Last 3 months headlines – Page 1693
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Standing out from the crowd
If a law firm launched a campaign that boasted ‘we will act in your best interests and provide you with good service’, it would seem a modest boast indeed.
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Getting personal
‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,’ advised Sun Tzu, the Chinese general and military strategist. Manchester Law Society has clearly taken this message to heart. The latest issue of its journal, The Messenger (Harbinger, more like) includes an article from shy and retiring BBC ...
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New tricks treat
From now on, Obiter wants to see more musicians on this page. Like the family departments of Cumbrian law firms Temple Heelis and Thomson Wilson Pattinson which, in the spirit of ‘give a little bit’, took the idea of collaborative law one step further by organising and funding a live ...
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Proof in the pudding
Our collection of legal typos continues to grow – and some of them would make Russell Brand blush. In the more printable category, Edm und Coxhead of PCB Solicitors recalls being intrigued by the mention of an ‘enjoyment rug’ in a typed-up draft of a will. ...
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Identity cards and protecting information
I was surprised to hear a former colleague mentioned on Radio 4’s News Quiz last week. Harvey Mattinson – now with GCHQ – suggested that it was ‘absolute bunkum’ for politicians to claim that ID cards would help thwart terrorism.
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Let 'em eat cake
Talk about having your cake and eating it. Walsall solicitors Enoch Evans is looking for sponsorship for the forthcoming local half-marathon. But hey, who can motivate themselves to slog through all those miles of training on wet November evenings unless there is a tangible benefit ...
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Making regulation credible
You may have read in the press that the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have had what might be called a ‘full and frank’ exchange of views. The trigger was the way in which the Law Society had established Lord Hunt’s review into the future of regulation.
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Building Society mergers, offshore farms and property development
Big build: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is advising Skipton Building Society on its proposed merger with Scarborough Building Society, which, if completed, would create a society with 860,000 members and more than £16bn in assets. Completion is expected in early 2009. ...
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Can 83-year old legislation enable home buyers to recoup deposits
We have clients who signed a contract in June 2007 to purchase a flat in a large new development, off-plan. At exchange of contracts, they had a mortgage offer based on the flat having a value of £470,000 and they paid a deposit of £47,000. ...
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Court fidelity
It was disappointing to read Roger Smith’s rather unforgiving assessment of the recent performance of the US Supreme Court (see [2008] Gazette, 23 October, 10). Mr Smith singled out the court’s decision in Boumediene v Bush as an example of the court’s ‘illiberalism’, yet this was ...
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Anglo-Welsh
I am sure I was not alone in reading your focus on Wales with a mixture of interest and frustration (see [2008] Gazette, 23 October, 12). The thriving legal community in Chester was barely mentioned.
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Societies seek united front
The City of London Law Society and the Law Society have begun meeting formally to discuss potential areas of co-operation, the Gazette has learned. David McIntosh (pictured), City of London Law Society chairman, said the two societies were developing a ‘sensible liaison’ to present a ...
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Medical care 'lottery' for detainees
A top forensic physician has criticised the quality of medico-legal help available to some police station detainees, backing lawyers’ claims that cost-cutting in medical care could block access to justice.
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Blow for third-party funding
A leading Australian litigation funder has pulled out of its European joint venture less than six months after it set up, the Gazette can reveal. In a blow to the nascent third-party funding market, IMF has withdrawn from Claims Funding International (CFI), which it formally launched ...
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Courting the regions
Claimants will no longer be forced to come to London to have administrative cases heard, under plans to improve access to justice due to be announced by the Ministry of Justice. The Gazette has learned that four regional centres of the Administrative Court are to open ...
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Child care cost case fails
Councils have failed in their attempt to challenge increases in court fees for child care and placement applications. High Court judges last week dismissed a claim brought by four local authorities that the policy of ‘full cost recovery’ in family proceedings was unlawfully introduced. Since ...
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Legal aid burden
Job cuts at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) could increase administrative burdens on legal aid solicitors, practitioner groups have warned. The LSC announced last week it is to shed 600 posts, reducing its workforce to 1,100, and close seven of its 13 offices. ‘More efficient processes ...
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KBF back in business soon?
Troubled legal lender Key Business Finance (KBF) could be back in business within weeks – but money already paid to KBF would remain in the hands of its administrators. Gazette sources said KBF’s management team is looking to buy ...
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'Right to reject' goods at risk
Plans for a new European directive on consumer rights would place UK consumers in a weaker position, the Law Commission has warned. Commissioners said the Consumer Rights Directive could lead to the abolition of the ‘right to reject’ faulty goods for a refund within a reasonable ...
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New assault on third-party capture
Solicitors are joining forces to attack the practice of insurance companies ‘capturing’ personal injury clients. The move reflects continuing concern that some insurance companies are pressurising claimants into instructing companies’ panel solicitors, rather than their independent solicitor, and to accept reduced compensation.