Last 3 months headlines – Page 1699
-
News
International arbitration: getting pricier, but still growing
When Eurotunnel sought £30m in compensation for losses incurred through illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel, damaging terminal buildings and causing disruption to services, it blamed both France and Britain: France for the Sangatte hostel fiasco, creating a so-called departure lounge for illegals and the UK for its apathy in ...
-
News
Shipping: damages for breach of contract
Two recent decisions of the House of Lords have developed the law on the assessment of damages for breach of contract.
-
News
Personal injury
Clinical negligence – Consent to treatment – Neurological disorders – Duty of care Janet Birch v University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: QBD (Mr Justice Cranston): 29 September 2008 ...
-
News
Arbitration
Customer law – Appointments – Enforcement – Unfair contract terms Mylcrist Builders Ltd v G Buck: QBD (TCC) (Mr Justice Ramsey): 19 September 2008 The applicant building company (M) applied ...
-
News
Family residence
A look at the changing status of the residence order pursuant to the Children Act 1989. A residence order (section 8 of the Children Act 1989) means ‘an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom a child is to live’. ...
-
News
PI mediation: moving to alternate methods of resolution
Many lawyers still need convincing about the benefits of mediation, but its impact in personal injury cases can be hugely beneficial. ‘I felt like I was beating my head against the door for four years, just getting nowhere. The lawyers were ...
-
News
How oil prices and the credit crunch affect aviation law
Airlines have gone to the wall as the price of oil rockets. How can lawyers help the industry weather the turbulence? Airlines are, metaphorically, falling out of the skies. A lethal combination of the credit crisis, the accompanying downturn in customer demand and recent high oil ...
-
News
Your clients in their sites
Should we be shocked at the idea of a website auctioning off cases to the highest bidder? It will make many instinctively uncomfortable, but it is arguably just a logical next step in the journey of the past four and a half years, since the ban on paying referral fees ...
-
News
A matter of principles
The aim of the Law Society’s regulation review is to protect the public while also supporting the profession. Regulation sets the standards by which all solicitors are judged. At its best it offers clients a sense of security by assuring them that a professional is looking ...
-
News
Stalemate in Strasbourg
Why Russia holds the key to creating a streamlined European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights has become a victim of its own success. Applications are up by 23% compared with last year. There are some 95,000 cases pending. Last month, the ...
-
News
Consultation, confusion and Clementi
I was surprised to read your item about the Law Society's review of regulation, and the reported comments of the Society's chief executive, Desmond Hudson (see [2008] Gazette, 9 October, 1). The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) had been unaware of the Society's plans until last week and did not know ...
-
News
Fees feedback
I write in response to Mark Thompson’s letter ‘Swings and roundabouts?’ (see [2008] Gazette, 2 October, 9). It is clear that, in this case, Mr Thompson has a client who has required considerable extra work to be undertaken on their behalf.
-
News
Victory for science
In your article ‘Down on the Farm’ (see [2008] Gazette, 25 September, 16) you quoted a Welsh firm of commercial solicitors stating that it was essentially fear of political fallout which motivated the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to call off the proposed badger cull in the ...
-
News
Charter clarity
I am writing to clarify an inaccuracy concerning the postal ballot on the new Law Society charter. I want to assure all members that non-solicitors will not become members of the Society. They will be able to buy affiliate status that would give them access to products and services that ...
-
News
Wine column: feeling the heat
Climate change will have a profound effect on global winemaking. It used to be only the British that talked about the weather. Now, rather like the late Victorian field sports we exported across the world, talking about the climate appears to have become a global pastime. ...
-
News
Happy David?
Our collection of legal typing errors continues to grow. Ian Sanderson at Nigel Davis Solicitors, Belper, recalls a young civil litigator almost signing off a letter to ‘Mr X, Consultant Sturgeon’. ‘My trainee secretary did not see the funny side as I pictured the noble ...
-
News
Farewell drink
Even in these uncertain times, you would have thought that selling alcohol to lawyers would be a surefire business proposition. In recent weeks, however, a large padlock and a ‘lease for sale’ sign have appeared on the door of Obiter’s neighbour, the splendid Hodgsons Wine Bar. Over the years, the ...
-
News
Bertie the bubble car - a BMW in disguise
Kim Griffith, wills and probate partner at Devon firm Roger Richards, emailed Obiter with a typing slip that caused much sniggering when it came in. Her firm used to contain the name Hayman, so you can probably guess the virginal error.