Last 3 months headlines – Page 1453
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Local government
Legal advice and funding – Champerty – Conditional fee agreements – Indemnity clauses Danri Morris and Anor v Southwark London Borough Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury MR, Lords Justices Lloyd, Gross): 25 January 2011 ...
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Turning a brief encounter into lasting romance
‘Perhaps you have seen someone you like in a cafe, bar or a shop; you may have passed each other on the street or caught their eye on a train. It is fate that you were in the same place at the same time. Don’t let that chance pass you ...
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Glam-tastic
It’s official; solicitors are glamorous. Confirmation, if ever we needed it, came last week when Glamour magazine named solicitor Lisa Morgan (pictured) alongside the likes of Cheryl Cole and Kate Middleton as one of the most influential women in Britain. Morgan was named junior lawyer of the year at the ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, February 1981 Counsel’s Opinion: In Defence of WomankindHow I wish all the painters, scrawlers, slogan writers and scribblers would stop it. One of the least attractive social phenomena of our time ...
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Civil procedure
Civil evidence – Affidavits – Case management – Committal for contempt (1) Consolidated Contractors International Co SAL (2) Consolidated Contractors (OIL and GAS) Co SAL v Munib Masri: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony May (president QB), Lords Justices Smith, ...
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Redefining the defence of fair comment
Most parents have experienced the plaintive cry of ‘it’s not fair!’ hurled from the mouths of offspring made to tidy their rooms or deprived of the must-have of the moment. But the words have also recently sprung from the lips of our judiciary and government ...
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Supreme Court backing of Twitter reflects badly on mainstream media
Why did the Supreme Court announce last week that it was offering what its president, Lord Phillips, describes as ‘a green light to tweeting and other forms of [text-based] communication’? There have never been any restrictions on sending texts from the Supreme Court or, until recently, ...
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The campaign against proposed legal aid cuts gains public support
Last week’s adjournment debate on legal aid cuts in the House of Commons marked a change in tone among MPs who, before Christmas, had not made much of the Ministry of Justice’s proposed £350m annual cut to the legal aid budget. What became evident in the debate, secured by Labour ...
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Government faces intense pressure over legal aid cuts
The government faced intense lobbying over its legal aid reforms this week, as the Law Society put forward a raft of alternative measures to preserve the legal aid budget, and the shadow legal aid minister warned that the government’s cuts will ‘destroy’ civil legal advice. The ...
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Pro bono thrives in private practice
The value of pro bono work provided by private practice solicitors has reached £475m, according to Law Society research. The figure represents a 19% annual increase and is equivalent to an estimated 2% of the total gross income of private practice. The ...
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Legal services comparison website launched
The latest legal services comparison website to enter the market was launched by a Hertfordshire solicitor last week. Michael Welsh has launched fixed costs comparison site comparelegalcosts.com, which offers consumers a choice of three firms based on their postcode.
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Supreme Court ruling puts children first in immigration cases
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the ‘best interests of the child’ at the centre of decision-making in immigration cases involving the deportation or removal of their parents. Giving judgment last week in the case of ZH, a Tanzanian woman who had made three failed ...
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Supreme Court gives green light for courtroom tweeting
The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for people to ‘tweet’ from inside the courtroom last week. The court issued guidance on the use of live text-based communication from the courtroom by legal teams, journalists and members of the public. Since the guidance ...
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Research highlights gender differences in legal profession
An in-depth study by the Law Society’s strategic research unit has revealed a picture of a profession in which there is a high level of disparity between the sexes; a tendency to remain in the same job; and a high value placed on flexible working. The ...
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QualitySolicitors in settlement over copyright infringements with BPO
Law firm network QualitySolicitors has paid money out of court to settle a copyright infringement dispute with professional services consultancy Best Practice Online (BPO). BPO alleged QualitySolicitors infringed its copyright in relation to more than 100 articles published on the QualitySolicitors website in 2009 and early ...
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Solicitors warned on stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes
Conveyancing solicitors are being pressured to become involved in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance schemes that cost the public purse around £35m, the Gazette has learned. To protect solicitors and help them challenge requests from clients or third parties to become involved in such schemes, ...
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Free national debt advice service set to close
The Financial Inclusion Fund’s (FIF) free national debt advice service is set to close after the government axed its £25m-a-year funding. Last month, the financial secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, confirmed that funding for the free face-to-face advice service, which has operated since 2005, will ...