Last 3 months headlines – Page 1723
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Outcry at lawyer ban
Former Lord Justice Sir Henry Brooke and other legal figures have expressed outrage at the UK’s decision to refuse entry to a Nepalese human rights lawyer on a European speaking tour. Human rights lawyer, journalist and author Jitman Basnet has been detained and tortured by Maoist ...
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Rate of firm closures increases
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) says it expects to shut down 56% more law firms this year than it did last. The number of ‘interventions’ could reach 75 by the end of the year, compared with 48 in 2007. Intervention involves the SRA sending an agent ...
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Insurance rethink
Staggered renewal dates for professional indemnity insurance (PII) and a return to the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) are being considered by the Law Society’s PII crisis group, as the number of firms in the assigned risks pool (ARP) looks set to register a six-fold increase. As ...
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Legal services body director suspended
The director-elect of a pioneering shared legal services organisation has been suspended from his current role as head of legal and democratic services at Northamptonshire County Council. Chris Whittington was appointed director of Legal Services Lincolnshire (LSL) in October and is expected to take up his ...
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Vulnerable face discrimination
Vulnerable offenders suffer ‘systemic and routine discrimination’ at the hands of the police, court and prison services, according to a damning report.
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Solicitors warned over property competitions
Solicitors advising clients who are selling their homes through ‘house competitions’ must act with caution to avoid falling foul of the gambling laws or complicity in fraud or money laundering, the Law Society has warned. The collapse of the housing market has prompted a growing number ...
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Sharia 'could have averted crisis'
The use of Sharia ethics might have helped avert the current financial crisis, the head of a legal think-tank said this week. ‘The continuing turmoil has cast Islamic finance centre stage,’ Malik Dahlan, principal and chief lawyer at Institution Quraysh, told a London seminar. ‘Were ...
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ADR encouraged in planning process
Replacing planning appeals with alternative dispute resolution (ADR) could help save businesses and councils £300m a year, the government claimed this week. The proposals, published by the Communities and Local Government department, call for a ‘more proportionate’ planning system, removing nearly 40% of minor non-residential developments ...
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Technology mergers, charity deals and educational investments
Pop for poppies: South-west firm Wilsons advised charity Help for Heroes, which cares for British soldiers post-conflict, on an agreement with music producer Simon Cowell’s (inset) production company for a share of profits received from the sale of music single Hero. Finalists from ...
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In-house lawyers, the Gazette needs you
Take part in our survey of what in-house lawyers are thinking, and doing, about outsourcing work offshore. To follow this week's feature on outsourcing and offshoring legal work (see Features section), the Gazette needs your input to a survey on what businesses are doing in terms ...
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Data page for November 2008
The data page is financial rates and data compiled for the Law Gazette by Moneyfacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. Downloads Download the Data ...
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Criminal law: Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons)
On 6 April this year, new legislation to control curved bladed swords came into force. Since that time there has been a great deal of confusion over the intended interpretation of the statute.
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Employment law
Equal pay – Justification – Remuneration – Sex discrimination – Shift workers Blackburn and anor v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Scott Baker, Maurice Kay, Wilson): 6 November 2008 ...
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Family law
Contact orders – Fairness – Orders restricting further applications – Residence orders Re G (a child): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Rimer): 6 November 2008 The appellant father (F) ...
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Personal injury
Negligence – Health and safety at work – Employers’ liability – Application of exception to ‘but for’ test of causation Grace Sanderson (administratrix of the estate of Mr Sanderson, deceased) v Donna Marie Hull: CA (Civ Div) (Lords ...
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Criminal law
Computers – Criminal Cases Review Commission – Indecent photographs of children – Knowledge – Detected computer images R v Christopher Rowe: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Mr Justice Swift, Mr Justice Cranston): 3 ...
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Criminal evidence
Competence – Learning difficulties – Sexual activity with children - Witness R v M: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Richards, Mr Justice Foskett, Mr Justice Jacob): 4 November 2008 The ...
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Tougher credit rules and anxious clients
‘Cash is king’, the practice management mantra for firms in the downturn, is sadly more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The collapse last month of Key Business Finance (KBF), the specialist solicitors’ lending arm of the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki, is a case in point.
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A simple solution to the problem of non-compliance
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) reports that the level of compliance in relation to referral arrangements remains low. Antony Townsend makes plain his disappointment (see [2008] Gazette, 6 November, 1). It appears that the SRA does not understand why this is happening. We believe we do, and that the reason, ...
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Day of reckoning
I congratulate Martyn Day on the success he is having in his use of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) (see [2008] Gazette, 6 November, 14), but it is important to add that the Legal Services Commission (LSC) still funds major group claims.