaving some defendants in London’s Crown and magistrates’ courts unrepresented, criminal solicitors have warned. Malcolm Duxbury, president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association, told the Gazette there is a ‘very large’ backlog in processing and assessing Crown court ...