Last 3 months headlines – Page 1594
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Nice little earner, me Lord
Obiter would rather be a judge than a miner, and we have the Latin (as the name suggests). Indeed, to quote the late Peter Cook, we have the Latin for the judgin’ (Oxford and Cambridge A-level, 1987). Sitting in yer nice warm guildhalls ...
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Shamed into action
Joshua Rozenberg’s view that there is ‘nothing to be gained by an arrest of someone who is never going to be prosecuted’ may be good legal analysis but it lacks political sense (see [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 8).
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Prosecution defence
Your story ‘"Justice on the cheap" sparks outcry’ (See [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 1) paints a wholly inaccurate picture of Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors (APs).
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Friendly advice
Mark Stephens, of law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said that Davenport Lyons’ methodology for handling illegal file-sharing cases conforms to industry best practice, and has been adopted in the Digital Economy Bill currently going through parliament (See ‘File-sharing "bully tactics"’, [2010] Gazette, 11 March, 4)’.
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Lawyers left with egg on their faces
As a hard-pressed legal aid family lawyer, I was in desperate need of comfort food recently. So I popped out for a chocolate cream egg, which cost 46p. I was shocked by the price but, revived by the rush of sugar, I had a quick look at my ‘At A ...
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Scotland’s high street solicitors are on the march against ‘Tesco law’
The government wants to open up the legal market and give consumers more choice by lifting restrictions that prevent solicitors from working in business structures that include non-lawyers. Sounds familiar? Not when I tell you that the government’s plans were almost derailed last week by high ...
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We must embrace international talent in order to remain a global legal hub
If English law sits at the centre of international business, international business remains central to the strength of the English and Welsh legal sector. Our legal sector remains pre-eminent across the globe, thanks to the traditions and the talent of our law and our lawyers. ...
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Solicitors should compete with the bar at all levels, including the judiciary
By District Judge Monty Trent, who sits at the Mayor’s and City of London Court. He is the new president of the Association of Her Majesty’s District Judges I threw away my business cards, diaries and timesheets and waved good riddance to the telephones on my ...
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Principles-based regulation must not mean ‘regulation-lite’
A regulator cannot expect to be liked. Perhaps the best it can hope for is to be grudgingly respected. To that end the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s bold shift to outcome-focused and entity-based regulation has to be welcomed by solicitors.
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Newspaper sales, Volvo acquisition and lottery numbers
Paper chain: US firm Mayer Brown advised publisher Independent News & Media on selling the Independent, the Independent on Sunday and independent.co.uk to billionaire Alexander Lebedev’s publisher Independent Print, advised by London firm Tulloch & Co. ...
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Indian lawyers accuse 31 foreign law firms of practising law illegally
A collective of Indian lawyers has accused 31 foreign law firms of practising law illegally in India, while simultaneously criticising the Indian government for failing to act on the alleged illegal practice. A writ petition filed with the Madras High Court on 18 March names ...
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EC attacks claim that legal professional privilege is a fundamental right
The European Commission has argued that any claim that legal professional privilege is a fundamental right under EU law is ‘superficial’. In the Akzo Nobel appeal hearing at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in February, the commission also argued that in-house lawyers could not be ...
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MoJ publishes details of firm meetings to promote transparency
The Ministry of Justice has published details of the law firms and other external groups it held meetings with in the last quarter of 2009, as part of a new policy of greater transparency. The document reveals that lord chancellor Jack Straw met nine large legal ...
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PI solicitors to mount legal challenge to RTA claims process
A collective of personal injury solicitors is planning a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice over its new road traffic accident (RTA) claims process, the Gazette has learned. The Accident Compensation Solicitors Group (ACSG) claims that fixed costs under the new process ‘have not been ...
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Grieve slams Whitehall plans for reforming criminal legal aid market
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed the government’s proposals for reforming the criminal legal aid market as ‘pre-election posturing’. Dominic Grieve QC said the plans outlined last week by justice secretary Jack Straw were ‘woefully inadequate to tackle the deep problems in the way legal aid ...
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Judge rejects free access to property information
Local authorities are not obliged to provide free access to raw property information, the High Court has ruled. The decision follows a judicial review action by search company OneSearch Direct, challenging York City Council’s refusal to allow access to its property records so that it could ...
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Complaints against claims management companies rise 300%
Complaints by consumers against claims management companies (CMCs) have more than trebled over the past year, Ministry of Justice figures have revealed. The number of complaints against CMCs shot up from just under 200 a month in January 2009 to more than 600 a month in ...
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Bar offers legal aid ‘olive branch’ on criminal fee proposals
The Bar Council has offered the government an ‘olive branch’ to avoid judicial review proceedings if it withdraws the current criminal fee proposals and negotiates a way forward. In February, the Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association launched judicial review proceedings in relation to two consultations ...
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Whitehall to consult lawyers over move to cut fees in libel actions
The government has agreed to consult media lawyers on its controversial proposals to cut success fees in libel actions. In a House of Lords debate on a draft order that will reduce the success fees paid to lawyers who win defamation actions from 100% to 10% ...
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New family practice direction promotes mediation
A new practice direction that will encourage parties in family proceedings towards mediation comes into force today. The president of the Family Division released the new Private Law Programme practice direction last week, with greater emphasis on conciliation. Under the new ...