Last 3 months headlines – Page 1415
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Magic touch
A Harry Potter book autographed by Emma Watson (who played Hermione Granger) tops a glittering list of prizes in the London Legal Support Trust’s Halloween Auction. Watson has also thrown in an autographed DVD set and a signed photo.
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Pension pot
Obiter recently happened upon the Law Society’s 1877 annual report, where he was intrigued to read that the Society’s librarian was to retire after 30 years’ service, aged 79, with a ‘pension, equal to the amount of his salary, which was £300 a year’.
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In the saddle
With the retirement of Newmarket jockey Phillip Robinson at 50, my mind went back to the bearded solicitor Victor Morley Lawson. He had tried to ride a winner for 30 years until, at the age of 67, he won on Ocean King in the last race - an amateur hurdle ...
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Solicitor accused of money laundering
A solicitor who failed to answer bail after being accused of conspiracy to launder money and defraud mortgage lenders and banks of around £12m has been rearrested and charged. Ajayi Seun, 45, was held after his photograph and other details appeared on Crimestoppers’ list of ...
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News focus: property conference
Attendance at the Law Society’s property conference in London last week was the highest since 2008. Perhaps this demonstrates the need for firms to come together for support as they grapple with upheavals in the legal services sector and conveyancing market.
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May’s gaffe illustrated the need for a debate about human rights
Theresa May produced a pretty controversial cat out of her speech to the Conservative Party conference. Maya the cat was intended as a metaphor in an attack on the Human Rights Act and a wayward judiciary. Alas, it all turned bad. The cat ended up as an illustration of the ...
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Are solicitors really living through the ‘end times’ for law as they have known it?
In his memoir Editor, journalist and author Max Hastings mused on the difference, as he saw it, between readers of the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. Mail readers, he observed, woke every morning and opened their paper of choice to find that the world had altered irretrievably for the ...
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Palamon’s investment in QS represents a calculated wager
Craig Holt, chief executive of QualitySolicitors, won’t say how much private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has invested to buy a majority stake in QS, but the firm specialises in investments of around £10m-£60m. The money will be spent on marketing and on the creation of some shared back-office services ...
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Barriers make 'diversity of minds' in the legal profession impossible
by Laura Hodgson, a professional support lawyer at Norton Rose Last week, the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Networks held an event exploring the subject ‘Feminist judgments: how women can, and do, shape the law’.
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The represented litigant is now at a distinct disadvantage when appearing opposite a litigant in person
The rise of the litigant in person is an inevitable fact of life, but their favourable treatment by the courts is beginning to ring alarm bells. While the judiciary are rightly seeking to ensure a ‘level playing field’, my recent experience is that the represented litigant is now at a ...
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Solicitors beware of ‘piggy-backing’
There has been much recent publicity about claims management companies (CMCs) obtaining personal injury cases through such practices as data selling, referral fees, cold-calling and texting. However, little has been heard of so-called ‘free-riding’ or ‘piggy-backing’. This practice involves a CMC purchasing a competitor’s name as ...
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Gravy train derailed
I note with interest that the Solicitors Regulation Authority is to canvass personal injury firms to ask how they will cope when the government bans referral fees. I would suggest that they cope by ceasing to chase the gravy train and actually exercise business and professional judgement.
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Last resort Lords
With regard to the news item of 29 September that the House of Lords will ‘fight the good fight’ - per Lord Carlile - am I the only legal aid family lawyer feeling distinctly underwhelmed?
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European Union
Services - Freedom of movement - Television broadcasting Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v QC Leisure and others: ECJ (Grand Chamber): Judges Skouris (president), Tizzano, Cunha Rodrigues, Lenaerts, Bonichot, Arabadjiev and Kasel (presidents of chambers), Borg Barthet, ...
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Human rights
Right to a fair trial - Right of access to a lawyer - Statement or admissions made to police without access to legal advice Ambrose v Harris (Procurator Fiscal Oban) (Scotland) and other appeals: SC (Justices of the Supreme ...
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Bring on ‘Woolf II’, top judge urges
A leading judge has called for a second wave of civil justice reforms, encouraging better use of IT, and greater efforts to promote UK legal services internationally. Mr Justice Vos said the UK’s law and legal system are highly respected overseas, but ‘not enough is done ...
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Government’s mediation drive reflects ‘jaundiced’ view of law
The government’s drive to encourage mediation instead of court litigation is diverting attention from cuts to civil legal aid and the consequent reduction in access to justice, according to a leading academic. Professor Dame Hazel Genn told the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators' mediation symposium on Wednesday ...
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Liberty attacks ‘baffling’ review of extradition law
The Extradition Act under which British subject and Asperger’s syndrome sufferer Gary McKinnon faces being sent for trial in the US for computer hacking is not biased against British citizens, a landmark review has concluded. The review, published today by parliament’s human rights joint committee and ...
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Neuberger argues for greater use of IT in courts
Master of the rolls Lord Neuberger has backed the introduction of more electronic disclosure in court but stopped short of advocating ‘virtual trials’. Speaking at the high sheriff’s lecture in Leeds last week, Neuberger said the legal profession was facing change on a scale not seen ...
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Law Society Excellence Awards 2011: winners announced
The outstanding achievements of the legal profession in England and Wales were celebrated by the Law Society at a ceremony in London yesterday evening. Over 600 legal professionals and their guests joined the president of the Law Society John Wotton and BBC Broadcaster Mishal Husain ...