Last 3 months headlines – Page 1554

  • News

    Recruitment freezes in local government

    2010-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Local government legal departments are instigating recruitment freezes ahead of public sector budget cuts, while there has been a surge in demand for legal aid lawyers in immigration, family and criminal work and an upturn in corporate law hires. Colin Loth, manager of the legal teams ...

  • News

    Libel success fees limited to 10%

    2010-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The success fees charged by lawyers in defamation cases will be cut by 90% after justice secretary Jack Straw laid an order to amend the laws on ‘no win, no fee’ agreements. From April the maximum uplift charged by lawyers for winning defamation cases taken on ...

  • News

    Why leave it so late to scrap the LSC?

    2010-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Between them justice secretary Jack Straw and former civil servant Sir Ian Magee hammered the final nail into the coffin of the Legal Services Commission this week.

  • News

    Secret filming and the case law that subsequently arises

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth – Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale

  • News

    Dispute resolution: recovering costs before allocation

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Is a costs judge entitled to take the view that a matter would have been allocated to the small claims track (and therefore requiring the paying party to pay costs on the small claims track basis) where a case is settled before allocation and the consent order provides for costs ...

  • News

    Employment

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Christianity – Detriment – Religious discrimination – Jewellery Eweida v British Airways Plc: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Sedley, Carnwath, Lady Justice Smith): 12 February 2010 The appellant employee ...

  • News

    Immigration

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Detention – Foreign nationals – Human rights R (on the application of (1) WL (Congo) (2) KM (Jamaica)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice Carnwath, ...

  • News

    Tax

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Administrative law – Capital gains tax – Income tax – Legitimate expectation R (on the application of (1) Robert John Davies (2) Michael John James) v Revenue & Customs Commissioners: R (on the application of Robert Gaines-Cooper) v Revenue ...

  • News

    Civil evidence

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Banking – Admissibility – Agreements – Estoppel – Settlement Oceanbulk Shipping and Trading SA v TMT Asia Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Longmore, Stanley Burnton): 15 February 2010 ...

  • News

    Legal profession

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Bias – Clerks – Findings – Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal Amritpal Singh Virdi (appellant) v Law Society (respondent) and Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (intervener): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Jacob, Lloyd, Stanley Burnton): 16 February 2010 ...

  • News

    Law firm CEOs are standing up to be counted in the most difficult market yet

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Last year was challenging for law firms to say the least. For the vast majority growth rates fell or stagnated. And redundancies were common, from the magic circle to the high street firms. Clients were more demanding, applying extensive scrutiny in seeking real value for money. Add in regulatory change, ...

  • News

    Huw must be joking

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Obiter naturally abhors stereotyping, but in the interests of comic art he is willing to perpetuate what retired solicitor Huw James calls a ‘monstrous calumny’. He is referring to the good people of Ceredigion’s alleged tightness with money. ...

  • News

    Beg pardon?

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Those dictation blunders have had Obiter chuckling once more this week. So many have popped into Obiter’s inbox, it’s a wonder there’s a secretary out there who still has a job.

  • News

    Going swimmingly

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    Well-known mental health and human rights solicitor Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is taking the plunge – again – and all in a good cause. Some of you may recall sponsoring Lucy when she swam the Hellespont in 2008. One of the subtle pleasures of the swim, she says, ...

  • News

    Come from a land down under?

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    ‘London Calling to a faraway town,’ The Clash sang, we recall – the town in the present case being down under. The Gazette has received an unusual request from the producers of a new TV show about young Australians living in London. They are looking for an Aussie lawyer to ...

  • News

    Memory lane

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    A 1960s comparison between what solicitors earnt in their careers, against other professions, and why people should choose to enter the legal profession. Law Society’s Gazette, March 1960 ...

  • News

    Two assaults on press freedom have been defeated, but will anything change?

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    To anyone who follows parliamentary affairs, last week must have seemed a good one for the press. Potential threats to free speech melted away, not just once but twice. But I suspect that we are not much better off as a result.

  • News

    Delivering justice: The Law Society’s manifesto 2010

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    In 1835, at the opening of the Law Society’s hall in Chancery Lane, the Society was mandated by the profession to ‘make its complaints by petition, remonstrance and appeal to parliament, the bench and several other constituted authorities’. To this day, a great deal of ...

  • News

    The LSC fails to, or does not want to, understand its prime supplier base

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    by Andrew Caplenchair of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee Carolyn Regan, the chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, gave a speech at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on 9 February entitled ‘60 years of legal aid – next steps for reform’. It was ...

  • News

    Developments in RTA claims process and third-party litigation funding

    2010-03-04T00:00:00Z

    There were significant developments at both ends of the litigation spectrum last week. The three-week delay in launching the new road traffic claims process might not seem much, but it gives law firms some breathing space to get to grips with the reams of new rules (the simpler the system, ...