Last 3 months headlines – Page 1276
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Cost disputes set to soar post-Jackson, survey predicts
Costs disputes between solicitors and their clients will become more common once the Jackson reforms are implemented, according to a survey of specialist costs lawyers published today. In a poll of 137 costs lawyers, 69% (95) expected to see an increase in disputes, once the recoverability ...
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Right message, wrong case?
Despite the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) defeat in the Upper Tribunal in FSA v Pottage (23rd April, 2012), senior management responsibility remains a key pillar to the enforcement agenda.
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Personal injury costs reform continues apace
Behind-the-scenes work on the implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s reform of personal injury costs has stepped up a gear or three in the past few weeks. The government intends to make a ministerial statement on qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) on 19 July, which has injected some urgency into the ...
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Society in new drive for common PII proposal form
The Law Society today asked brokers and insurers to adopt a composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance (PII) in an effort to simplify the process of obtaining multiple quotes. The Society said it had secured support for its composite proposal form amongst ‘some of ...
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The bell-curve tolls for government lawyers
The most interesting parts of Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude’s ‘Civil Service Reform Plan’ do not occupy much space in the 30-page document released this week. Controversial proposals on ‘managing poor performance’ are tucked away at the back, on the page before ‘delivering an Olympic ...
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Shoosmiths joins Caledonian procession
National firm Shoosmiths has announced it is to merge with medium-sized Scottish law firm Archibald Campbell & Harley. This is the fourth in a series of Anglo-Scottish tie-ups announced this year. The new business will be known in Scotland as ACH Shoosmiths, and subject to regulatory ...
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SRA moves to reassure firms hit by bank computer woes
Banks paralysed by computer problems have promised to indemnify solicitors against any losses caused by the breakdown, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said today. The regulator in turn promised that no disciplinary action would be taken against firms caught out by the system failures.
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Intellectual property
Validity - Novelty - Defendant holding patent concerned with therapeutic agents for treatment of range of diseases by preventing growth of associated blood vessels Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc v Genentech; Bayer Pharma AG v Genentech: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice ...
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Intellectual property
Petition for revocation - Obviousness - Defendant company holding patent for a sustained release formulation of an anti-psychotic drug Teva UK Ltd and other companies v Astrazeneca AB: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice Arnold): 22 March 2012 ...
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Applications to vary or revoke an order pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 3.1(7)
Does the court, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 3.1(7), have the power to vary or revoke an order which it has itself made? This was the question before the Court of Appeal in Tibbles v SIG Plc (trading as Asphaltic Roofing Supplies) [2012] EWCA Civ 518.
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Healthy competition
I should point out the irony contained in your report of the comments of Alasdair Douglas (London ‘boosted’ by foreign competition), in which he spoke of the fillip to London from foreign competition. He is reported as saying that EU attempts to introduce a single contract law could undermine the ...
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No pain, no gain
I write in relation to the letter from Max Hill QC concerning a unified approach by solicitors and barristers to tackling the threats posed to the criminal justice system by funding reforms and cuts.
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‘Restricted’ security
There is a lot of discussion about digital working in the criminal system, but one issue the Crown Prosecution Service appears unable to address relates to the security marking of papers. When they receive documentation from the police, that documentation normally carries a security marking of ‘Restricted’. The CPS considers ...
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Costs confusion
As a non-specialist, I hope some claimant personal injury practitioner will explain just what (apart from the unearthly phraseology) is novel about the government’s latest bright idea on costs - qualified one-way costs-shifting ('QOCS rules "will deter valid claims"'). Surely it always used to be the case that if a ...
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SRA to look again at vexed issue of race
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has pledged to carry out a second review of allegations of racial discrimination by the regulator against black and minority ethnic (BME) lawyers. The first review, carried out in 2008 by Lord Ouseley, former chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, concluded ...
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Outcry over family court closure plan
A group of 160 leading family lawyers and social workers has written to senior judges raising concerns over the proposed closure of a court rated a ‘centre of excellence’. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is considering plans to close the Inner London and City Family Proceedings ...
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Canadian firm among .law domain applicants
A Canadian firm is seeking rights to the suffix .law on website addresses instead of current ‘top level domains’ such as .com. Merchant Law Group LLP is listed among eight applicants for the suffixes .law or .lawyer in a new list of potential domains issued ...
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Mortgage funding change
Mortgage funds must be transferred directly from the lender’s to the seller’s solicitor where conveyancers act only for the lender under new instructions published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
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‘Huge mistake’ in College of Law exam paper
The College of Law is investigating an apparent error in one of its exam papers after students claimed that one question was impossible to answer. A student in the second year of the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in London’s Bloomsbury contacted ...
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Let things get worse
I refer to the news item ‘City aid sought for post-LASPO project’. The scheme intends to seek the help of City firms to address the lack of funding in the legal aid sector. Although the initiative is well meaning, should the Law Society get involved? To me the answer is ...