Last 3 months headlines – Page 1715
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Bill 'could damage public confidence'
Criminal practitioners have warned that several measures in the Coroners and Justice Bill could damage confidence in the justice system and accused the government of pandering to pressure groups. Ian Kelcey, chairman of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, described the bill as a complete ...
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Clampdown on legal aid fraudsters
The Coroners and Justice Bill creates new powers to clampdown on people who make fraudulent claims for legal aid or fail to pay their share of costs. Changes will allow data about individuals to be shared routinely between the Legal Services Commission and the Department for Work and Pensions. Courts ...
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Nuclear developments, energy sales and publishing buyouts
Going nuclear: City firm CMS Cameron McKenna advised energy companies RWE and E.ON on a joint venture to build nuclear power stations in the UK. The project aims to develop 6GW of capacity. ...
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Personal injury
Limitation periods - Personal injury claims Stephen Cain v Bernice Francis: Shona Mckay v (1) Stephen Hamlani (2) Direct Line Insurance Plc: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Robert Andrew Morritt, Lady Justice Smith, Lord Justice Maurice Kay): 18 December 2008 ...
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The issues raised by police officers conferring on their notes
Last May barrister Mark Saunders was killed by police after he repeatedly fired a shotgun out of the window of his Chelsea flat.
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New pre-action protocol for mortgage possession claims
A new civil procedure protocol for lawyers of much practical relevance came into effect on 19 November 2008. It applies to both money and possession claims by the lender on mortgages of residential property.
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Bribery bill and corruption clampdown
This year will see a new Bribery Bill. It promises to reform the criminal law so that a new and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences will enable courts and prosecutors to provide a more effective response to bribery in the 21st century at home and abroad.
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Solicitors and judicial appointments
Solicitors will have to try a little harder if they want to become High Court judges, the Lord Chief Justice suggested last week. ‘I doubt whether it is fully understood that any solicitors intending to seek a full-time judicial appointment should gain part-time sitting experience,’ Lord Judge said, ‘and that ...
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Salaried partners need more support
I write to announce the formation of The Association of Salaried Partners. The purpose of this organisation will be to support the interests of both former and current salaried partners within the legal profession.
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A level playing field
Is it really feasible that a law firm in Carlisle will be allowed to profit-share with a local accountant and save on overheads, while another firm up the M6 in Gretna will not? The answer, fortunately, appears to be no. After years of prevarication and politicking, the Scottish legal profession ...
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Samba sponsor
Football sponsorship is an expensive business and not many provincial law firms expect to see their proud brand emblazoned across the chest of a World Cup-winning captain. Leeds corporate and commercial outfit The Needle Partnership appears to have managed it, however. The firm has signed ...
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Raising the standards of client care
At a recent event a solicitor asked me to sum up what the majority of the Legal Complaints Service’s work involves. My response was surprisingly simple. The problems cited most often by clients are: ‘The matter took too long and cost more than I expected.’ Problems ...
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Lost for words
Reports of the death of the legal typo have been much exaggerated, if our readers are to be believed. Georgie Godby of Cambridge recalls a high-tech example in a contract that was run through an autocorrect function. It read: ‘The manufacturer does not exclude or ...
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In the Knowles
Spooky or what? There is at least one man for whom the knighthood of DLA Piper boss Nigel Knowles (pictured) in the New Year Honours will have come as little surprise. In the last Gazette of 2005, Tony ‘Gypsy Rose’ Williams, one-time Clifford Chance managing partner and now head of ...
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Seeking equality with barristers
As you correctly reported, solicitors welcome any system that will allow them to demonstrate that they can compete on equal terms with barristers (see [2008] Gazette,18 December, 1). The quality assurance scheme ‘should’ do that. But will it?
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Sweet music
Basil Preuveneers, council member for Croydon and North Kent, responded to our request for solicitor musicians by revealing that he plays keyboards, trumpet, cornet and accordion. But not at the same time. The photo shows him with actress Jane Asher, president of the Parkinson’s Disease Society, at the society’s annual ...
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Staying the course
Secs appeal. Either you’ve got it or you haven’t, and Ann Moody had it for 39 years and five months. That was how long she was secretary to former solicitor Tony Mackintosh, who retired from Birmingham law firm Tyndallwoods in July 2008 after a career spanning 55 years. He said: ...
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Fees 'frisson'
You reported last week that the Solicitors Regulation Authority ‘voted 13 to two, with one abstention, not to reimpose a ban on referral payments’ (see [2009] Gazette, 8 January, 3). This is correct, save that the vote you refer to was the second vote. This took place immediately after the ...
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Beer, pensions and ice drilling
Beer billions: magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised banks including BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan on a €6.4bn (£5.7bn) rights issue by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the recently merged Belgian brewer. ...
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Fairness and justice
Richard Moorhead is right to emphasise that, in contrast to the interpretation being put on his contingency fee studies by those who appear desperate for an alternative to the current costs system, contingency fees are not a solution (see [2008] Gazette, 11 December, 9). It is ...