Last 3 months headlines – Page 1656
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Human rights
Freedom of expression – Intelligence of services – Investigatory Powers Tribunal – Emanations of the Crown A v B: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Laws, Rix, Dyson): 18 February 2009 ...
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Is being mentally ill tantamount to a criminal offence in Britain?
Gazette reporter Jonathan Rayner writes about the journey his son and he have taken through an increasingly dysfunctional system. My son is out of prison now. Patrick (not his real name) has a mental illness, which seems to be ...
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Prison – Five hundred years of life behind bars
Edward Marston The National Archives, £18 From the building of the Tower of London in 1068 to the last executions in 1964, Edward Marston’s Prison is a compelling historical tour of punishment in Britain ...
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The Associate
John GrishamCentury, £18.99 A core element of John Grisham’s work is the black-and-white presentation of good and evil – this is what makes his books so successful and also perhaps disappointing. ...
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The Coroner
M R HallMacmillan, £10 The heroine of M R Hall’s debut novel is not your average coroner. Jenny Cooper is a freshly divorced mother and her nervous breakdown, therapy and ...
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Majority stake
It’s been a long and winding road. In 1922, Maud Crofts, Carrie Morrison (pictured), Mary Pickup and Mary Sykes became the first women to qualify as solicitors in England. Sadly, however, the next 35 years of history of women’s achievements in the profession are a little sketchy. It was not ...
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Striding out for cash
Obiter was tantalised by the arrival of a message entitled ‘solicitor does a runner’. The email contained a link to the news that Geoff Gafford, from Chipping Norton firm Dyakowski Gafford, is legging it up north. Not with the contents of the firm’s ...
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How’s that?
The West Indies have been racking up huge batting totals in the Caribbean this winter (Ramnaresh Sarwan, 291, Barbados, springs to mind). These gritty performances have in turn caused great anguish for the English bowling attack. Unfortunately, Obiter has to predict that the pained expressions of Andrew Strauss & Co ...
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Where there’s a will...
Solicitors working pro bono have raised £775,000 for charity through the 2008 Will Aid campaign. The campaign involved preparing wills for people free of charge, but inviting them to make a voluntary donation to a charitable fund. Lauren Smith of Sheffield firm Watson Esam raised more than £4,000 in a ...
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Post-recession: the state of the legal landscape
One of the advantages of being president of the Law Society is that people generally don’t turn down an invitation to speak to you about their work. I must confess that I exploited this benefit to the full recently when I asked Professor Richard Susskind to drop by at a ...
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Office of the Public Guardian highlights positives
I am disappointed to see that the Gazette continues to highlight criticism of efforts made by my office to improve services to customers. I think it’s wrong for the Gazette to portray the views of a vocal minority as the general (and current) position. It is true that there ...
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Estate agency – it's not rocket science
Now is the time for the Law Society and its members to take heed of the advice offered by Peter Morgan in his letter, that ‘we need to embrace property selling’ (see [2009] ...
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Which? is impartial
Following your item headlined ‘High street network and Which? link up’ (see [2009] Gazette, 26 February, 1), I would like to clarify that Which? Legal Service would not solely recommend one particular service. As part of the consumer charity Which?, we pride ourselves on providing independent, impartial advice. ...
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There is no problem with costs in publication proceedings
I am beginning to know how Alice in Wonderland felt during her trial as she argued with the Queen who was demanding ‘sentence first – verdict afterwards’.
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Unpublished research confirms bar earnings divide
Widely held suspicions that white male barristers earn far more than their female and ethnic-minority colleagues have been confirmed by unpublished research commissioned by the Bar Council.
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Law Society unveils client care helpline package
The Law Society and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner yesterday unveiled a package of client care measures to help solicitors, including a £100,000 ‘best practice’ consultancy service and a dedicated helpline. Society chief executive Des Hudson described the initiative as an important step toward helping practitioners deal ...
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SRA considers asking for rethink on voluntary accreditation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority may ask the Law Society Council to reconsider its decision to transfer voluntary accreditation schemes back to Chancery Lane. The Law Society representative body expects to take control of voluntary programmes no later than June after council voted in favour of ...
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Employment tribunal ruling challenges ageism
The first tribunal hearing to deal ‘head on’ with bars to employment based on date of birth has ruled that the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) acted unlawfully in rejecting candidates over 35.
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Deaf student launches discrimination action against law school
A deaf would-be law student has begun proceedings against a London law school, alleging disability discrimination on the grounds of ‘unfavourable treatment’ and failure to make ‘reasonable adjustments’.