All News articles – Page 1266

  • News

    Unanimous: profession votes for ‘training days’ action in protest over cuts

    2013-05-20T00:00:00Z

    In an unprecedented show of unity by the legal profession hundreds of barristers and solicitors came together yesterday to oppose the government’s proposed criminal legal aid cuts which they said would ‘destroy the fabric of the criminal justice system’. Over 1,000 attended a London meeting dubbed ...

  • News

    Saudi Arabia accepts registration of female lawyer

    20 May 2013

    Arwa Al-Hujaili has become Saudi Arabia’s first female lawyer – but only after spending three years post-graduation petitioning the kingdom’s Ministry of Justice to register her as a trainee. However, Al-Hujaili’s problems may have only just begun: any Saudi judge who disapproves of women speaking in ...

  • News

    Don’t worry about Jackson fallout – judge

    20 May 2013

    The High Court judge responsible for implementing the Jackson civil litigation reforms has made two speeches seeking to allay lawyers’ fears about the reforms’ impact. Speaking to the Commercial Litigation Association annual conference, Mr Justice Ramsey urged more ‘hot-tubbing’ of expert witnesses to improve the ...

  • News

    London Legal Walk 2013

    2013-05-20T00:00:00Z

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  • News

    London Legal Walk 2013 - gallery

    20 May 2013

    The ninth London Legal Walk was the greatest ever – more than 7,000 walkers (and runners) raised over £500,000 for the London Legal Support Trust. The attorney general, gamely wearing a T-shirt advertising the fact, promised the walkers that he would take back to his cabinet ...

  • News

    7,000 lawyers to hit the streets for free legal advice

    20 May 2013

    The lord chief justice, the president of the Supreme Court, the master of the rolls, the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions will be leading some 7,000 legal professionals in the largest organised gathering of lawyers in the UK. The ninth London Legal ...

  • News

    You’ll have had your tea

    13 May 2013

    Last month, I received a certificate congratulating me on 50 years of loyal service to the profession. It was something I considered ironic since I spent much of those 50 years unsuccessfully devising ways to give up the law. Of my admission ceremony I can ...

  • News

    SRA’s popularity slips

    2013-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors are less likely to speak positively of the Solicitors Regulation Authority than they were a year ago, a Law Society survey has found. Firms who took part in the 2012/13 winter poll were less likely than a year before to give ‘good’ ratings for the ...

  • News

    Seconds out, round one

    13 May 2013

    It’s not quite the Varsity Match, but Obiter is enjoying watching a classic rivalry ripening between law schools BPP and the University of Law. Especially as this one is underpinned by dog-eats-dog commercial imperatives. The latest round began with the elevation of the College of ...

  • News

    Libel and slander

    13 May 2013

    Claimant seeking determination on meaning of words complained of as preliminary issue Lord McAlpine of West Green v Bercow: Queen's Bench Division (Mr Justice Tugendhat): 25 April 2013 In the ...

  • News

    Russia’s legal sector

    13 May 2013

    The market economy in the Russian Federation has developed exponentially since the Soviet Union (USSR), its legal predecessor, dissolved in 1991. Oil and gas contribute up to 25% of GDP and a massive 80% of exports according to UKTI, but Russia is diversifying its economy. With low unemployment, a population ...

  • News

    Sri Lanka relents on visit

    13 May 2013

    The Sri Lanka government has lifted its ban on fact-finding visits by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). The institute is welcome to make an ‘objective and impartial analysis of the reality of contemporary Sri Lanka’, it said. In February, an IBAHRI delegation ...

  • News

    Shadow minister hints at ‘unwind’ of Jackson reforms

    13 May 2013

    Labour’s shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter has given the biggest hint yet that his party might seek to undo some civil justice reforms if returned to power. Slaughter (pictured) told today’s Westminster Legal Policy Forum that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of Jackson ...

  • News

    Tendering: grim precedent

    13 May 2013

    So the Ministry of Justice is having to dip into its – that is to say ‘our’ – pocket to bail out a cack-handed scheme for interpreter provision wished upon the criminal justice system supposedly to save money. Who would have thought it? Well, anyone ...

  • News

    Grayling says no to regulating will-writing

    2013-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Justice secretary Chris Grayling has today rebuffed a recommendation from super-regulator the Legal Services Board that will-writing should be regulated. In a Ministry of Justice statement, he said that an LSB report claiming that there is ‘consumer detriment’ in the will-writing market did not adequately ...

  • News

    Government red tape reverse

    13 May 2013

    The government’s pledge to cut red tape was called into question by research showing it introduced around six new laws every working day last year, an 8% rise on 2011. The government has said it will scrap two existing regulations for every new regulation it brings ...

  • News

    Law firms’ marketing plans

    2013-05-13T00:00:00Z

    I get to see a wide range of solicitors’ marketing plans ranging from the weighty dissertation to the single sheet.

  • News

    Employment

    13 May 2013

    Admission – Liability – Withdrawal Berg v Blackburn Rovers Football Club & Athletic plc: Chancery Division, Manchester District Registry: 29 April 2013 The Chancery Division dismissed an application by ...

  • News

    Dog-eat-dog profession

    13 May 2013

    Am I alone in thinking, after qualifying 40 years ago, that what was then a profession which justified and duly received public respect has degenerated into a dog-eat-dog environment? We already know that larger firms and conveyancing factories sell their souls to estate agents, developers and ...