Last 3 months headlines – Page 1552
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Children ‘at risk’ over expert witness fee cuts
Vulnerable children will pay the price if social workers are excluded from being expert family court witnesses, family practitioners have warned the government. Child care professionals met government representatives last week to educate them on the work done by independent social work experts (ISWs) and warn ...
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Quinn Group to ‘consider selling’ its insurance business
Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurer currently in administration, looks destined to be sold following a statement from its parent company Quinn Group issued today. Quinn Group said it had concluded that it ‘should consider selling Quinn Insurance’ in the interests of Quinn Insurance employees and ...
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What the legal services reforms could mean for how bar does business
The Legal Services Act, in combination with changes to the bar’s Code of Conduct agreed last month by the Bar Standards Board, herald a historic sea change for the bar. They give barristers the opportunity to practise in new ways that could radically change the relationship they have with solicitors. ...
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Dispute resolution: reasonable settlement and third parties
Where a defendant settles a claim with the claimant and then seeks to recover his losses from a third party, the third party may attempt to challenge the settlement on the basis that it was unreasonable. What approach, therefore, would the courts take in assessing whether a settlement was reasonable?
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Criminal law
Affray – Bystanders – Threatening to kill – Public Order Act 1986 Carol Leeson v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Lord Justice Pill, Mr Justice Rafferty): 16 April 2010 The ...
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Family law
Human rights – Local government decisions – Placement orders – Risk to children Re A (children) sub nom EH v (1) X London Borough Council (2) AA (3) Rea & Rha (by their guardian) [2010] EWCA Civ 344: ...
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Data page for April 2010
The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the data page for April 2010 below. ...
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Will parliamentary privilege protect ex-MPs from prosecution over expenses?
In a month’s time, lawyers for three former Labour MPs will try to persuade Mr Justice Saunders that he has no jurisdiction to try them on charges of false accounting.
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Bubble trouble
They say that even bad publicity is better than no publicity. As far as Jeremy Betts, managing director of My Brief in Kent is concerned, that is fortunate. Betts has got himself into a spot of bother over a cartoon (see below) which he has been using to promote his ...
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The truth about meetings
Obiter was intrigued by an insight into the workings of the Crown Prosecution Service, gleaned from an article in last week’s Guardian about the futility of meetings. A CPS ‘senior manager’ who (wisely) asked not to be named, is quoted as saying: ‘Don’t ...
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To tee or not to tee?
An unearthly hush fell over the 300-plus diners in the packed room. The chime and clink of glasses was stilled. Nobody laughed or heckled. It was what literary types like Obiter call a pregnant pause. The occasion was the black tie dinner at the annual weekend school for local government ...
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It’s a fair cop guv
Prison law associate Mike Pemberton (pictured), of Manchester firm Stephensons, went above and beyond the call of duty to try to empathise with his clients last week. He got himself banged up for half a day in a Victorian cell at the Manchester Police Museum. The heinous crimes for which ...
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Insult to injury
This year’s annual conference of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) was held at the decidedly swish Celtic Manor hotel in Cardiff. After witnessing a thoroughly satisfying day of insurer barracking, Obiter was honoured to attend the association’s gala dinner as a guest. Upon arriving in a bustling dining ...
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Solicitors need to communicate with authority on immigration questions
by Mark Phillipschair of the Law Society’s immigration law committee. He writes in a personal capacity If freedom of movement may be described as one of the most ancient and least protected customary rights, in the context of migration it must be recognised as one of ...
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Should the SRA provide discounts on PC fees for part-time workers?
Diversity considerations have occupied a fair chunk of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s time in the last couple of years, and will clearly continue to do so. Certainly, the Association of Women Solicitors’ claim that the proposed flat-rate practising certificate fee for individuals potentially discriminates against ...
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Conveyancing discrimination
I was unable recently to act on behalf of a client in a conveyancing transaction because my firm was already acting on behalf of her seller.
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Solicitors beware
The HomeBuy Direct Scheme assists first-time purchasers with government grant delivered by the Homes and Communities Agency via housing associations.
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Quinn advice
I refer to your article ‘Quinn could reopen in UK’ (see [2010] Gazette, 22 April, 2). You assert that the Law Society has advised solicitors currently insured with Quinn ‘... not to take any action’.
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Full disclosure required
Gillian Phillips is absolutely right in calling for claimant libel lawyers to disclose the outcomes of their CFA-funded cases (see [2010] Comment, 15 April, 10). CFAs and the accompanying high success fees genuinely have a ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of expression. As my firm represents the ...