Last 3 months headlines – Page 1697
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QC: judiciary 'scandal'
Leading discrimination and equality QC Karon Monaghan has labelled the make-up of the judiciary a ‘national scandal’. Speaking at the Royal Courts of Justice during the annual Inside Justice Week, Monaghan spoke of advances and improvements made in equality thanks to the Human Rights Act and wider legislation. But she ...
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Tories probe client rules
The government will be put under political pressure to clarify what would happen if a bank’s collapse wiped out client money held in law firms’ accounts, the Gazette has learned. Jonathan Djanogly, the Conservative shadow Solicitor General, told the Gazette he would press the Treasury for ...
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Cash hitch for KBF suitors
The search by Key Business Finance (KBF) for a new backer could be hampered because potential buyers will struggle to find cash in the current climate, accountants have warned. However, solicitors who have taken out KBF loans are unlikely to be forced to repay them if ...
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Market regulation overhaul call
Stricter regulation, broader regulatory powers and effective global cooperation are needed to ensure financial regulators can manage markets better in the future, markets watchdog the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) warned lawyers in London last week. Companies and individuals responsible for the recent fall-out should ...
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Lawyer guidance on money laundering
Special guidance to help lawyers avoid money launderers was agreed by international organisations last week. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body charged with combating money laundering and terrorist financing, agreed to publish new guidance in conjunction with the International Bar Association (IBA), American ...
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Purchases, developments and leasing
Energy boost: City firm Norton Rose acted for Vattenfall, the Swedish energy company, on its £52m purchase of Eclipse Energy UK, which was advised by City firm Watson Farley & Williams. West ...
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Arbitration guidelines
Simpler, cheaper, quicker – cross-border arbitrators are working with new guidelines from the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. The American Arbitration Association (AAA), through its international arm, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), issued new guidelines to arbitrators this year, effective from May 31. They ...
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Criminal: trials in absence, youth crime, hearsay
Where a defendant fails to appear for trial and the judge is sure that he has deliberately absented himself, it is necessary to proceed in the defendant’s absence (R v Anthony Jones [2003] 1 AC1).
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Arbitration
Conflict of laws – Insolvency – Applicable law – Arbitration agreements – EC law (1) Josef Syska acting as the administrator of Elektrim SA (in bankruptcy) (2) Elektrim SA (in bankruptcy) v (1) Vivendi Universal SA (2) Vivendi ...
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Intellectual property
Computers – Excluded subject matter – Patentability - Software Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Jacob, Maurice Kay, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury): 8 October 2008 ...
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Employment
Employees – Racism – Suspension from work – Unfounded allegations of racist abuse Centrewest London Buses Ltd v Ukachukwu: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice Maurice Kay, Stanley Burnton): 8 October 2008 ...
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Personal injury
Addiction – Causation – Contributory negligence – Expert evidence – Prison offices Ryan St George (a patient suing by his father and litigation friend David St George) v Home Office: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Dyson, Lloyd): 8 ...
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Human rights
Health – Assisted reproduction – Consent to treatment – EC law L v (1) Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (2) Secretary of State for Health: Fam Div (Mr Justice Charles): 3 October 2008 ...
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Economic downturn impacts Welsh firms
Law firms in Wales, from big commercial firms to rural high street practices, are waiting to see just how they will be affected by the turmoil afflicting the wider UK economy. ‘No one is immune to what is happening but there aren’t the extremes here,’ says Alan Meredith, senior partner ...
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A hard act to follow
Lord Bingham was the perfect person to address the recent Conference of World City Bar Leaders.
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The bigger they are - the harder they fall?
A Law Society review of solicitor regulation is both timely and welcome.
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Toxic waste
I write with reference to Peter Williamson’s article ‘Rehearsing for the Big Bang’ on the advent of alternative business structures (see [2008] Gazette, 9 October, 10). I remember the government’s decision some years ago to have ‘light-touch’ regulation of the financial sector. We are all now ...
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Litigation slur
I write as chair of the Law Society Civil Litigation Committee, and on behalf of litigation solicitors, to correct a very inaccurate slur upon solicitors in the feature headlined ‘Have your say’ (see [2008] Gazette, 16 October, 16). The author says that ‘the profession has so ...
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Small wonders
I refer to Brian Craig’s comments alluding to the creation of a ‘cottage industry’ in respect of criminal legal aid firms (see [2008] Gazette, 9 October, 3). Such a view is unqualified and is also patronising towards smaller criminal practices. Mr Craig apparently believes that larger firms should be entitled ...