Last 3 months headlines – Page 1550

  • News

    Lawyers sceptical over latest IT rollout by LSC

    2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

    Criminal law solicitors have expressed concerns over the Legal Services Commission’s track record on IT projects as it began a phased national rollout of its new electronic criminal billing and claim forms this month. The new eForms are part of the LSC’s delivery transformation programme, designed ...

  • News

    Capture conflict

    2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

    ‘It is in everyone's interests to have a low cost system,’ a director of the Association of British Insurers told the annual conference of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Gazette news, 29 April, 4). Like most people, I do want to believe what I am told by people who ...

  • News

    Forgotten group disadvantaged by PC fee

    2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

    I write regarding your opinion piece of 24 April headlined ‘PC fee proposal falls flat’.

  • News

    Can the middle classes be persuaded to seek more compensation?

    2010-05-07T00:00:00Z

    There is an awful lot of talk just now about threats to solicitors’ business, particularly in commoditised areas like personal injury.

  • News

    Public fails to chart financial assets in wills

    2010-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Nearly three-quarters of the British public do not have a will that clearly charts their financial assets, research has revealed. Some 73% of Britons have not documented financial assets such as pension plans and life insurance policies in their wills, a YouGov survey of 2,384 adults, ...

  • News

    Criminal: defence witness notices

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    A new obligation has been placed on defence lawyers by the implementation of section 34 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, introducing a section 6 C into the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.

  • News

    Torts

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Bankruptcy petitions – Negligence – Insolvency rules Trustee in bankruptcy of Louise St John Poulton v Ministry of Justice: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Pill, Lloyd, Pitchford): 22 April 2010 ...

  • News

    Employment

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Civil procedure – Bonus payments – Summary judgements Saleem Khatri v Cooperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank BA: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Rix, Longmore, Jacob): 23 April 2010 ...

  • News

    Spike in mergers predicted in 2010

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The year ahead is likely to see a spike in mergers and team hires among the top 100 law firms, with 20% looking to expand overseas, according to research published this week. Sweet & Maxwell’s annual survey of law firm finance directors reveals that 40% of ...

  • News

    Manchester's legal sector has rallied following recent market turbulence

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    It’s officially all smiles in Manchester: the city has the highest level of happiness in the country, according to the UK Competitiveness Index 2010. And, in terms of actual competitiveness, it is ranked 13th overall, and the third most competitive ‘large city’. After a difficult couple of years, the city’s ...

  • News

    Off with his head

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Obiter understands how easy it is for fingers to slip while typing, so is naturally hesitant to highlight the typos of others. But a press release posted on the Bar Council’s website last week caused a moment of head scratching in Obiter Towers. ...

  • News

    (Bad) dream team

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Sick as a parrot Des. We was robbed! So wailed tearful money laundering supremo (sic) Omar ‘pimp my manager’ Choudhury (below right) coach of the Law Society Academicals, following Chancery Lane’s (close) season-opener against City slickers White & Case.

  • News

    Ass you like it

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    ‘Quite frankly, I don’t have all that many clients who call me sweetie.’ That was solicitor Frank Presland’s explanation of why he accepted the job as Sir Elton John’s business manager. It’s a sentiment with which Obiter can sympathise. But then there is much in Ronald Irving’s anthology of legal ...

  • News

    Thick as thieves

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Obiter put out a request two weeks ago for amusing anecdotes about daft defendants – and it turns out there are plenty of them about.

  • News

    APIL urges government to increase access to compensation

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The next government must provide injured workers with enhanced access to compensation, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said as a government consultation, Accessing Compensation, closed today. APIL urged the incoming government to ensure that plans laid down by the Department for Work and Pensions ...

  • News

    The Law Society can help solicitors navigate cost issues and training

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The law is a noble profession, where to succeed requires not only flair, but business acumen. This is as true for in-house solicitors (whether commerce or government-based) as it is for private practice. We all have to work within a budgetary framework and provide outputs and outcomes relative to cost. ...

  • News

    Equal treatment

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    I read in the Gazette of 22 April that the Co-operative Group is planning to promote its legal services and become an alternative business structure (see [2010] Gazette, 22 April, 4).

  • News

    ‘Gold-plating’ of anti-bribery legislation threatens competitiveness of UK business

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    by Jason Mansella barrister at 7 Bedford Row Chambers, London, specialising in white-collar crime and Financial Services Authority litigation No one would argue that before 2010 the UK’s anti-corruption legislation was not archaic and inadequate. Piecemeal attempts to make the old law fit for purpose through ...

  • News

    The bar has ambitious plans for capitalising on changes

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The bar has been criticised for being slow to respond to the opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act. Indeed, some solicitors may have been lulled into a false sense of security by its apparent inertia. Barristers have never been greatly renowned for their managerial or ...

  • News

    Partner promotions up at top City firms

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Top City law firms have upped their partner promotions this year, in what appears to be a good round for City lawyers. As the Gazette went to press, only two City firms outside the magic circle, Norton Rose and Denton Wilde Sapte, and two within ...