Last 3 months headlines – Page 1475

  • News

    Why the legal profession needs an effective opposition

    2010-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Politics is a brutal business. One day it is all red boxes, Newsnight, and Yes Minister. The next, no one recognises you. This may seem an odd time to consider the position of the Labour party, particularly as we gear up for a major debate on the future of legal ...

  • News

    Where the real unfairness lies in our ‘compensation culture’

    2010-11-25T00:00:00Z

    I came across a court case the other day that throws an interesting light on the unfairness of our ‘compensation culture’. It involved a supermarket customer who tripped over a basket which had been discarded near the checkout counter. She fell and injured her shoulder. ...

  • News

    Online law degree launched in Scotland

    2010-11-25T00:00:00Z

    A Scottish university will next year launch what is believed to be the first online law undergraduate degree. The online LLB from the department of law at Robert Gordon University’s Aberdeen Business School will run from September 2011. The university already runs online law masters courses. ...

  • News

    The EU may have something to say about any coalition attempts to cut legal aid

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Viviane Reding is a tough cookie. Now EU commissioner for justice, freedom and security, she previously saw off the mobile phone companies and reduced their charges. France is smarting under the lash of her comparison of its Roma policy with that of Hitler’s Germany. And now she threatens to get ...

  • News

    Herbert Smith to open document centre in Belfast

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    City firm Herbert Smith has announced it is to open an office in Belfast next year. The new branch will focus on reviewing and analysing the large volumes of documents found in major contentious work, notably in litigation, arbitration and regulatory investigations. ...

  • News

    Trial judges should put questions to jurors, says Lord Justice Moses

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Judges should present a list of questions to jurors in criminal trials to guide them in reaching a verdict, a senior judge suggested yesterday. Lord Justice Moses said the move, which was recommended in Lord Justice Auld’s 2001 review of the criminal courts, would reduce the ...

  • News

    Counting the cost of the Big Society

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    'Big Society is a great idea, but it doesn't come for free,' says Citizen Advice Bureau manager Pi Townsend. The funding squeeze could mean a stark choice, she tells me, between paying utility bills at the CAB's three premises in Tunbridge Wells, or paring services to the bone at a ...

  • News

    Discrimination claims carry extra risks in law firms

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Discrimination claims can be as devastating for employers as they are for employees. They divert attention from core business priorities, disturb working relationships and cost a great deal. All employers share this joy but for a solicitors’ practice there is the further jeopardy created by the regulatory regime of the ...

  • News

    Rapid population growth will fuel demand for legal services

    2010-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Emerging global economies will fuel a massive demand for legal services by 2030 and provide opportunities for UK law firms, according the Law Society. The Society said firms must respond to that increased demand, or miss out on vital opportunities. It said ...

  • News

    Forensic expert witnesses should be accredited, warns judge

    2010-11-23T00:00:00Z

    A lack of accreditation of expert witnesses means that anyone with a scientific background and sufficient ‘brass neck’ could set themselves up as a forensic science expert and mislead the court, a Court of Appeal judge has warned. Lord Justice Leveson told the Forensic Science Society ...

  • News

    End of the public-private world

    2010-11-23T00:00:00Z

    A few years ago, BBC journalist Mark Easton gave a talk to clients at DLA Piper’s London office. His title at the time was ‘home editor’ – a title with a breadth he liked. His basic theme was the informed ‘bet’ he had made that, in the future, the private ...

  • News

    A timely guide to EU actions on the financial crisis

    2010-11-22T00:00:00Z

    I have chosen the ideal time to write about the new regime being established by the EU to ensure that there is not another financial crisis – now when the structure of the eurozone is tottering as a result of the crisis, and the future of the euro and of ...

  • News

    Justice minister calls for greater steer towards mediation

    2010-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Individuals should play a greater role in solving their problems rather than turning to the courts, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week as he set out the government’s plan to support mediation in the wake of its proposals to slash legal aid. Speaking at CEDR’s ...

  • News

    Scrap training contract, says thinktank

    2010-11-22T00:00:00Z

    A legal thinktank has today called for the abolition of the training contract as part of proposed radical changes to legal education and training. A 53-page discussion paper from the College of Law’s Legal Services Institute (LSI) urges scrapping training contracts and making the Legal Practice ...

  • News

    Society launches campaign to fight legal aid cuts

    2010-11-19T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has called on law firms to lobby MPs over the impact of the government’s proposed legal aid overhaul, in the first stage in its campaign to fight the cuts. Chancery Lane has warned that the plans outlined in last week’s consultation to reduce ...

  • News

    Fixed fees shouldn’t kill time recording

    2010-11-19T00:00:00Z

    If you are making strategic decisions do you have sufficient financial information to make those decisions? It seems that calculating the expense of time may have gone out of fashion. Some may never have calculated it. But how do you know if a transaction is profitable? And how, if you ...

  • News

    ‘Compensation culture’ peer quits over gaffe

    2010-11-19T00:00:00Z

    Lord Young of Graffham will not now assist the government with the implementation of his report on the ‘compensation culture’ after quitting his advisory role this afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed to the Gazette. The government backed the Tory peer’s report, Common Sense, Common Safety, and ...

  • News

    Housing

    2010-11-18T00:00:00Z

    Landlord and tenant – Human rights – Local government Manchester City Council (respondent) v Pinnock (appellant): SC (Lords Phillips, Hope, Rodger, Walker, Brown, Mance, Neuberger, Collins, Lady Hale): 3 November 2010 ...

  • News

    Quality street

    2010-11-18T00:00:00Z

    It was with great fanfare that national law firm ‘superbrand’ Quality Solicitors launched its first ‘legal store’ in a south London shopping centre last week. Intrigued, Obiter decided to make a little trip down to Lewisham, incognito of course, to see where the legal profession is headed, from beneath a ...

  • News

    Thought in the act

    2010-11-18T00:00:00Z

    Italians are well known for their passionate nature, so a recent judgment by the country’s Supreme Court of Cassation has come as something of a surprise to family lawyers. According to Anthony Gold, a London firm that acts in international divorce proceedings, the Italian court has annulled a woman’s marriage ...