Last 3 months headlines – Page 1708
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Right to privacy versus the public’s right to know
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) continues to surprise and baffle public sector information managers and lawyers. Every month there are an average of 20 decisions made by the information commissioner and eight by the Information Tribunal.
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Local authority vires: procurement law
I am afraid that my social circle does not include many amoebae. However, this is undoubtedly my failing, since it appears that this remarkable one-cell life-form can not only change shape at will but can also split its cell to create a whole new amoeba. How clever is that?
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Saying sorry
Lawyers and pressure groups alike know an apology can avert legal actions against the medical profession. So why is it still so hard to apologise? Sorry seems to be the hardest word, and it would seem this hackneyed expression is never more accurate than when ...
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Chinese walls
The world’s fourth-largest economy is gradually liberalising its legal services market, but significant obstacles remain. ‘Not a single month goes by without some international firm planning to open up in Beijing, Hong Kong or even Shanghai,’ reflects Alastair Da Costa, DLA Piper’s managing director of ...
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Beyond our Ken
Ken Livingstone was on chipper form at the Tower of London last week, notwithstanding his recent ejection from City Hall. No – Boris Johnson is not planning to chop his predecessor’s head off. The former mayor was booked to speak at the Legal Leaders of London event, organised by outsourcing ...
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Tour de France
Nadine Emsley cannot remember how or why she decided to cycle from London to Paris, but she’s sure it seemed a good idea at the time. Slogging from Calais to Abbeville (79.8 miles) in driving rain and a 14mph head wind, she began to have doubts. ‘I was averaging 8.1mph ...
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Life on the ocean wave
Plymouth solicitor Charles Patterson (see picture, far left) has experience of both sides of shipping law, both as an associate at shipping specialist Davies Johnson & Co, and also as a pirate. The 36-year-old salt responded to our call for lawyers with screen-legend stories to tell with some stirring tales ...
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French renaissance
In the first of a new regular wine column, Will Lyons explains why France is back in vogue The reputation of France as a wine-producing country is riddled in paradox. On the one hand the position of its triumvirate of fine wine regions, Bordeaux, Burgundy and ...
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Sartorial scouser
Obiter likes a sharp dresser and there is nobody sharper than Frank Maher, partner at Liverpool law firm Legal Risk. Especially when he is wearing one of his trademark bespoke ties illustrated with images of the type of work his practice does. Maher ...
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If in doubt, let’s have another review
What the profession craves more than anything is a prolonged period of certainty and stability The government’s decision last week to initiate an academic review of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements came totally out of the blue.
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Year in the life
My time as President of the Law Society has been both memorable and rewarding What a year to be President of the Law Society. From the passage of the Legal Services Act to the legal aid settlement, it has been a pivotal 12 months. Here are ...
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Cause for complaint
Solicitors must not give up the right to deal with a client’s complaint without involving the regulator I have recently been involved (for the first time) in a complaint by a former client to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). The client did not complain to me ...
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What does ‘business services’ mean?
Council lawyers lacking practising certificates are not adequately protected by the new Code of Conduct Local government lawyers may find themselves liable to regulatory sanction and criminal conviction as a result of cutbacks, if their practising certificates are not renewed and they remain held out as ...
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Solicitors are doing their duty
I’m pleased to inform Philip Miles that from 14 July the number of duty solicitors working on our schemes will actually rise from 6,161 to 6,206 – an increase of 45 nationally (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 11). Some new solicitors clearly wish to join the profession.
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Preparing for partnership
I read with sympathy Tony Guise’s plea for more support for those about to enter into partnership (see [2008] Gazette, 26 June, 11). This is a crucial time, when lawyers are making the leap from fee-earning employees to employers with wide management responsibilities. Some of us ...
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Doom and gloom
Having just read my Gazette (26 June) I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. I read that our insurance is going to go up by 25% (if we can get insurance at all); we have to raise our professional standards but reduce our fee expectations; we have to ...
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Citi brokers law firm private equity talks
Citi, the world’s largest bank, has brokered meetings between the UK’s biggest private equity houses and major law firms in a bid to strike investment deals before the Legal Services Act is fully implemented, the Gazette has learned. Citi’s specialist legal group has sent its private ...
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Aussie class action drive
One of Australia’s leading class action law firms has joined forces with a top Australian litigation funder to mount on assault on the class action market in the UK and Europe, the Gazette can reveal. One of the most significant entries to the nascent third-party funding ...
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Client account reform
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has backed controversial proposals to allow non-solicitors in law firms to handle client money – despite opposition from members of a profession labelled ‘historically obsessed with status’, the Gazette has learned. The SRA board decided at last week’s meeting to recommend ...
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JAC targets top firms for recruits
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is targeting major law firms in its campaign to persuade more solicitors to become judges, a senior commissioner said this week. Frances Kirkham, JAC commissioner in charge of the current selection exercise for recorders, said that firms, as well as ...