Last 3 months headlines – Page 1575
-
News
Striking the right chord
As wise old Obiter always suspected, Manchester solicitor Andy Booth, who plays in ‘European electro goth’ band the Cassandra Complex, is not the only rock-tastic lawyer out there, and we have photographic evidence to prove it (right). Paul ‘The Rock’ Rosser, personal injury partner at Leo Abse & Cohen in ...
-
News
Fancy footwork
With just over a week until the World Cup kicks off, it seems football fever is already taking a vice-like hold over the legal profession. Fancying themselves as solicitor-versions of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard et al (in football terms only, we stress), lawyers at Manchester firm Ralli have made ...
-
News
Intellectual property
Brand names - Comparative advertising - Infringement - Perfumes (1) L’Oréal SA (2) Lancôme Parfums et Beauté and CIE (3) Laboratoire Garnier and CIE v (1) Bellure NV (2) Malaika Investments Ltd (T/A Honeypot Cosmetic and Perfumery Sales) (3) ...
-
News
Listen and learn
I enjoyed reading Gordon Turner’s reflections on his experience of acting as a juror (see [2010] Gazette, 27 May, 10).
-
News
Spiralling costs
As a residential property specialist, I have become increasingly concerned at the charges made by management companies and freeholders when buying or selling leasehold properties.
-
News
Employment
Civil procedure – Ballots – Compliance – Industrial action British Airways Plc v Unite the Union: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Lady Justice Smith): 20 May 2010 ...
-
News
Daunting challenges that sole practitioners face may jeopardise their future
by Lawumi Biriyok, a principal at London firm Biriyok Show, and is chair of the Sole Practitioners Group Mortgage lenders have failed to appreciate the embarrassment caused to sole practitioners (SPs) resulting from their unjust and unwarranted decisions to remove conveyancing SPs from their panels.
-
News
What are people posting about your firm?
Curiously, some Gazette readers saw fit to shoot the messenger when we exposed the egregious activities of blacklisting website Solicitorsfromhell, whose owner charges solicitors and firms for the removal of third-party postings. We were accused of somehow being complicit in this distasteful and cynical enterprise. In ...
-
News
A new government offers an opportunity to look afresh at old issues
Earlier in the year, before the election, the Law Society brought its major concerns, anxieties and ideas together in one handy document, Delivering Justice: The Law Society Manifesto. The main theme was that of curbing the increasing power of the state and safeguarding the freedom of the individual.
-
News
Employment law: the Equality Act 2010 – pressing the launch button
Not all good ideas make the grade. Hover cars, that dream of youth, have still to take off and the BBC has cancelled my suggested Tolkien-based detective series, Midsommer Mordor. Pity.
-
News
City firm Denton Wilde Sapte set to decide on transatlantic merger
Partners at City firm Denton Wilde Sapte and US firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal are set to decide next Wednesday whether to give the green light to a merger of the firms. The merged firm, SNR Denton, would comprise 1,400 lawyers and boast combined revenues of ...
-
News
Top firms suffer revenue fall – but profits rise
Revenues at top law firms have slipped over the last year, but some firms have seen a significant recovery in partner profits, early results suggest. Of the three major firms that had reported financial results for 2009/10 as the Gazette went to press, all saw falls ...
-
News
Amend the brothel closure laws now
by Nichi Hodgsonan editorial assistant on the Gazette/sections magazines publishing team Changes to the laws on prostitution that were intended to make life safer for women sex workers have actually made matters worse.
-
News
High street firms ‘can survive’ in post-Legal Services Act market
High street solicitors can survive in the post-Legal Services Act market, but need a more creative approach to pricing, branding and service delivery, according to a group of key industry figures. At a roundtable debate last week marking the launch of Shopping Around, a report published ...
-
News
Michael Mansfield QC honoured at Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards
Civil rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC received the outstanding achievement accolade at the eighth Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards last week. Mansfield, who retired from practice last year, was honoured for a career that spanned 40 years, during which he acted in high-profile cases ...
-
News
SRA drafts rulebook for new regulation regime
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued a first draft of the 10 new principles which will form the basis of a new ‘outcomes-focused regulation’ regime. The broad principles are contained in a simplified handbook published for consultation by the SRA last week. ...
-
News
European Commission to split justice department in two
The European Commission (EC) is set to transform the way justice is administered across member states, it has emerged.
-
News
Call for new litigation funding model
A new model of litigation funding is needed to secure access to justice for people of limited means, academics said this week. A joint study by the University of Oxford and the University of Lincoln suggested that, while third party funding has improved access to justice ...
-
News
RTA claims portal ‘progress’ – but 50 firms still without login details
Some 50 law firms were still awaiting delayed login details for the new road traffic accident (RTA) claims exchange as the Gazette went to press because of a ‘processing error’. In addition, some firms were still unable to plug their case management systems into the RTA ...
-
News
Luton solicitor jailed over £158k fraud
A Luton solicitor has been jailed for 12 months for falsely claiming more than £150,000 from the Legal Services Commission. Najaf Shah, who worked at Alexander Solicitors and Advocates in Luton, submitted fraudulent legal aid bills totalling £158,000. In one instance he claimed for 101 prison ...