Last 3 months headlines – Page 1539
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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QualitySolicitors steps up expansion with 50 new branches
Law firm franchise QualitySolicitors is to launch 50 new branches next month, the ...
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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.
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No support for cut-price conveyancers
I am sure all firms that undertake conveyancing will have had a fraught time with their professional indemnity insurance renewal this year, with most insurers refusing even to quote where property accounts for more than 50% of turnover. While going through my PI file, I ...
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High Court family tender ruling was a victory for justice
At the start of my presidential year in what, I was assured, was the ‘quiet period’, I received two pieces of extremely bad news. The first was that many small firms were being removed from lenders’ panels, and the second was that the family law tender process had resulted in ...
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Case for regulation of will-writers must rest on reliable evidence
By Dr Dianne Hayter, chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel The Consumer Panel’s investigation into the possible need to regulate will-writing is under way. On the face of it, the case for regulation appears strong. A badly written will can have serious financial and personal ...
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Chancery Lane seeks family contracts extension
The Law Society has called on the Legal Services Commission to extend existing family contracts until April 2012, following Chancery Lane’s successful High Court challenge to the family tender process. However, some firms that did win family contracts through the tender process are now understood to ...
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Lord Young attacks personal injury ‘lottery’
The peer leading the government’s review of the ‘compensation culture’ said this week that he is ‘ashamed’ of some personal injury lawyers in respect of how they advertise their services. Addressing the Conservative Party conference, Lord Young of Graffham (pictured) claimed that some personal injury advertising ...
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Suspects at disadvantage without legal adviser, study shows
A report published by the Legal Services Commission has highlighted the crucial role played by defence solicitors in giving advice to defendants at the police station. The study by the Legal Services Research Centre (LSRC), the independent research division of the LSC, comes as the government ...
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Emerging markets continue to present obstacles to law firms
This week's Gazette has an international theme, with an exclusive account of the fascinating elite pow-wow that was the Global Managing Partners Summit 2010. And with western economies reportedly facing a new 'cold front' in the fourth quarter, we report on how the City behemoths are intensifying their efforts to ...