Last 3 months headlines – Page 1289

  • News

    Trainee minimum abolition ‘will hit women’

    2012-05-21T00:00:00Z

    Women will be disproportionately affected by the scrapping of the minimum salary for trainees, the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) said today. The AWS has added its voice to mounting opposition to the decision taken last week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. From August 2014, firms ...

  • News

    Trainee minimum dumped in 'partial deregulation'

    2012-05-18T00:00:00Z

    Regulators have voted to partially deregulate the trainee solicitor minimum wage 30 years after it was introduced. The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority made the decision to change the terms of the salary at its meeting today - with the change coming into effect in ...

  • News

    Criminal bar unfurls strike banner

    2012-05-18T00:00:00Z

    Nine out of 10 criminal barristers are prepared to take direct action in protest against low and late payments, a survey by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has revealed as their leader for the first time sanctions ‘strike’ action. CBA chair Max Hill QC will ...

  • News

    One out, all out

    2012-05-18T00:00:00Z

    The warning by Criminal Bar Association chair Max Hill QC today that barristers are prepared to strike - backed by a survey showing near unanimous outrage - is a watershed moment. Hill notes barristers’ reluctance to use their ‘ultimate weapon’, namely ‘stopping the courts’, to make ...

  • News

    Pro bono no substitute for legal aid - Wotton

    2012-05-18T00:00:00Z

    Lawyers need to do more to bridge the gaps in access to justice caused by legal aid reforms, the Law Society president told an international conference in Russia. However he stressed that pro bono work is no substitute for a properly funded legal aid system. John ...

  • News

    Contract

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Intention to create legal relationship - Formation of contract - Whether court erring Barbudev v Eurocom Cable Management Bulgaria EOOD and others: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Sir Anthony May P, Lord Justices Lloyd Aikens): 27 April 2012 ...

  • News

    Company

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Unfair prejudice to members - Relief Re Home & Office Fire Extinguishers Ltd Rodliffe v Rodliffe and another: Chancery Division, Companies Court (Mr N Strauss QC): 4 April 2012 The ...

  • News

    Judicial review

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Evidence - Claimants seeking judicial review of decisions of defendant secretary of state refusing to grant naturalisation R (on the application of AHK and ­others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice Ouseley): 2 ...

  • News

    News focus: progress report on legal profession

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society’s 28th Annual Statistical Report might appear to be a rather desiccated agglomeration of facts, tables and bar charts. It is not an avowedly political document and, for that reason, raises more questions than it answers. As a snapshot of changing trends in the profession, ­however, the survey ...

  • News

    Travellers, homelessness and bricks and mortar

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Basildon Borough Council did not act unlawfully when offering bricks and mortar accommodation to homeless former Dale Farm travellers. So found the Court of Appeal on 21 March 2012 in Sheridan and others v Basildon Borough Council [2012] EWCA Civ 335, which also usefully considered the extent of a housing ...

  • News

    Privilege

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Disclosure and inspection of documents - Legal professional privilege - Communications between legal adviser and client Walter Lilly & Co Ltd v Mackay and another: QBD (TCC) (Mr Justice Akenhead): 15 March 2012 ...

  • News

    Giving hard-up graduates hope

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    I have read the various exchanges, following the initial open letter on the Gazette website from the (clearly desperate) Legal Practice Course graduates. The issue, from my perspective, is not the minimum wage applicable to trainee solicitors, but more the lack of training contracts compared with the number of ‘qualifying’ ...

  • News

    Doing the deed

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Increasingly, original title deeds are disappearing and we are ever more dependent on obtaining copies from the Land Registry. Yet again this morning an office copy lease has arrived with the plans uncoloured and a power of attorney which had no relevance included as a page of the lease. I ...

  • News

    Naive strategy

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    The government intends to clamp down on compensation claims arising from road traffic accidents. Apparently, the government regards solicitors as the ‘bad guys’ and insurers as the ‘good guys’.

  • News

    The joy of tech

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Young Mr McVeighty should take heart and embrace a laptop. Ten years ago, I thought that I would be able to retire without touching a computer. I am now a converted enthusiast.

  • News

    No quarter asked

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    In response to the letter ‘Advice warning’, may I add a fourth reason? That is the fact that your own client will complain bitterly if they see you giving quarter to the enemy.

  • News

    Great dictator

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    A veritable army of grave-looking gentlemen in grey suits fetched up at the Royal Festival Hall last week for Russell-Cooke’s solemn event ‘Enforcing Regulatory Standards in a Liberalised Market’. Appropriately, the profession’s über-regulator, Legal Services Board chair David Edmonds CBE, topped the bill.

  • News

    Copyright

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Infringement - Artistic work - Claim arising from use of peer-to-peer file-sharing website to download music Dramatico Entertainment Ltd and other companies v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd and other ­companies: ChD (Mr Justice Arnold): 2 May 2012 ...

  • News

    Straw flogs

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    Ex-justice secretary Jack Straw has earned more than a few bob since leaving office, as we first reported last week. But lest you got the wrong impression, the Blackburn MP’s extra-parliamentary activities have not been limited to worthy (if perhaps a tad prosaic) appearances in the Lancashire mill towns. Oh ...

  • News

    Criminal law solicitors' director: value of justice ‘deteriorating’

    2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

    The ‘march of managerialism’ and a desire to speed up proceedings have led to a drop in the value put on justice by the government and society, according to the retiring director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association. Rodney Warren (pictured) has announced that he will ...