Last 3 months headlines – Page 1653

  • News

    SRA’s submission to Hunt review calls for clarity

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    The division between regulatory and representative functions of the Law Society is ‘inconsistent with the requirements of the Legal Services Act’ and ‘baffling to many consumers and solicitors’, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has told Lord Hunt’s regulation review. In its submission to the Law Society-commissioned ...

  • News

    Jackson commends German costs recovery model

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Lord Justice Jackson (pictured) may consider a costs recovery system based upon the German model when he releases the preliminary findings of his 1,000 -page review into civil litigation costs early next month.

  • News

    New president sets out 10-step plan

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    The new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has hit out at insurance solicitors who, he says, fight the conditional fees ‘costs war’ from the ‘comfort zone of risk-free retainers’.

  • News

    Restraint orders ­under the Proceeds of Crime Act

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    It is estimated that organised crime costs the UK some £40bn a year. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ­trailblazed some unprecedented powers of asset restraint and confiscation in an attempt to remove the profit and, ultimately, motivation for committing economic crime.

  • News

    Tax

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Trusts – Capital gains tax – Double taxation treaties - Mauritius (1) Trevor Smallwood and Mary Caroline Smallwood (trustees of the Trevor Smallwood Trust) (2) Trevor Smallwood v Revenue & Customs Commissioners: Ch D (Mr Justice Mann): 8 April ...

  • News

    Plain speaking

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Obiter would like to remind readers of the following article that no liability shall be implied by any failure to take, perfect or enforce any indemnity, guarantee or security in respect of the obligations to which this article relates or by any other ...

  • News

    Keep it in the family

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    A father and son team of solicitor advocates is poised to take on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) this week. John (the father) and William (the son) Mackenzie represent Lance Bombardier Kerry Fletcher, who was awarded over £170,000 damages by Leeds Employment Tribunal last autumn for sex and sexual-orientation discrimination ...

  • News

    RCJ goes green to mark new chapter

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    As you can see from the picture, it is that time of year again. No, not Halloween, but the arrival of this year’s edition of The Civil Court Practice, known to all as the Green Book. To mark the tenth anniversary of the Woolf reforms, LexisNexis, the publishers of the ...

  • News

    Memory lane

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    The President reads the Barristers and Solicitors (qualification of women) Bill and the 1999 Women Lawyer Forum ‘Mainstreaming: dismantling the barriers’ The Law Society's Gazette, April 1919 ...

  • News

    On yer bike

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Hannah Cash, a commercial law solicitor at Rooks Rider in London, has completed a 760km bike ride across the Andes from Argentina to Chile, raising £3,000 for MENCAP. The seven-day route climbed to 1,320 metres through the Puyehue Pass, finishing at the Pacific Ocean. The money raised by the ...

  • News

    Manifold delights of Italian wine

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Alfresco eating in the garden, balmy nights watching the football season play out its final act, firing up the barbecue and the excitement of four months of parties, festivals and cricket – can it really be happening? Has summer finally arrived? It may be a little ...

  • News

    PII working group

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    I would like to express my disappointment that the recent article headed ‘PII premiums to rise, crisis group warns’ used the word ‘crisis’ to describe the situation and the purpose of the group...

  • News

    Lukewarm defence

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    The defence by Barry Hughes, chief Crown prosecutor, London, of his associate prosecutors can be described as lukewarm at best (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 9).

  • News

    First impressions

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Kevin Beach acknowledges that it is ‘a long time since I practised criminal law’ (see [2009] Gazette, 17 April, 9). This comment is unlikely to inspire confidence in readers seeking to derive an informed judgement on the abilities of associate prosecutors.

  • News

    Missed opportunities for reform

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    On 5 March Gazette reporter Jonathan Rayner wrote a deeply personal and disturbing account of his son’s experiences of the criminal justice and mental health services.

  • News

    If the cap doesn't fit, don't wear it

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Attention corporate counsel – the big four accountancy firms are trying yet again to limit the extent to which they can be sued for audit failures.

  • News

    The Equality Bill – what’s all the fuss about?

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    It’s open season on Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill, published this week. One newspaper dubbed it ‘unfair on men’...

  • News

    SRA considers rise in Compensation Fund levy

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Cash-strapped solicitors may have to pay ‘a significantly larger’ sum into the Compensation Fund as more firms require intervention in a deepening recession. Papers considered last week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority board forecast that the number of interventions is expected to rise from 71 in 2008 to more than ...

  • News

    Reforms to the Local Transport Act 2008 will create more work for lawyers

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    The humble bus is about to drive through a number of new avenues for litigation, following enactment of the Local Transport Act 2008. Traffic commissioners, most of whom were originally solicitors, will gain wider powers to fine operators who run unsafe vehicles, to impound the offending ...

  • News

    Data page for April 2009

    2009-04-30T00:00:00Z

    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. Downloads Download the ...