Last 3 months headlines – Page 1238

  • News

    Let’s move on from LASPO, McNally urges legal aid lawyers

    2012-10-12T00:00:00Z

    Wealthy defendants in criminal cases may be allowed to fund their defences with money released from seized assets, the new legal aid minister Lord McNally said today. McNally told the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group annual conference that Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, had asked him ...

  • News

    Employment

    2012-10-12T00:00:00Z

    ‘Worker’ - Orders in family proceedings - Limited liability partnership Bates van Winkelhof v Clyde & Co LLP and another: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Lloyd, Richards, Elias): 26 September 2012 ...

  • News

    Berezovsky gets £35m costs bill

    2012-10-12T00:00:00Z

    Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky (pictured) has been ordered to pay £35m to cover the defence costs of his failed claim against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

  • News

    Practice

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Pre-trial or post-judgment relief - Freezing order JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Teare): 21 September 2012 A freezing order had been made ...

  • News

    Company

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Practice – Striking out – Abuse of process Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd v Sinclair and others: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Teare): 21 September 2012 A legal ...

  • News

    Understanding addiction

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Addiction is not the preserve of the working classes and no respecter of wealth or status, and most family lawyers at some point in their career will come into contact with clients who have addiction issues.

  • News

    Family

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Residence or contact orders – Evidence – Disclosure Re J (a child) (disclosure): Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justices Thorpe and McFarlane, Lady Justice Hallett): 21 September 2012 The ...

  • News

    Help ease the burden

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    In her article ‘Should pro bono be compulsory?’, Lia Moses refers to the New York State Bar requirement for all lawyers to carry out 50 hours of pro bono work before qualifying. Maybe even qualified solicitors should do 50 hours per annum? She urges us to fill in the questionnaire. ...

  • News

    SRA doublespeak

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    I note from your pages that the SRA has a ‘director of inclusion’ (for which post we in the profession presumably pay). It is difficult to imagine a more Orwellian title. I await to hear that we also have a ‘director of truth’ and a ‘director of love’, that doublespeak ...

  • News

    Arresting solution

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    By 2014 the UK must decide how far to be involved in EU crime co-operation measures, most notably the European arrest warrant (see ‘Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan’). Whether the UK should continue to operate the arrest warrant system is not an easy decision and not one to be ...

  • News

    Centre caught out

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    I was concerned to read that the new County Court Money Claims Centre has complained that law firms are delaying the processing of thousands of claims at the new centralised facility in Salford, as reported in the Gazette on 27 September.

  • News

    Doing it yourself: the task for COLPs and COFAs

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    When a solicitor drove off with a client’s file on the roof of their car and it was lost, reporting it as a ‘massive’ breach of the Code of Conduct was never in doubt for compliance and risk director Adele Jones.

  • News

    Costs

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Assessment – Patent – Infringement of patent Liversidge v Owen Mumford Ltd and another company: Patents County Court: 20 September 2012 The Patents County Court held that, where two defendants ...

  • News

    Grayling dishes out tough justice

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Repeat violent or sexual offenders will receive mandatory life sentences under a party conference-pleasing set of measures announced by the new justice secretary, Chris Grayling, on Tuesday. Grayling (pictured) also said the Conservatives would go into the next election with ‘a clear plan for change ...

  • News

    Solicitors cool on Conservatives' employee share scheme

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Chancellor George Osborne’s plan for employees to exchange legal rights for tax-free shares in their workplaces has received a cool reception from employment lawyers. In his speech to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Osborne said that under the ‘voluntary three-way deal’ employees would ‘replace ...

  • News

    Online legal comparison pioneer to unveil site revamp

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Legal services comparison site Wigster is planning a high-profile relaunch following the appointment last week of entrepreneur Matthew Briggs (pictured) as a director. Briggs, who is chief executive of the online claims management business Claims.com, was previously the non-lawyer chief executive of personal injury firm ...

  • News

    IBA 2012: Robinson urges lawyers to join climate fight

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    The International Bar Association has heeded a call from former Ireland president Mary Robinson (pictured) to join the fight against climate change. At its conference in Dublin, the organisation confirmed it will set up a taskforce to help fulfil the agreement reached at the UN ...

  • News

    Add-backs and costs

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    Add-back arguments in financial order proceedings tend to arise in two situations: in respect of costs, where one party has incurred significantly higher costs than the other; and where one party has dissipated assets and those assets should be added back to that party’s share. ...

  • News

    My priorities for Chris Grayling

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, Law Society president When Chris Grayling was appointed lord chancellor and justice secretary, much was made of the fact he was not a lawyer.

  • News

    No case to answer? Private prosecutions and prospects of conviction

    2012-10-11T00:00:00Z

    When should you be allowed to bring a private prosecution? The very idea that a private individual may be able to initiate the state’s powers to prosecute and punish offenders may strike some people as strange. Isn’t that the job of public prosecutors, such as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)?