Last 3 months headlines – Page 1728
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'Snowy peaks' charge
Sir Ken Macdonald QC has made an outspoken attack on the criminal justice system for failing to recruit enough black and minority ethnic (BME) staff. In his final official speech as Director of Public Prosecutions, Macdonald (pictured) called on other parts of the justice system to ...
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Defendants value solicitor choice
A choice of solicitor is important to nine out of ten criminal defendants, according to a government-sponsored study published this week. Users perspectives of defence services in the criminal justice system also says that one-third of defendants at police ...
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Firm closures increase
Latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority show the number of law firm closures month-by-month since January 2005. As shown by the spike in the green line, September this year was the worst month by far, with 375 firms closing – nearly 40% higher than the September average for the ...
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Social welfare contract threat
Specialist firms could be lost to legal aid under government proposals for a single social welfare contract, practitioners have warned. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) last week began a consultation on a new procurement model for civil legal aid services. From 2010, the commission plans to ...
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Internet property plea
The Law Society should be the ‘pathfinder’ in developing systems to computerise the process of buying and selling properties, the chairman of the Society’s conveyancing and land law committee said last week. Richard Barnett, who is also senior partner at volume firm Barnetts, told the ...
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Society to vote on Council size
Law Society Council representatives are to put their heads on the block to decide the future size of the body. After more than a year of investigations into the structure of the Council, a vote will be taken at next week’s Council meeting. A consultation ...
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Boris rapped over legal snub
The Mayor of London’s decision not to invite City lawyers on to his high-level economic crisis group has drawn criticism from the City of London Law Society. The new group, which is tasked with helping London through the downturn, will meet regularly to discuss the effects ...
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Lawyers warned of individual fines
Solicitors responsible for their firms’ anti-money laundering systems will now risk being personally fined if they do not have adequate procedures in place, experts have warned. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) last week levied its first fine on a business money laundering reporting officer (MLRO). If ...
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Banking investments, loans and corporate takeovers
Energy boost: City firm Norton Rose advised the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission on signing a uranium exploration agreement with French nuclear power company Areva, and is advising on negotiations over a mining agreement. Magic circle firm Linklaters advised Areva, while Jordan firm Aljazy ...
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Freedom of information: documents and diplomats
Lawyers who act as external legal advisers to large public authorities will inevitably hold a lot of documents about the subject of their instructions. Consequently, when their clients receive Freedom of Information Act requests, some of these documents may be caught by the act as being information ‘held by another ...
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Immigration
Disability living allowance – Immigration policy – Income support – Maintenance – Reliance on third-party support (1) AM (Ethiopia) (2) SA (Somalia) (3) MB (Pakistan) (4) MI (Somalia) & anr v Entry Clearance Officer: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice ...
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Home information packs: happy birthday?
‘If ever a government needs a salutary lesson in what happens when you ignore what the stakeholders say, I introduce to you the home information pack,’ reflects Richard Barnett, chairman of the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee. There was never going to be much ...
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How to start 'em young
We like to think that the Gazette has a broad appeal, so our thanks to James Nathan, a director of legal recruiters West Associates, for this heart-warming picture of his two-year-old son Ben, which we are assured was not staged. Nathan Jr was so taken with our 25 September issue ...
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In which we served
From where Obiter was sitting, the loudest applause at last week’s Law Society Excellence Awards went not to any of the winners, but to 84-year-old Donald Winton (pictured), highly commended as legal executive of the year. His 70-year career included four wartime years in the RAF.
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On a big bender
Driving at 140 miles per hour in a petrol-guzzling dinosaur of a car is personal injury solicitor Andrew Harrison’s idea of fun. It’s not without its risks, however – he once hurt his thumb spinning off at a bend, poor love. Harrison, an assistant ...
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Loose connection
A reader called the other day to propose an idea for a feature in the Gazette. Usually our features editor is a tough nut, but on this occasion he was impressed enough to invite the caller to email the piece in. Except it turned out that the reader, a practising ...
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An end and a beginning
Richard Susskind envisages a future in which bespoke legal services will be the exception. For many lawyers, says Richard Susskind, it looks as if the party may soon be over. Clients are demanding more for less. ‘The legal market looks set to be a buyer’s ...
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Welcome in the valleys
Firms will profit form the emergence of Wales as a distinct legal jurisdiction.