All articles by Michael Cross – Page 109
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NewsFormer judge wins pension battle
A former part-time judge who fought his pension claim to the Supreme Court is entitled to compensation, an employment tribunal has ruled.
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NewsScots divided on separate representation
An impending vote on whether separate legal representation should be mandatory for buyers and lenders in conveyancing deals in Scotland is likely to be very close, consultation responses suggest.
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OpinionJacques Vergès: avocat de la rupture
Michael Cross chronicles the unusual life of controversial French lawyer Jacques Vergès, who died yesterday. You probably know him as the ‘devil’s advocate’.
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NewsFiji activist sentenced for Law Society Charity ‘contempt’
Akuila Yabaki has been sentenced to a suspended prison term for reprinting part of a Law Society Charity report which criticised Fiji’s judiciary.
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NewsPicture looks rosiest for India’s lawyers
India’s senior lawyers enjoy the highest earnings relative to their country’s wealth coupled with the highest confidence in their job security, according to a new survey.
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News
Culture change call for Chancery Division
The Chancery Division of the High Court must undergo cultural change according to the first comprehensive review of the division in 30 years.
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News
Call for more clarification in IP bill
Specialist lawyers have cautiously welcomed a softening of legislation to make a criminal offence of design infringement.
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News
Legislation to alter tax rules for LLPs
Draft legislation to enforce the government’s clampdown on ‘disguised employment’ has been published.
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News
Lawyers wary over company owners rule
Company law specialists have cautiously welcomed the government’s approach to requiring all companies to declare their beneficial owners. A discussion paper published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills proposes creating a register of beneficial owners to meet a commitment set out at last month’s G8 summit. ...
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Opinion
Open justice? Open court listings would be a start
A century ago, in Scott v Scott (1913), the House of Lords affirmed the common law rule that courts must administer justice in public. Just last week, Lord Justice Kay cited the ruling when rejecting a request by a Saudi prince for litigation to be heard in private. He ruled: ...
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News
Pre-pack deals under scrutiny in company law shake-up
A central register of beneficial owners and a review of ‘pre-pack’ takeovers of failed businesses are among measures proposed in a shake-up of company law today. A discussion paper published by the department for Business, Innovation & Skills sets out how the UK proposes to carry out its commitment at ...
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News
UK will bid to rejoin watered-down European arrest warrant
The government is to exercise its opt-out of 135 European crime and justice measures pre-dating the 2007 Lisbon Treaty – but hopes to rejoin some 30, including the European arrest warrant and the law enforcement agency Europol, the home secretary said today. In a well-trailed statement to the House of ...
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News
Free trade legal impact ‘will be small’
Free trade talks opening today between the EU and US are likely to end with agreements to open legal services – but lawyers in England and Wales will notice little difference in practice. Ambitions for a free trade agreement were announced at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland last month. ...
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News
Lawyers shocked by money laundering claim
Lawyers have reacted with concern to an inter-governmental report apparently suggesting that complicity in money laundering and terrorist financing is rife in the legal sector. Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Vulnerabilities of Legal Professionals, published by the Financial Action Task Force, a body set up by seven leading economies, presents ...
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News
I have seen the future and it didn't work
In autumn 2005, on a visit to the Home Office’s shiny new headquarters near Millbank, I enjoyed a demonstration of an all-singing, all-dancing joined-up criminal justice IT system. The ‘walk through’ was to show off a £2bn programme to join up police forces, prosecutors, the courts and prison and probation ...
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News
Judicial oversight promised for white-collar prosecution deals
US-style deals to defer prosecutions for offences such as corporate bribery will be transparent and supervised by a judge under a code of practice for prosecutors published today. Deferred prosecutions, under which a prosecution for corporate crime is suspended in return for a promise of ...
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News
Watchdog: reform ‘unnecessarily complicated’ election law
Moves to rationalise the 25 separate pieces of legislation that govern national elections received the support of the electoral watchdog today. A report ‘Reflections on a new structure for the United Kingdom’s electoral law’, published by the Electoral Commission, argues that the ‘voluminous, complex and ...
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News
LETR: law students not prepared for work, Society says
Potential entrants to the legal profession must be given more and better information before embarking on costly programmes of study, the Law Society said in response to the report of the Legal Education and Training Review. Chief executive Desmond Hudson (pictured) said there is an ...
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News
LETR: legal executives welcome ‘mainstream recognition’
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) welcomed today’s report of the Legal Education and Training Review – but said it had already embraced many of the report’s recommendations. In an initial response, Nick Hanning, CILEx president, said: ‘This is a valuable piece of work. ...
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News
Consumer panel promises ‘long game’ on will regulation
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has claimed credit for changing the climate of opinion on the regulation of will-writing – despite the government’s outright rejection of the idea last month. The quango’s annual report, published today, lists will-writing as one area where it had an ...