All News articles – Page 1272
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News
Lawyers are the same – though different – wherever you go
I have travelled a good deal for more than 15 years, either on behalf of the Law Society or for my current employer, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Since this has been paid either wholly or now in small part by solicitors, it is time ...
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The Tyco-Eversheds deal – from whiteboard to renewal
News broke late last week that Tyco is extending the 2006 deal it signed with Eversheds, whereby the firm provides the company’s legal needs for a fixed price – in return for sole-provider status for huge swathes of Tyco’s external legal needs.
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System crying out for reform
Forgive me for raising a matter affecting the families of murder victims, when we are engrossed in our own future, but it is important. A suspected murderer had gone on the run, hiding away for many weeks. I had represented him before and had no doubt ...
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Massive rise in cross-border family disputes
The number of cross-border family legal disputes referred to a UK judge has grown tenfold in a decade and more than doubled in the past two years, according to an organisation set up to facilitate transnational judicial collaboration. The annual report of the Office of the ...
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I want to be a ‘fat-cat’ criminal lawyer
Dear Mr Grayling – please help! I run a medium-sized firm of motor mechanics, employing a team of 20. Most of us used to make a half-decent wage, in line with our experience, servicing and repairing cars for the general public. We were not the ...
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High Court throws out JR on ‘easyCouncil’
A London council is to proceed with the outsourcing of regulatory services such as building control and land charges after fighting off a High Court challenge. The court today dismissed an application for a judicial review against the London borough of Barnet’s programme to outsource a wide range of services ...
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Costs precedent
Judgment in the conjoined appeals of Gavin Flatman v Gill Germany and Richard Weddall v Barchester Health Care Ltd was handed down last month [2013] EWCA Civ 278. The decision was an important one in view of the new funding and costs regime that exists following the implementation of the ...
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Contributory negligence: employee or lawful visitor?
In Sharp v Top Flight Scaffolding Ltd, the claimant was so badly injured in the accident that at trial he was a protected party represented by his brother as litigation friend. Mr Sharp was a 43-year-old scaffolder employed by the defendant, who fell while attempting ...
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Contempt jailings should never be secret, leading judges warn
No one found guilty of contempt should be jailed in secret, two of the country’s most senior judges have declared in a strong stand for open justice. The lord chief justice Lord Judge (pictured) and Sir James Munby, who is both head of the High Court’s ...
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Solicitors must engage with PCT consultation
by Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society The current consultation on changes to criminal legal aid - the proposed introduction of price-competitive tendering - casts a dark shadow over the future of hundreds of solicitors and their firms.
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News
Corporate counsel hold the key to realising commercial promise
Research on cross-border M&A commissioned by Baker & McKenzie concludes that worries about compliance issues in emerging economies lead the list of barriers to acquisition. Such concerns stand between the inherent attraction of acquisitions, and the ability to convert that attraction into a deal. ...
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Law firms and cloud computing
Cloud computing – delivering IT resources remotely via the web – has been a hot topic in legal IT for several years, and it has gained serious traction over the past 18 months. In common with other sectors that avoid early adoption of new technology, legal services providers interpret the ...
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Our only certainty is uncertainty
Sado-masochism, that's the only possible answer. How else do you explain why so many solicitors line up for conferences about the future of the legal profession, like lobsters clambering to the front of the tank for a better view of the cooking instructions? I speak as ...
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News
The case for the defence
Law-makers have been thinking about abolishing the marital coercion defence since the early 1920s, so suggestions that it will be abolished in some imminent legislation cannot be said to be a knee-jerk reaction to the Vicky Pryce case.
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News
A blow to EL claims
Last week, an attempt to oppose changes to health and safety law that will make it harder for employees to bring claims against their employers, failed in the House of Lords. At the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ annual conference this month, APIL past-president David Bott ...
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Taxpayer to foot bill for interpreter pay rise
A 22% hike in payments to courtroom interpreters is set to knock a large hole in savings forecast by the government under its ill-starred initiative to contract out the service.
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News
Saatchi promises safeguards in negligence immunity bill
Advertising magnate Lord Saatchi will today outline how he intends to protect doctors from negligence claims if they innovate in the treatment of cancer patients. In a speech to the Royal Society of Medicine, Saatchi will explain how doctors can be encouraged to innovate without being ...
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News
PCT bidders risk flouting conduct code
Solicitors who bid for the proposed new criminal legal aid contracts risk breaching the Code of Conduct, the Law Society’s head of legal aid policy has warned. Richard Miller told a conference last week that adhering to the model devised by the Ministry of Justice ...
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Two-year consultation bears fruit with updated property forms
The Law Society has produced long-awaited updated property forms designed to make buying and selling homes easier. Following a consultation process that began two years ago, the Property Information Form (TA6) and Fitting and Contents Form (TA10) have been revised. The new ...