Last 3 months headlines – Page 1678
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Of bills and balance sheets
Some solicitors enter the profession because it is a vocation, others because lawyering offers a comfortable living and a measure of status. We would venture that only a small minority become solicitors primarily because they aspire to be business people or entrepreneurs. After all, you study accountancy if you want ...
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Potential based on ability alone is not ‘political correctness’
Barack Obama’s election marks a turning point far beyond America’s shores. It is not proof that the problems of equality and diversity are behind us, but it provides an impetus for us all to make renewed efforts for lasting change.
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Formal memorandums and production-sharing agreements
Law of the Land: City firm SJ Berwin advised British Land in establishing a formal memorandum of understanding with the Highways Agency. The memorandum establishes a framework for promoting sustainable development and regeneration. The Highways Agency was advised in-house.
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Crunch skips court
The credit crunch has yet to create a wave of commercial litigation, according to latest Ministry of Justice statistics. Although the number of commercial cases launched in the High Court hit 64,046 in 2007 – the highest for seven years – this represents only a 1.6% ...
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FTSE 100 to have say in review
The UK’s biggest companies will take part in Lord Hunt of Wirral’s corporate liaison group, the members of which can now be revealed by the Gazette. In-house counsel at FTSE 100 companies will be represented by Peter Maynard, chair of the GC100 and company secretary at ...
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Kickback law to get reboot
Individuals who bribe public officials, or companies that negligently fail to prevent bribery, will be guilty of new offences if Law Commission proposals become legislation. In Reforming Bribery, published today, the commission recommends replacing a ‘morass’ of bribery laws with two general offences of giving bribes ...
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Proof of identity rules will hit home hard
Conveyancing could grind to a halt under new Land Registry rules for requiring proof of identity, the chairman of the Law Society property section, Peter Rodd, has warned. Solicitors should be ‘very cautious’ about dealing with new forms which could expose them to liability. New ...
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Which? plans legal push
Which? Legal Services will aggressively target customers through pricing and brand awareness as it drives to increase its membership by a quarter over the next year. The consumer group’s new head of legal services, Steve Coyle (pictured), revealed the ambition this week in his first ...
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Laundering reports fall by nearly half
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) wants solicitors to make more and better reports on suspected money laundering over the next year, after reports submitted to the agency fell by more than 40%. In its second annual report, SOCA says it will encourage organisations most ...
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Random selection call
Judicial panels hearing cases before the new UK Supreme Court should be picked at random rather than by the opaque procedure used by the House of Lords, a leading silk suggested this week. Lord David Pannick QC criticised the current system under which even Law Lords themselves do not know ...
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Baby P 'scapegoat' claim
Local government solicitors have defended colleagues at the London Borough of Haringey against press criticism of their role in the case of ‘Baby P’. Suzanne Bond, chair of Solicitors in Local Government, said that some media coverage of the case had been ‘chilling’ in ...
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QC review by Nichol
The Law Society and Bar Council have appointed Sir Duncan Nichol to review the operation of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments system, three years after its introduction. The independent selection panel, developed by the two professions, replaced a process run by the former Department for ...
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Council members vote 'no' to a reduction in seats
Plans to reduce the size of the Law Society Council look to have been killed off following a members’ vote last week. Law Society chief executive Des Hudson predicted it will now be ‘some time’ before any future decision is made on the Council’s size ...
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Warning over video link for defendants
Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...
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Late surge boosts PC numbers
A late surge in applications for practising certificates over recent days has reversed an apparently startling decline in numbers. Latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show 97,291 submissions as of 16 November – 477 more than at the same time last year. The previous ...
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Civil costs rates 'next month'
New guideline hourly rates for civil costs may be published by Christmas, the chairman of the committee charged with recommending the rates announced last week. In a rare public address, Professor Stephen Nickell admitted that producing the rates has not been an easy process, with the ...
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Tumultuous period for costs draftsmen continues
An imminent root and branch review of the costs system and an overhaul of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements, with Justice Secretary Jack Straw threatening to cap success fees, could change the landscape for costs draftsmen. Sir Rupert Jackson, recently promoted to the Court of Appeal, ...
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New procedure for recovery of costs in pro bono cases
Pro bono came of age on 1 October. That was the day when section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into effect. Section 194 confers legislative recognition of pro bono legal services and enables a valuable new source of financial support for organisations ...
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Media: danger in the detail
We are all told to pay attention to detail at school and as lawyers it is paramount. Many a case has been won when a tiny, apparently trifling detail has been uncovered, often at the last minute. The late George Carman was a master of ...
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International law
European Union – Legal Certainty – Orders in Council – UN resolutions - Vires (1) A (2) K (3) M (4) Q (5) G v HM Treasury: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice ...