Last 3 months headlines – Page 1269
-
News
A way through: the future under LASPO
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say, and lawyers who are intent on surviving the age of austerity need to innovate to survive. The profession is fighting on multiple fronts: a double-dip recession, new competition flowing in from the ongoing programme of liberalisation and savage legal aid cuts heading ...
-
News
Relatively few firms post results on their websites - despite decent numbers
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good; a conclusion that might be drawn from early financial results posted by the top-ranking cohort of UK law firms. Notwithstanding a flatlining economy, the early filers for 2011/12 are generally reporting decent numbers. Average profit per equity partner in the top ...
-
News
The official ‘legal services provider’ role will become commonplace
by Tim Jones, lead partner on London 2012 at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer When the flame is lit on 27 July and the London 2012 Olympic Games are officially declared open, it is not just our athletes who will have had an unrepeatable opportunity.
-
News
Assurance scheme will protect the public
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Criminal Advocates (QASA) is soon to become a reality. From January next year, for the first time all criminal advocates, including barristers, solicitors and legal executives, will be assessed against a set of common standards to assure the quality of criminal advocacy in courts in ...
-
News
Spousal maintenance - part two
In my last article I considered the courts’ approach to the quantum of periodical payments (see [2012] Gazette, 24 May, 16). Recent decisions have seen an increased focus on needs as the prevailing factor when quantifying such payments. In a similar vein, and perhaps reflecting a less generous approach to ...
-
News
Rights bill commission seeks second opinion
A right to administrative justice and trial by jury are among measures that may be proposed for a future UK Bill of Rights, the body set up to investigate the need for a bill has suggested. In its second consultation, which opened yesterday, the Commission on ...
-
News
Double Jim and no tonic
Obiter was privileged to be among the guests at the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association annual dinner, aka the Tout’s Ball. It’s the occasion at which, in the words of guest speaker Jim Sturman QC, barristers ‘suck up’ to solicitors to secure work and a future share of the ‘one ...
-
News
Judicial applications up 17%
A record number of candidates applied for judicial appointments last year, the Judicial Appointment Commission’s latest annual report reveals. There were 5,490 applications in 2011-12, of which 746 resulted in the appointment of tribunal chairs, recorders, district judges, deputy district judges, circuit judges and high court ...
-
News
Neuberger gets top job at Supreme Court
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury will become the second president of the Supreme Court, Downing Street announced today. Currently master of the rolls, Neuberger will succeed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who steps down from his post as the UK’s most senior judge on 30 September. ...
-
News
Fraud/confiscation
Sentence - Realisable property - Criminal Justice Act 1988 R v Gangar and another: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Nicol): 21 June 2012 ...
-
News
Intellectual property
EU - Trademarks - Community trademark Fruit of the Loom Inc v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Markets (Trademarks and Designs): Court of Justice of the European Union (Fifth Chamber) (Judges Papasavvas (president), Vadapalas (rapporteur), O’Higgins): 21 June ...
-
News
There’s a price to pay for slashing costs
You’d have thought that, after writing about legal services for so long, I’d know better than to jump at the cheapest offer when it came to my turn. Sadly not. Recently I completed a housing transaction with a pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap online conveyancer. ...
-
News
Cocktail hour
Talk about one-track minds. Obiter’s offer of free tickets to see Legally Blonde The Musical on tour (28 June) attracted a record number of suggestions for legally themed cocktails - a large proportion on the theme of Sex on the Beach. Several mixes reflected our straitened times, with suggestions including ...
-
News
Final consultation launched on advocacy accreditation
A fourth - and ‘final’ - consultation on the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) published today contains a number of ‘significant’ changes that solicitors’ representative groups have welcomed.
-
News
Age concern
Bad news for the nation’s senior judges last week, with confirmation that the mandatory retirement age of 70 will continue to stand. Justice secretary Ken Clarke (pictured) told the House of Commons that relaxing the compulsory age would mean judges of all kinds might enjoy a job for life. ‘If ...
-
News
Intellectual property
EU - Trademarks - Infringement - Defendant company importing claimant’s goods into UK without consent Oracle America Inc (formerly Sun Microsystems Inc) v M-Tech Data Ltd: SC (Justices of the Supreme Court, Lords Walker, Clarke, Sumption, Reed, Carnwath): ...
-
News
Industrial relations
Injunction - Interlocutory - Acts done in contemplation or furtherance of trade dispute Metroline Travel Ltd and others v Unite: QBD (Mr Justice Supperstone): 27 June 2012 The instant proceedings ...
-
News
Hit and myth
Years ago a north London solicitor told me a story which I have come to believe could be classified as a legal urban myth.
-
News
Don’t cut corners, LeO warns firms
Competition from new market entrants is forcing law firms to offer services and prices they cannot hope to deliver, according to the Legal Ombudsman. In his second annual report, Adam Sampson (pictured) raises concerns that under-pressure firms are cutting corners and making unrealistic promises. He ...