Last 3 months headlines – Page 1469
-
News
Allen & Overy faces lawsuit over employee sacked for erotic blog
A former Allen & Overy solicitor sacked for writing an erotic blog that allegedly used the names of her co-workers and a client is claiming £3.5m compensation from the firm for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. Former senior associate Deidre Clark, 44, who wrote under the ...
-
News
Government announces court closures
The justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today that 93 magistrates’ courts and 49 county courts will be closed as part of the government’s drive to improve the justice system. The government says the move will save an estimated £41.5m, alongside a possible £35.8m raised from the ...
-
News
A single telephone number for Europe
Here’s a good idea. The European Commission is consulting on a single numbering service for businesses in Europe which have branches in more than one member state.
-
News
Consumers unattracted by non-legal brands, survey suggests
Two-thirds of consumers would not want to buy their legal services through non-legal brands, according to a survey of 2,000 clients seen exclusively by the Gazette. In the poll by law firm referral service Contact Law, 66% of consumers said they would not be happy to ...
-
News
Leading Sheffield firm falls victim to downturn
Century-old Sheffield law firm Ashton Morton Slack LLP has collapsed into administration, becoming the latest regional casualty of the economic downturn. Administrators from BDO, appointed by the limited liability partnership’s members last Friday, blamed the firm’s demise on cashflow problems arising from declining volumes of work and increasing overheads. ...
-
News
Is more mediation in divorce cases missing the point?
In recent speeches legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has emphasised the government’s commitment to increasing the use of mediation, particularly in disputes over arrangements for children, property and finances that arise when family relationships break down. As well as the obvious desire to achieve savings that ...
-
News
Youth crime has fallen, report suggests
The volume of crime committed by young people has fallen by 25% over the last decade, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. However, the report reveals that those offenders who receive serious community sentences or custodial sentences remain just as likely ...
-
News
CSI put on trial
One does not imagine that lords justices of the Court of Appeal come home at the end of a long day to flop down onto the sofa and reach for the remote control, but why should they not? Lord Justice Leveson has clearly been watching the goggle box, and there ...
-
News
Tuning into mediation
Simon Cowell is determined to bag the Christmas Number One, after splashing out £1m to record five different winners’ songs for X Factor contestants. However, the bullish impresario now has a formidable rival, in the unlikely form of Norwich solicitors Hatch Brenner. Partner Mark Fitch has written and recorded a ...
-
News
Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, December 1970 Letters to the editor – Is it negligence to place a live body in a coffin?In case some of your readers missed what I feel to be a most ...
-
News
Criminal law – Sentencing Council guidelines
On 6 April 2010 the new Sentencing Council came into being. Previous guidelines are deemed to be guidelines of the council until they are reconsidered. Courts must now follow any relevant guideline unless it is satisfied that it would not be in the interests of justice to do so. Similarly, ...
-
News
Disgraced MPs broke new legal ground last week
The hour before lunch last Friday was a bad one for two former Labour MPs. First, the High Court ruled that an election court had acted lawfully when it found Phil Woolas guilty of an ‘illegal practice’. There was just time to hear Woolas announce that he would not be ...
-
News
Our client protection regime must be reformed to align with OFR
Much of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board’s time during 2010 has been devoted to ensuring that the professional indemnity insurance (PII) regime is fair and fit for purpose, particularly when trading conditions are difficult. Good progress has been made in containing the financial burden of the assigned risks pool upon ...
-
News
How networks can help law firms break into emerging markets
For lawyers who wonder where growth in demand for legal services could come from, the following numbers are instructive. According to the Financial Times, emerging markets M&A volume was up in 2010 by more than two-thirds to date at $575.7bn, while European volume has increased by barely a fifth to ...
-
News
The folly of quick-fix cuts in local government
by Ishkan Robinson, principal solicitor at Nottinghamshire County Council It is still common to hear sneering at local government lawyers by private practice lawyers who see them as an inferior group. The latter are under the illusion that local government lawyers are not capable of delivering ...
-
News
Justice and showbusiness should never mix
The head of Sky News has used the trials of parliamentarians accused of dishonesty over their expenses to renew his plea for cameras to be allowed into courtrooms. John Ryley said televising proceedings would help tackle ‘growing public dissatisfaction with the judicial process’.
-
News
The court system isn’t for everyone
I am writing to congratulate Lord Justice Jackson on his splendid recommendations for the reform of civil costs, and in particular the proposed removal of after-the-event insurance. I have long been of the opinion that people from a working-class background should not have access to the ...
-
News
Consumer interest must be paramount
I am instructed by a lady awaiting estate money due to her. She had rung her solicitor only to hear a recorded message saying that the firm had ‘closed until further notice’. The firm had in fact been the subject of an intervention by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. I duly ...
-
News
Duncan Lewis courts FTSE takeover
Duncan Lewis, the country’s biggest civil legal aid law firm, is preparing to be taken over by a public company once reforms allow, the Gazette can reveal. The London firm is discussing a takeover with a company listed on the FTSE 250 index, and said it ...
-
News
Where there’s a will
Your recent article, Rise in number of intestacy disputes, highlighted two interesting issues: hard times encourage people to contest inheritances; and intestacies offer more opportunities for such disputes to take place. My summary of this state of affairs is that necessity and greed are powerful motivators of human behaviour, and ...