Last 3 months headlines – Page 1396
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Law firms plan for Olympics delays
City firms have already begun putting action plans in place to deal with the disruption caused by the London 2012 Olympics, the Gazette has learned. London 2012 organisers have written to all firms in the capital warning that capacity on rail and underground services will be ...
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Defamation lawyer: abuse victims need CFAs
A leading defamation lawyer has called for conditional fee agreements to be preserved to help victims of press abuse. Steven Heffer, chair of the Lawyers for Media Standards group, said individuals must be given the means to fight legal battles against media outlets that have acted ...
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NHSLA considers clinical negligence pilot
Claimant lawyers and the NHS Litigation Authority are working on a joint scheme for fast-tracking clinical negligence cases. The two groups will meet next month to examine a pilot for dealing with cases valued up to £25,000. The scheme will use a ...
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Tweet little mystery
Having recently dipped a toe into the wonderful world of Twitter, Obiter was greatly amused last month by a stream purportedly authored by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly, in which he apparently reported that his ‘liberation’ of legal aid was going ‘swimmingly’. Sadly, it transpired that ...
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Taking stock
A husband and wife from Hertfordshire firm Pictons proved they are gluttons for punishment last week at Harpenden’s annual Highland Gathering. Sukh Saini (pictured), a partner in the firm’s family department, and his wife Deborah, an associate in the personal injury team, put themselves in ...
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Bout time
There seems to be something of a craze for white collar boxing sweeping through the profession. Following last week’s report that a group of insolvency practitioners in Leeds were organising a fisticuffs event, Obiter has learnt this week that a team of Birmingham-based barristers - ...
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Ace of race
City lawyers were out in force at last week’s Standard Chartered Great City Race. The first man across the line was Chris Busaileh (pictured), trainee at Speechly Bircham, while Reed Smith’s Karen Ellison and Lawrence Graham’s Gemma Jones claimed seventh and eighth in the female rankings. ...
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Law Society should head off the referral parasites
Third parties’ expectations of receiving a ‘wedge’ from us for an introduction started about the time legal aid was withdrawn for personal injury actions. It seems lots of folk want to get their fingers in the pie. Most introducers have no interest in the legal ...
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Defending Jackson
To all lawyers moaning about Lord Justice Jackson’s reforms: would you prefer the general rule as to costs in Spain? The relevant part of article 394-3 of law 1/2000, of 7 January, relating to civil procedure [in Spain] reads: ‘When… costs are imposed on a losing ...
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Not in my name
I have read how the Law Society is continuing its fight against legal aid cuts. I do not recall the Society asking whether they should spend money on a campaign with which I may not agree. I speak only in respect of civil legal aid. My ...
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Message to SRA: no problem
I write in relation to the SRA’s decision to impose the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocacy on criminal litigation. The reasoning by Mr Plant as to why this scheme is required is far from clear. Those who practise in the criminal courts on a daily basis ...
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The Localism Bill divides opinion
At a time when many lawyers are grappling with the implications of the new Bribery Act, the Localism Bill’s passage through parliament has received relatively little attention. This despite the array of legislative changes that are contained within its three slim volumes.
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It is premature to declare hacking inquiry a good moment for the judiciary
‘Never waste a good crisis’ runs the old adage, and anyone in a position to use the crisis engulfing News International, various politicians and the police is using events as a peg to make their own point. To the list of people utilising events, one ...
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Numbers in custody must fall
by Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust and secretary general of Penal Reform International The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before parliament presents an opportunity to get to grips with a distorted, often ineffective system which places too much store ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, July 1951 As it was a hundred years ago – a sidelight on legal history ...
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LSC transfers cases from collapsed immigration advice provider
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it has begun transferring urgent files from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service to other providers. Following a call for existing immigration contract holders to submit expressions of interest to take on IAS cases, current providers indicated they had the ...
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Regulator clamps down on claims management companies
The regulator of claims management companies has reported a massive rise in the number of businesses refused authorisation. The Claims Management Regulation Unit warned there would be ‘no let-up’ in the coming year after seeing enforcement measures against firms leap from 35 in 2009/10 to 349 ...
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Law Commission reveals new areas for reform
Reviewing the law of contempt, European contract law and financial provision on divorce are among the 14 projects that the Law Commission has revealed it will look into over the next three years. The Commission has published its eleventh programme of law reform projects, selected from ...
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Commons committee targets human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) should take a ‘more robust’ position on human rights abuses across the entire Middle East, including countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain where the UK has close commercial ties, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said in a report published today. ...