Last 3 months headlines – Page 1649

  • News

    Driving a hard bargain: the ins and outs of hire claims

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Rather than settling down, credit hire claims in many courts all over the country appear to be on the increase. Certain key issues have been settled in three chapters of litigation to have reached the House of Lords: (a) credit hire agreements are not champertous ...

  • News

    Family legal aid fees will leave solicitors worse off

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The proposed fixed fees for family legal aid work will leave solicitors worse off, according to a Law Society survey published today.

  • News

    Allen & Overy hosts launch of pioneering share index

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The world’s first stockmarket index for professional services firms was launched this week at the City of London headquarters of magic circle firm Allen & Overy. A key aim of the initiative is to educate analysts and institutional investors about the potential benefits of investing ...

  • News

    Trespassing in the public interest; functional entanglement

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    A Birmingham city councillor was found by the Administrative Court to have breached the council’s Code of Conduct...

  • News

    Civil evidence

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Real property – Admissibility – Limitations – Without prejudice communications Ofulue & Anor v Bossert: HL (Lords Hope of Craighead, Scott of Foscote, Rodger of Earlsferry, Walker of Gestingthorpe, Neuberger of Abbotsbury): 11 March 2009 ...

  • News

    Planning

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Civil procedure – Local government – Planning appeals – Practice directions Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government v (1) Bovale Ltd (2) Herefordshire District Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Waller (V-P), Dyson, Stanley Burnton): 11 ...

  • News

    Abbey strikes thousands from conveyancing panel

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Hundreds of solicitors across England and Wales reacted with shock and dismay last week after mortgage provider Abbey halved the size of its panel for residential conveyancing. Some 6,050 law firm offices have been removed from the 12,000-strong panel as part of a rationalisation ...

  • News

    The history of the Ponzi scheme

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The arrest of financier Bernard Madoff on suspicion of running a $50bn fraud offering to pay a steady if suspicious 12% return on investments in good and bad times has had everyone nodding their heads wisely saying, ‘Oh, yes, a Ponzi scheme’. But how many know who Ponzi was or ...

  • News

    Into the firing line?

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    In the show’s best tradition, The Apprentice contestant Anita Shah doesn’t come over as a shrinking violet. But the ‘self-confessed perfectionist’ has a novel strategy for getting ahead in the competition to impress Sir Alan Sugar. Shah reckons that you can be successful by investing ...

  • News

    LSB consults on regulatory independence

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Board has today (25 March) launched a consultation on regulatory independence. A new document sets out proposals for rules that would require the separation of regulatory work from any representative work at eight approved regulators, including the Law Society. It also deals with rules necessary to approve ...

  • News

    Table manners

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Another tale of old-school judiciary reaches us from Andrew Firman of Carter Lemon Camerons in Aldersgate St, London. A nervous articled clerk appears for the first time before the Master and, seeing a handy space on the table in front of him, deposits his bag thereon. ‘Young man,’ booms the ...

  • News

    Barty calls it a day – after 54 years

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Winston Churchill retired, Ruth Ellis was hanged and Bill Haley rocked around the clock. In the same year – 1955 – John Barty qualified as a solicitor. He’s been practising in Bournemouth ever since, mainly as partner and senior partner with Rendall Litchfield, now part of Rawlins Davy. After 54 ...

  • News

    Rickett takes 10-race challenge

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Jacob Rickett, environmental law assistant at Browne Jacobson in Nottingham, is looking to complete a 10-race challenge in a year – including full and half marathons – to raise money for the charity Arthritis Care. Rickett, 27, has a special reason for his passion. He has been diagnosed with ankylosing ...

  • News

    Memory lane

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society’s Gazette, March 1959 The Society’s Annual Conference

  • News

    Data page for March 2009

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the Data Page for March 2009 below ...

  • News

    Whitehall's concessions over secret inquests are a mixed bag

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Can a secret inquest ever be justified after a person has died at the hands of the state? Or does the government deserve some credit for limiting the likelihood that future inquests will be held behind closed doors? That was a key issue that divided MPs as they spent two ...

  • News

    Bring on equality

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    I read with some disbelief Jack Straw’s remarks. On what planet is this man living, or more frighteningly, what planet are those who advise him living on?

  • News

    Pay for our offices

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    I am very encouraged by Jack Straw’s announcement that he thinks it entirely proper that lawyers are paid decent rates and his assertion that we should not expect to be paid more than public sector employees.

  • News

    Future perfect?

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Your otherwise excellent article on the impact of the recession on the north-west legal scene (see [2009] Gazette, 19 March, 14) was marred by an error regarding the alleged lack of legal training providers in the heart of the city.

  • News

    Why solicitors are best equipped to be notaries

    2009-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Having qualified as a solicitor at Allen & Overy, my experience has always been in the commercial world. I then spent eight years in private practice with commercial firms in Hong Kong. While I was in Hong Kong, I became a notary. On returning to the UK, I qualified as ...