Last 3 months headlines – Page 1623
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Monopoly supplier
I note that Land Registry fees are to rise from early July by about 30%. Presumably, this is to remedy the lack of income caused by the diminution in the volume of conveyancing work.
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Packing a punch
We write with reference to a report by Catherine Baksi about cost-price HIPs (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 2). We at Donaldson West have been dealing with HIPs in this way since their inception.
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Pinochet pointer
My letter (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 9) was an attempt to present a less critical view of the role of Lord Hoffmann in the Pinochet case than that offered by Joshua Rozenberg in his article celebrating Lord Hoffmann’s retirement.
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Best use of taxpayers’ money
In the piece, ‘Criminal legal aid is under threat like never before’ (see [2009] Gazette, 4 June, 17-20), Paul Marsh expressed concerns about best value tendering (BVT), which are important to address.
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Depressing decision to hold Iraq war inquiry behind closed doors
Has New Labour’s unremitting assault on civil rights passed its high-water mark? There have been encouraging signs of late. Parliament’s battered credentials were given a fleeting boost when Jack Straw dropped proposals for secret inquests. And new home secretary Alan Johnson seems less enthusiastic about ID cards than predecessor Jacqui ...
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Meinl affair casts shadow over common law jurisdictions
How safe is it for British businesses to invest in Austria? A flying visit this week suggests its response to allegations of white-collar crime leaves a lot to be desired. Despite reforms last year, the relationship between Austrian prosecutors, pre-trial judges and criminal defence lawyers still seems far too cosy.
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European corporate counsel told that the recession provides a ‘golden opportunity’
With impeccable timing, the European chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) convened in Switzerland for its annual conference on 8 June. A few weeks earlier, the Swiss government had released draft legislation that could give corporate in-house counsel in Switzerland a right to professional privilege that does not ...
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Tories will halt roll out of best value tendering, says Grieve
A Conservative government would suspend the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) to enable a proper evaluation of the controversial new scheme, the shadow justice secretary announced last week. Dominic Grieve QC said that pilots due to begin in Greater Manchester and Avon and ...
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Solicitors alarmed at links between Bereavement Advice Centre and probate firm
Financial links between a not-for-profit advice organisation and a probate services company have come under fire from solicitors. The Bereavement Advice Centre publishes a website with the subtitle ‘What to do when someone dies’. Solicitors say that the organisation’s leaflets publicising a helpline promoting BAC’s commercial ...
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Client-matching website takes aim at claims handling firms
A solicitor has launched a website to bring together prospective clients and solicitors who will take on their cases in an attempt to drive claims handlers out of the process. The Law Bazaar, set up by Costas Andrea (pictured), who practised as an international litigator for ...
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Kent local authority legal teams join forces
Three mid-Kent local authorities are to join forces in a shared legal services project that aims to save more than £250,000 a year. Under the new model, legal staff at Swale, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells borough councils will remain based at their authorities but support ...
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Birmingham courts pilot Jackson review’s cost management model
Judges in two of Birmingham’s business courts have begun trialling Lord Justice Jackson’s concept of ‘costs management’. The pilot in the Mercantile and Technology and Construction Courts aims to test whether judges can actively control costs throughout a case. In his ...
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Law Society plans new branding campaign
The Law Society is building upon last year’s £450,000 advertising and public relations programme with a new campaign to promote the brand of solicitor to the public. Last year’s campaign, which ran from early May to late June 2008, carried the strapline ‘Your solicitor, qualified ...
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Pro bono lawyers celebrate awards
City firm Taylor Wessing won the award for best contribution by a law firm at LawWorks’ annual pro bono awards. The firm was recognised for its ‘commitment and enthusiasm to investing in the community’, particularly through its work organising and staffing a weekly legal advice ...
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Online database identifies serial employment tribunal litigants
Serial litigants whose employment tribunal claims are costing employers and taxpayers millions of pounds in defence costs and court time are to be targeted through a new database. Solicitor Gordon Turner of Partners Employment Lawyers and barrister Damian McCarthy of Cloisters chambers have set up ...
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Judicial hurdles hamper recovery of looted assets, says transparency group
International efforts to block the looting of poor countries by corrupt governments are hampered by the lack of a single body to combat money laundering in the UK, according to a government-sponsored study. Combating money laundering and recovering looted gains, by Transparency International, calls on the government to fund asset-recovery ...
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Private equity firms target legal sector
Private equity firms are in ‘advanced negotiations’ over taking short-term stakes in leading law firms once they are allowed to do so, according to the peer in charge of reviewing legal regulation on behalf of the Law Society. ‘The figures they are talking about are astronomical,’ said Lord Hunt of ...
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Bank shares, education and property management deals
Barclays disposal: The London office of US firm Shearman & Sterling advised the Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company on disposing of 1.3 billion shares in Barclays bank – around 13.5% of Barclays’ share capital. Magic circle firm Clifford Chance advised Barclays.
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Solicitor loses appeal against insider trading jail sentence
A solicitor jailed after the Financial Services Authority’s first criminal prosecution for insider dealing lost his appeal against sentence last week. Christopher McQuoid, 40, former general counsel at TTP Communications, and his father-in-law, James Melbourne, 74, were both found guilty of one count of insider dealing ...
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Income rises but profits fall at Field Fisher Waterhouse
City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse today reported an 8% increase in revenues, but predicted that profits would be down on last year. The firm’s turnover increased from £88m in 2007/08 to £95m for the year ended 30 April 2009. The firm did not release a figure ...