Last 3 months headlines – Page 1260

  • News

    Immigration

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Detention - Unlawful detention - False imprisonment - Damages BA and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Bail for Immigration Detainees intervening): Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Sir Anthony May P, Lady Justice Black and Lord ...

  • News

    I look forward to working to ensure the profession thrives

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I know that many Law Society members are having a difficult time right now, and it certainly is not the first time in my career that the death of the high street has been predicted. It is also true that current practising and economic conditions are exceptionally testing for many ...

  • News

    In-house: no more an overhead

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Budget restrictions and financial pressures will cause many councils to place increasing demand on their legal teams to deliver efficiencies, while maintaining high professional standards. Most struggle to do this in the traditional way - by reducing overheads, removing staff or cutting service levels. So at Kent, we tried to ...

  • News

    In-house: the Government Legal Service

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I feel fortunate to have found my way into the Government Legal Service (GLS), which three-and-a-half decades on continues to deliver on its original promise as a career.

  • News

    Quotas and targets will help change mindset

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I write in response to Lucinda Moule’s comment entitled ‘Wrong targets’. I agree that there needs to be more opportunities given to children attending comprehensive schools. However, I do not believe creating more selective schools is the answer. This may be the answer for law firms, but not for the ...

  • News

    Grammar push

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I very much agree with Lucinda Moule’s article. I am from a working class background and my school did not push me in the same way that my brother (who went to a boys’ grammar school) and my mother who went to an ‘old style’ grammar school after passing her ...

  • News

    No replacement yet for £10m High Court IT failure

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Justice officials have admitted they cannot say when a new computer system will replace a £10m failed attempt to upgrade IT in the High Court. The Electronic Working System, designed to speed up cases in the Royal Courts of Justice, was ditched in March after what ...

  • News

    Bar victory over ‘cab rank’ rule

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Changes to the ‘cab rank’ rule approved last week will pave the way for new standard contractual terms between solicitors and barristers. Under amendments to the Bar Standards Board’s code of conduct approved by the Legal Services Board, the cab rank rule will apply where work ...

  • News

    Panel cull

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I have today (24 July) received an email advising me that I have been removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel with immediate effect due to very few instructions. However, on 1 February 2012, I paid £118.80 to Santander as the fee for its annual panel membership review. ...

  • News

    Police investigation

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    I cannot believe the police are right to tell Angela Neale that they will not investigate an apparent conveyancing fraud unless the potential victim (the prospective buyer) complained. The police have a duty to investigate crime whenever it is brought to their attention. The John ...

  • News

    Clap trap

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    It surprises me to hear that frustrated passengers, queuing for hours in immigration control at our airports, and who resort to ‘hand-clapping’, now risk the attention of the police and a potential caution, presumably under the Public Order Act.

  • News

    LSC to face judicial review over report costs

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society is to challenge by judicial review a Legal Services Commission decision to meet just one-third of the costs of an expert witness report ordered by a county court on behalf of a child. The LSC declined to pay the full costs of the ...

  • News

    Firm pays tribute to kind solicitor

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    The funeral will be held next week of solicitor and father-of-three James Ward, who died last month after being shot in his office. The 58-year-old, who helped to found Wiltshire firm Morris Goddard & Ward more than 20 years ago, was described by colleagues as a ...

  • News

    Damages uplift ruling sparks call for clarity

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Lawyers have called for extra guidance after claiming a judicial announcement on damages raises more questions than answers. The Court of Appeal last week handed down a judgment that will lead to a 10% increase in general damages in most civil cases from 1 April next ...

  • News

    Kent partner drums at Olympics ceremony

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    Pete Kenyon, 38, a partner at Kent corporate and commercial firm Vertex Law, spent three months rehearsing for his drumming role in the Olympics opening ceremony. He said: ‘We were all a bit jetlagged when it finished.’ So what’s next? ‘Just the closing ­ceremony,’ he ...

  • News

    Immigration red tape deters investors

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    A stream of ‘excessive and onerous’ restrictions on immigration risks making the UK an unattractive destination for overseas investors, lawyers have warned.

  • News

    City lawyers cautious on fast-track scheme

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    City lawyers have cautiously welcomed government proposals for a fast-track procedure for smaller businesses launching private actions under competition law. The City of London Law Society said a fast-track scheme would make bringing an action cheaper and simpler for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Responding ...

  • News

    Community designs and the design corpus

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    In a recent case in the ongoing ­battle between Apple and Samsung, the High Court has provided fresh guidance on assessing the infringement of community designs, and in particular the subject of the ‘existing design corpus’ (or ‘prior art’), and several passing comments which will be of interest to any ...

  • News

    In-house: delivering the goods

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    When an in-house lawyer looks at the risks facing their new employer, they should see that the greatest business risks are not about being perfectly right. Often the greater risks to the business would be an inability to act or make decisions. A role as an in-house lawyer is very ...

  • News

    Commercial uncertainty that lenders are bringing to conveyancing is affecting all

    2012-08-02T00:00:00Z

    At one level one can, with regret, understand being bested, beaten, out-negotiated or dropped by a business of ruthless efficiency. What is a little galling for conveyancing solicitors who have been dropped from lenders’ panels is that the major banks with whom they are dealing seem to use systems that ...