Last 3 months headlines – Page 1478
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Employment
Automatically unfair dismissal – Disciplinary procedures – Redundancy Douglas Cartwright v King’s College London: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Sedley, Rimer, Patten): 27 October 2010 The appellant former employee (C) ...
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Human rights
Criminal procedure – Admissibility – Police interviews Cadder v HM Advocate: SC (Lords Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Walker, Brown, Mance, Kerr, Sir John Dyson): 26 October 2010
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Pre-nups – now worth the paper they're written on
The long-awaited decision of the Supreme Court in Radmacher (formerly Granatino) v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42 is a significant step in the recognition of pre- and post-nuptial agreements. The starting point is that parties should be held to properly drawn up agreements unless certain circumstances arise.
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Concern over use of 'Henry Vlll' powers to overturn acts of parliament
The coalition’s approach to legislation is neither conservative nor liberal. That much is clear from the new Quangos (Bonfire) Bill, or the Public Bodies Bill as it is more properly called in parliament. It is through this legislation that the government intends to reform nearly 500 ...
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How the south-west legal market is battling recession
The south-west’s economy has recently brightened after the gloom of the recession, recording a rise in the Business Activity Index at the end of the summer from 52.8 to 54.1. This is good news for the large, commercial firms in the region, which confirm that their own numbers have improved ...
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Orwell and good
As Christmas approaches, some of you may have started thinking about what to buy for those awkward friends and relations. If these include members of the judiciary (and they can be awkward), the perfect gift idea could be a copy of George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. ...
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Born to hang
It was, we recall, a singing Telly Savalas (aka Kojak) who crooned that a ‘picture paints a thousand words’. And how right he was. To that end, we urge you to lay down your pen (or iPad, BlackBerry – whatever) and pick up your paintbrush. For more submissions are requested ...
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Hands across the water
It would only take a small improvement in the value of sterling against the US dollar and we’d be touching down at JFK, headed for courtroom 14B, 500 Pearl Street, Lower Manhattan in the hope of being put straight by judge Jed Rakoff. He is not a man shy of ...
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History lesson
Jeff Skidmore, a partner at Roy Thomas Begley & Co in Swansea, writes in to point out an error in last week’s item by James Morton about Ewen Montagu. The latter was indeed mastermind of 'The Man Who Never Was', but the deception plan was carried out in the Mediterranean ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, October 1990 Lightening up on ‘legaldeegook’How many words does it take to tell someone that a house is ready for occupancy? Seventy-eight if you’re ...
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Court security is ‘over the top’
I would like to highlight a new danger associated with my job that I had not previously considered. While airport security measures are likely to be relaxed, magistrates’ courts seem to be adding extra layers to their security procedures. While attending our local court last week, I emptied my pockets, ...
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Another route to qualification
I write in response to Robin Dunne’s letter . I agree that it is truly unfortunate when a law student has accrued considerable debt in completing their degree and LPC, then cannot secure a training contract. But it is not correct to say that, unless the LPC providers restrict the ...
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Downgrading of child protection
I was alarmed to learn of the government’s recent decision not to abolish the court fees payable by local authorities when commencing care proceedings. In his report following the Baby P case, Lord Laming called for these fees to be reviewed. A review followed which ...
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The legal needs of vulnerable clients
Lindsay Taylor’s experience of financial institutions’ ignorance of the difference between a lasting power of attorney and court order will be a familiar story to most solicitors specialising in elder and capacity law.
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Protecting clients of ABSs and traditional law firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority remains on course, subject to Legal Services Board approval, to license and regulate alternative business structures (ABSs) from 6 October 2011. I am aware that this is not what all solicitors want to hear. Concern has been expressed, in particular about whether ...
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Publicly funded legal advice gets a ringing endorsement
by Steve Hynes, director of the Legal Action Group In the wider media, legal aid is often demonised, with only two stories tending to predominate. Story one concerns the unworthy, scrounging recipients of legal aid – the clients. The latest high-profile variation on this theme concerns ...
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Do UK governments care about human rights in China?
If the government is serious about speaking up on human rights abuses in China, then it has left it too late. It was too late when David Cameron left for Beijing.
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Rail acquisition, energy listing, bank sale and telecoms loan
Rail thing: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised a private equity consortium comprising 3i Group, Star Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley on the consortium’s £2.1bn acquisition of HSBC’s train-leasing business Eversholt Rail Group. Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised HSBC. ...
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Surprise fall in solicitors' PII bill
Solicitors paid 11% less to insurers for professional indemnity insurance (PII) this year, official figures have revealed. The cost of insuring the profession on the open market in 2010 was £214m, down from £241m in 2009 and £226m in 2008. The fall occurred despite some solicitors ...
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'Solicitors from Hell' owner vows to persevere after another libel loss
The owner of solicitorsfromhell has vowed to keep the site going, despite losing the latest in a string of libel cases. In the High Court last week, London firm Brett Wilson forced site owner Rick Kordowski to make an undertaking to the court: not to publish ...