Last 3 months headlines – Page 1719
-
News
Points-based immigration
Now the old work permit scheme has gasped its last breath, employers and legal practitioners alike may soon recall with fondness the bygone age of the paper work permit. On 27 November, the work permit scheme was replaced by tier 2 of the points-based system (PBS) ...
-
News
Human rights
Bicycles – Exemptions – Notification - Processions Kay v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: HL (Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood): 26 November 2008 ...
-
News
Group litigation: the coming of class actions?
The recession, with the government’s bail-out of the banks, could provide fertile territory for lawyers that specialise in group litigation.
-
News
Word on the street
Let’s face it: if you’re left cold by Olympic sport and televised ballroom dancing, 2008 wasn’t a great year for culture. However, it did produce a spate of books written by lawyers, former lawyers, or with a legal theme. So, if you’re hunting down a ...
-
News
Cash desk
Never mind the frosty meteorological and economic climate - partners at a firm in Barnard Castle, County Durham, have good reason to be full of festive cheer. Clearing out some furniture, the family-run practice found it had what antique expert and TV presenter David Dickinson would call ‘a real bobby ...
-
News
Reprieve from F1's skid row
Never mind the frosty meteorological and economic climate - partners at a firm in Barnard Castle, County Durham, have good reason to be full of festive cheer. Clearing out some furniture, the family-run practice found it had what antique expert and TV presenter David Dickinson would call ‘a real bobby ...
-
News
Flamenco fever
Forget Strictly Come Dancing, now promenading towards its sequined climax; flamenco fever is sweeping the legal profession. Bethany Burrow, a corporate associate in the London office of US firm Sidley Austin, together with some of her dance class, including Joan Vis of Tyrer Roxburgh & Co and Mac Macmillan of ...
-
News
A new insurance policy
We are learning the hard way about the hazards of an economic model predicated on letting the market rip. In the market for professional indemnity insurance (PII), some of these hazards are evident in microcosm. When the market was soft and premiums low, it appeared sensible for firms to obtain ...
-
News
Clamping down on corruption
In the 16th century, Bishop Latimer said of judges: ‘They all love bribes. Bribery is a princely kind of thieving.’ Corruption and its effect is therefore nothing new, and yet the government’s attempt to reform the bribery laws to reflect modern business reality has been long and tortuous. ...
-
News
Challenges for the SRA in 2009
There is no disguising the fact that the past year has been a challenging one for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). There have been a number of issues on our agenda, including embedding best equality and diversity practice in everything we do; preparing for new types of firms spawned by ...
-
News
Contingency fee problems 'modest'
It is worth emphasising a few points regarding contingency fees (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 2). The evidence is not that contingency fees present no problems, but that those problems are more modest than many assume. They do not give rise to rampant, unmerited litigation, but they do give rise ...
-
News
Direct access only works for a few
As a practising barrister (and former solicitor), I strongly disagree with Tim Dutton QC (pictured), chairman of the bar, who supports direct access by lay people to counsel. It can work for a tiny minority who can marshal documents and evidence, write and speak coherently, and ...
-
News
Complaints and planning options
Your article ‘LCS to cut spend by 10% next year’ offers a number of assumptions about the future Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) and the role within it of Legal Complaints Service (LCS) staff (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 3).
-
News
Salaried partners need guidance
I refer to BD Woodhams’ letter ‘Unworkable scenario’ (see [2008] Gazette, 13 November, 13). This concerned the reprimand given to a salaried partner by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, even though she was not aware of the infringements caused by the sole equity partner of the firm in question.
-
News
Council reforms not workable
While it may be perceived to be a little anomalous for Law Society Council members to extend the nature of the debate from the Council chamber to the columns of the Gazette, a rejoinder to the letter of Tim O’Sullivan might be of interest to the profession (see [2008], Gazette, ...
-
News
Back to the future
I would like to press the Law Society to consider a return to the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (see ‘Insurance rethink’ [2008] Gazette, 27 November, 3). That may have been a little more expensive than competitive tendering in the open market, but at least we all knew where we stood - ...
-
News
A stain on our reputation
I note that the authors of the Solicitor’s Handbook 2008 say that the solution to compliance in respect of referral arrangements is to send out compliance packs (see [2008] Gazette, 20 November, 9). Wrong. But the solution to non-compliance can, as they contend, be described ...
-
News
Let's behave as professionals
The suggestions of the two QCs in the Gazette are excellent, subject to one point . The ideal solution would be to reinstate the ban on referral fees, which are regarded by many within and outside the profession as reprehensible - let us behave as professional people and comply with ...
-
News
Sharia inaccuracy
The news item headed ‘Sharia "could have averted crisis"’ is inaccurate because it suggests 85% of all transactions approved by financial institutions’ own sharia boards are not compliant with the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions in Bahrain (AAOIFI) (see [2008] Gazette, 27 November, 6). ...
-
News
Tribunal judges must be impartial
Your 4 December issue contained an advertisement for chairmen of Employment Tribunals (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 22). The advertisement reads: ‘Can you help put right the wrongs? We all know somebody who has been unfairly treated at work, but we often feel helpless to do anything about it. If ...