Last 3 months headlines – Page 1533
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Loose cannon
It’s not that uncommon for lawyers to have an exotic sideline. Readers of this column will know that solicitors can also be Elvis impersonators, belly dancers or, indeed, flamenco enthusiasts. But on (somewhat morbidly) perusing the Times’ obituaries section last week, Obiter was surprised to read of a solicitor who ...
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Flaming flamenco
Now that’s enough about football. After April’s article about belly dancing, Obiter has received a ticking-off from clinical negligence solicitor Sarah Harman of London firm Harman & Harman for so far failing to include this picture of herself (right) and criminal solicitor colleague Sonia Antolin, who both dance flamenco with ...
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Kenneth Clarke appointed as new justice secretary
Veteran Conservative and former chancellor Kenneth Clarke will be justice secretary in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, it was announced this morning. He will also be lord chancellor. The 69-year-old is a former barrister, having been called to the bar by Gray’s Inn in 1963 and ...
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Cup of cheer
Four weeks to go and the World Cup piggybacking has kicked off, with Leeds firm Godloves scoring the opening goal. The ‘football mad’ firm is offering free wills advice to clients until 9 June – if England win the World Cup they won’t be billed. Sceptical readers might think it ...
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Can the hundreds unable to vote at the general election sue?
People who were denied the right to vote at the general election can sue the Electoral Commission, according to Geoffrey Robertson QC. Interviewed last Friday, Robertson suggested that disenfranchised voters would receive compensation of at least £750. That just happens to be the figure that ...
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Training and development must support the provision of high-quality service to clients
Throughout my legal career I have taken a keen interest in legal education and training. I was chairman of the governors of the College of Law until recently, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority has a pivotal position in the development of legal education and training.
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Firms are alive to the changing market and are adapting their business model
Like self-employed doctors or indeed barristers, solicitors are not feted for their business management skills. However, this year’s LMS Financial Benchmarking Survey gives one cause to reconsider that cliched perception.
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ABSs are getting closer – don’t waste time hoping reforms will be diluted
by Tony Guisea director of Guise Solicitors in London The Lawyers Defence Group’s call for government protection for high street firms (see [2010] Gazette, 29 April, 3) is about as likely to succeed as Canute’s attempt to stem the tide. As the Legal Services Act 2007 ...
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Flash back
The cartoon in Obiter of 29 April shows a camera flashing a van for speeding in relation to www.mybrief.com. The camera appears to be a classic Gatsometer which flashes but takes photos of the rear of the vehicle, not the front as in the cartoon.
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Insurance danger
It was reported in your news article on 12 April about Quinn Insurance that, of £5m of premiums due to the assigned risks pool underwriters, only £2m had been paid to date.
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Indian LPO Pangea3 opens in UK in European expansion drive
Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider Pangea3 has opened an office in London as part of a concerted expansion drive in Europe. Brian Allan, vice-president of legal services in Europe, will head the office on London’s South Bank. He said the decision was taken because the ...
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Energy stocks, Poundland sells and housing developments
Power play: Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Indian energy company Essar Energy on its London Stock Exchange listing, which valued the company at around £5.5bn, potentially catapulting it into the FTSE-100 index. ...
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Lobbying firms under pressure to sign EU register of interests
Law firms that lobby EU institutions will face pressure to sign a register of interests after senior EU officials vowed to forge ahead with plans to boost transparency, the Gazette has learned. At a meeting in Brussels last Thursday, a working group of European commissioners and ...
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PI lawyers asked to report ‘foul play’ by insurers
Personal injury lawyers are being asked to provide evidence of alleged foul play by insurance companies that settle motor accident claims directly with victims. The Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) and Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) have asked members to pass on evidence of alleged ...
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Mexican civil rights lawyer pleads for international support network
A Mexican civil rights lawyer who has received death threats in her own country visited the UK last week to persuade law firms and the Law Society to form an international support network for lawyers. Alba Cruz (pictured), from Oaxaca state, is representing 104 political dissidents, ...
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Town hall budget cut fears over local government legal services
Local government legal services will be ‘severely at risk of implosion’ if public sector budget cuts force a decline in professional standards, the new chairman of the Solicitors in Local Government group has warned. Stephen Turner, a solicitor at Kingston-upon-Hull City Council, said maintaining services and ...
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Commission wins legal aid contract fight
A London immigration firm has lost a judicial review action against the Legal Services Commission after the firm missed a deadline to apply for a new legal aid contract. The High Court ruled that the LSC was not obliged to write to the firm directly to notify it of ...
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Master of the rolls Lord Neuberger: ‘Train all lawyers in mediation’
The master of the rolls has called for mediation to become part of every lawyer’s training from university, but warned against an overzealous approach to alternative dispute resolution. Speaking at the Civil Mediation Council’s annual conference, Lord Neuberger (pictured) said: ‘If mediation and other forms of ...
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Nineteen new solicitor MPs enter House of Commons
Last week’s general election saw 19 solicitors newly elected as MPs – 14 for the Conservative Party and five for Labour. The new solicitor MPs came from all sections of the profession, including high street firms, large commercial practices, in-house and the public sector.
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LSC begins phased rollout of eForms
Criminal law solicitors this week voiced concerns over the Legal Services Commission’s track record on IT projects, as it began a phased national rollout of its new electronic criminal billing and claim forms. The new eForms are part of the LSC’s delivery transformation programme, designed to ...