Last 3 months headlines – Page 1686

  • News

    Fees feedback

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    I write in response to Mark Thompson’s letter ‘Swings and roundabouts?’ (see [2008] Gazette, 2 October, 9). It is clear that, in this case, Mr Thompson has a client who has required considerable extra work to be undertaken on their behalf.

  • News

    Victory for science

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    In your article ‘Down on the Farm’ (see [2008] Gazette, 25 September, 16) you quoted a Welsh firm of commercial solicitors stating that it was essentially fear of political fallout which motivated the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to call off the proposed badger cull in the ...

  • News

    Charter clarity

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    I am writing to clarify an inaccuracy concerning the postal ballot on the new Law Society charter. I want to assure all members that non-solicitors will not become members of the Society. They will be able to buy affiliate status that would give them access to products and services that ...

  • News

    Wine column: feeling the heat

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Climate change will have a profound effect on global winemaking. It used to be only the British that talked about the weather. Now, rather like the late Victorian field sports we exported across the world, talking about the climate appears to have become a global pastime. ...

  • News

    Happy David?

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Our collection of legal typing errors continues to grow. Ian Sanderson at Nigel Davis Solicitors, Belper, recalls a young civil litigator almost signing off a letter to ‘Mr X, Consultant Sturgeon’. ‘My trainee secretary did not see the funny side as I pictured the noble ...

  • News

    Farewell drink

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Even in these uncertain times, you would have thought that selling alcohol to lawyers would be a surefire business proposition. In recent weeks, however, a large padlock and a ‘lease for sale’ sign have appeared on the door of Obiter’s neighbour, the splendid Hodgsons Wine Bar. Over the years, the ...

  • News

    Bertie the bubble car - a BMW in disguise

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Kim Griffith, wills and probate partner at Devon firm Roger Richards, emailed Obiter with a typing slip that caused much sniggering when it came in. Her firm used to contain the name Hayman, so you can probably guess the virginal error.

  • News

    I'm a celebrity lawyer...

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Lawyer to the stars Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman has signed up with showbiz agents Chase Management. He joins an array of glittering talent, including a former Wonderbra model, a TV game show hostess and a finalist in TV show Pop Idol. Freeman, whose fast-lane clients have ...

  • News

    Battle to save Iceland-funded lender: latest

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Talks to provide a lifeline to a specialist solicitors’ lending arm of collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki were under way as the Gazette went to press. Key Business Finance (KBF) chiefs were in crunch takeover talks with a number of banks to secure the company’s future. KBF ...

  • News

    Chancery Lane paves the way for new 'affiliate' category

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has moved closer to opening its doors to non-solicitors after 63% of council members voted in favour of creating a new ‘affiliate’ category. The introduction of ‘affiliate’ status is part of the Society’s plan to become a more commercially minded outfit. ...

  • News

    Redundancy help for lawyers

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors faced with redun­dancy – together with the 700 already made jobless since the financial crisis began – are to receive urgent help from the Law Society. The Society has prepared guidance to help practitioners with advice on negotiating redundancy packages, working notice periods, continuing professional ...

  • News

    Conveyancing warning

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Conveyancing solicitors risk undermining their status as the ‘lynchpin of the property market’ if they overreact to the current banking crisis and stop giving undertakings, Chancery Lane has warned. Law Society President Paul Marsh said solicitors should act with caution, but unless they had a reason ...

  • News

    Solicitors hit back over Iceland

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Local government solicitors hit back at accusations that councils acted recklessly by investing in Icelandic banks. Suzanne Bond, chairwoman of Solicitors in Local Government, said: ‘We work to government guidance, which has been followed. If it had been a couple of bodies it could be reckless, ...

  • News

    Market chaos leaves firms trading without insurance

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors have been trading without professional indemnity insurance (PII) amid the market meltdown, while the number of law firms in the assigned risks pool (ARP) has increased six-fold, the Gazette has been told. Shortly after the 1 October deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said 150 firms ...

  • News

    PI cases up for grabs to the highest bidders

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    An auction website where solicitors who make the highest bid win the right to take on a case is already generating business, the Gazette has learned. The backers of Legalbid.co.uk said their model is no worse – and, in some cases, better – than other referral arrangements in the market. ...

  • News

    Lord Hunt to head regulation review

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    A former cabinet minister, Lord Hunt of Wirral (the solicitor David Hunt), is to head the Law Society’s review of professional regulation. Lord Hunt, who was senior partner at Beachcroft between 1996 and 2005, is chairman of Beachcroft’s financial services division. Between 1979 and 1995 ...

  • News

    Solicitors assured over criminal costs

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Barristers will not gain at the expense of solicitors in the stand-off over very high cost criminal cases, the new legal aid minister assured practitioners this week. In his first engagement as minister, Lord Bach said there is ‘no question’ of funding any increase in advocacy ...

  • News

    Merger rise predicted as law firms struggle

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    Merger activity in the legal world is ‘rampant’, with more deals predicted in the next year than in the past 25, a leading consultant predicted last week. Chris Frederiksen, chairman of the 2020 Innovation Group, said that mergers are happening because the profession’s three main underpinnings ...

  • News

    Fair trial plea in Colombia

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    A last-ditch attempt to defend a bereaved father from ‘trumped-up’ terrorism charges in Colombia has been made by human rights lawyer Yenly Mendez. Mendez was in London this week to drum up international support for community leader Miguel Angelo Gonzales, whose son earlier this year became ...

  • News

    Fraud chief in prevention pledge

    2008-10-16T00:00:00Z

    The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is planning to clamp down on fraudulent activity before cases reach the courts, its director Richard Alderman said this week. In one of his first public speeches since taking the reins of the office earlier this year, Alderman said the SFO ...