Last 3 months headlines – Page 1722
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Human rights
Defamation – Education – Local government – Privacy – School exclusions H v Tomlinson: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Sedley, Longmore): 13 November 2008 The appellant head teacher ...
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Criminal law
Police – Torts – False imprisonment – Suspicion – Terrorism – Unlawful arrest Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Mohamed Raissi: CA (Civ Div) (Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, Lords Justice Maurice Kay, Stanley Burnton): ...
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Offshoring legal work: do lawyers risk outsourcing themselves?
When City firm Lovells was faced with reviewing more than a million documents as part of a major case, it decided to outsource the work to India – saving more than £3m in the process. This is a sign of the times – increasingly, client pressure over fees is prompting ...
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Unresolved issues relating to the role of the Supreme Court
Despite the refreshing openness of last week’s judicial seminar on the Supreme Court, some of the most difficult questions remain unanswered. We learned, for example, that more than 30 applications have been received for the three judicial posts that will have become vacant by next October ...
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The law of Property Act 1925 will not rescue clients
I refer to the unfortunate question raised in Calvert Solicitors’ letter, asking if the current recession is an ‘exceptional circumstance’ that would allow the return of a deposit under section 49(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 (see [2008] Gazette, 13 November, 13).
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Amend the contract
Calvert raises a point which, during the downturn in the financial and property markets, could cause considerable grief for property buyers. This concerns a buyer whose deposit has been forfeited turning to his solicitor’s indemnity policy to recoup his loss. Notwithstanding the fact that the Law ...
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Land Registry DIY disaster
How embarrassing for the Land Registry. It thought it could handle all property transactions and cut out the solicitors with electronic conveyancing and their own rules. Now we find that electronic conveyancing is shelved and the rules have been changed to make solicitors the last line of defence against fraud ...
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Law Society Council: opportunity lost
I write in connection with your report of the Law Society Council debate on reform of Council’s size and composition (see [2008] Gazette, 20 November, 2).
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Overseas delivery charges
Offshoring receives an indifferent press, not least because most of us have, at some time, engaged in semantic jousts with poorly paid call centre operatives possessing an inadequate grasp of colloquial English. Punting customer-facing jobs to Mumbai or Manila is fraught with risk – witness the growing phenomenon of ‘reverse ...
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Peak practice
Matthew Davies, a partner at Hill Dickinson in Liverpool, got in touch after receiving a text message from a client stuck in a blizzard 4,000 metres up Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus (and, indeed, Europe). His client wanted legal advice after an expedition member was injured: what ...
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Rat race
No jokes about rodents and sinking ships, please. The above are esteemed members of the City of London Solicitors Company, sister to the City of London Law Society, which marks its centenary this year. This was not a Pied Piper-esque flushing out of City lawyers via the Thames. It was ...
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Who ate all the pies?
Physical, cerebral and now gastronomical – no challenge is too great for brand and reputation management lawyer, Denzil Gunner. The solicitor, from London firm Atkins, is marking his 30th birthday with a series of challenges to raise money for charities the British Heart Foundation and the Strokes Association. He swam ...
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Guess that's why they called it the blues...
‘This house believes that Britain has become a more safe, just and tolerant society under Labour. Debate.’ With the battlelines thus drawn, the Society of Conservative Lawyers locked horns with the Society of Labour Lawyers, with Marcel Berlins, Guardian journalist and law lecturer, chairing the protagorean feast. ...
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Sweet sixteen
A trio of doughty legal wordsmiths can look forward to a bubble this Christmas after solving – or nearly solving – our recent anagram competition. John Seagrave of A Broken Card (aka Barker and Co) in Hull, together with Giles Bennett of Devonshires (sod his nerve!) win special plaudits for ...
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Medico-legal collapse hits solicitors
Hundreds of medical reports for personal injury claims will be delayed following the collapse of one of the country’s largest medical reporting agencies. E-Reporting Group (ERG) fell into administration on 18 November, leaving 9,000 doctors unpaid for completed reports and pending reports due to be sent ...
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Spending cuts highlight HMCS property plight
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s hopes of shaving £5bn from public spending by 2011 may quickly run into difficulties, a Gazette investigation of efficiency plans at HM Court Service (HMCS) suggests. In his Pre-Budget Report (PBR) on Monday, Darling said he expects savings from ‘more ...
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'Bypass solicitor and go straight to the bar'
Consumers will be urged to bypass solicitors and instruct barristers directly in an initiative launched by the Bar Council today. A report entitled ‘Straight there, no detours’, says that 89% of consumers who went directly to a barrister believed they got ‘better value for money’ ...
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Chef loses privacy against battle against firm
Celebrity restaurateur Marco Pierre White has had his High Court claim against City firm Withers struck out by Mr Justice Eady. White (pictured) was seeking damages for an alleged breach of privacy from Withers, his wife’s lawyers during their divorce proceedings. White claimed Withers had instructed ...
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Law Commission to clear 'mess' over adult social care statutes
The first steps in rationalising a ‘confusing jumble of statutes’ governing adult social care were set out this week by the Law Commission. A scoping paper, expected to be approved by the Department of Health, proposes a single modern statute that can be understood by ...
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Fears over UKBA immigration shake-up
Concerns are mounting in the legal profession over new immigration rules described by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) as the biggest shake-up of border security in 45 years. Tiers 2 and 5 of the points-based system, which go live today, require 20,000 employers to have ...