Last 3 months headlines – Page 1208
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Injunction
Conflict of laws – Foreign proceedings – Restraint of foreign proceedings Malhotra v Malhotra and another: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court: 30 October 2012 The claimant sought the continuation of ...
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A review of the 2012 changes to criminal law
Two major cases regarding case management were decided in 2012. In R (on the application of Drinkwater) v Solihull Magistrates’ Court [2012] EWHC 765 (Admin), the court had to consider whether a trial should be adjourned or go ahead in the absence of a defendant. Following the decision in R ...
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Smaller firms can thrive by turning size to their advantage
Sarah Harman’s comment that ‘the days of the small practice are numbered’ (My Legal Life, 14 January) is simply wrong. The days of the small general practice reliant predominantly on legal aid may well be coming to an end, but small specialist practices are unquestionably in a hugely competitive and ...
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Help is at hand for addiction
In 2006 I got a job with a City firm. It proved to be very stressful and within months my occasional recreational use of drugs had turned into a full-blown addiction. I found myself deeply in debt and alienating my family and my firm.
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No magic bullet cure for cancer
Having studied Lord Saatchi’s draft Medical Innovation Bill, I was pleased with Robert Illidge’s thoughtful perspective. As a retired NHS consultant and an expert witness with experience of medical negligence from both sides (and at the risk of becoming frightfully unpopular), I would suggest that entrusting only the medical profession, ...
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Legal advice agencies hit by funding cut
Organisations helping not-for-profit agencies and litigants in person have been dealt another blow by the decision to axe Community Legal Service grants. After consultation, the Legal Services Commission announced this week that funding to the Advice Services Alliance, Law Centres Network and the Royal Courts ...
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Business leaders have grown ‘diversity weary’
Managers of leading professional firms are growing ‘diversity weary’, according to the organisers of a poll of business leaders. Research commissioned by City firm Reed Smith found concerns that ‘a flurry’ of initiatives to encourage more women into senior roles could lead to a backlash. ...
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Family justice ‘wish list’
Children caught up in the family justice system want their cases dealt with faster and with greater support throughout the process, according to a board made up of 32 young people with direct experience of the system or an interest in children’s rights. The Family ...
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Surveying the damage
Law firms serious about sustaining – never mind building – their businesses should digest the ‘super-survey’ published last week by the Ministry of Justice, Law Society and Legal Services Board. This heavyweight (literally and metaphorically) piece of work offers the deepest insight yet into how practitioners are coping with an ...
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Is compulsory pro bono needed to fill the void left by legal aid cuts?
by Emma Pearmaine, head of family law at Simpson Millar As we approach the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act in April, I cannot help but think about my visit to Uganda in November.
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‘Common sense’ fraud ruling lauded
The Court of Appeal’s ruling that a solicitor was not liable for a building society’s losses after being duped by a fraudster has been hailed as a ‘return to common sense’. Birmingham firm Davisons was instructed by Nationwide to act in respect of the purchase of ...
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My legal life: Philip Trott
My mother was a political refugee. The family saw Hitler coming, and took a very circuitous route from Czechoslovakia to Bedford Street, London, and refuge here. Ultimately, hearing and seeing what the family had gone through caused me to practise immigration law.
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Going underground
The worm has turned. Obiter is fed up with solicitors automatically appearing as baddies in popular culture (not to mention government policy). It is time to start celebrating the profession’s historic heroes. Hero number one was inspired by this month’s 150th anniversary of the London Underground (pictured). ...
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Five-star quality
Obiter has been checking to see how Professor Richard Susskind’s new book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future, is faring at online retailer Amazon. Publisher OUP has priced the book at £9.99. At the time of writing, some vendors were already offering it at £6.73. ...
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Wall treat
A solicitor’s office in the City. Brewer, the office manager, sees pretty new 19-year-old intern Pat as fair game. Meanwhile, cynical Miss Janus’s romantic life seems to be over as she is jilted by her lover at the desperate age of 35... Sound familiar? That’s the ...
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An employee of myself?
I was pleased to read Daniel Sproull’s letter in last week’s Gazette. It has spurred me to put my head over the parapet as well. I am a 67-year-old sole practitioner with no employees. I completed part one of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s diversity survey thinking I would hear no ...
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Green in the dock with technology
Damian Green, minister for criminal justice, tries out new courtroom technology on a visit to the Crown Prosecution Service in Maidstone, Kent. Under the digital strategy of the Law Officers’ Departments, published last month, the CPS is to introduce ‘full digital working’ by December.
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Unpaid court fines still add up to £600m
The government failed to make any significant impression in the £600m outstanding debt from court fines during the past financial year. Justice minister Helen Grant revealed on Friday that outstanding impositions stood at £1.8bn by the end of April 2012.