All News articles – Page 1297
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News
Ministers tight-lipped on EU opt-out
The home secretary and lord chancellor were tight-lipped this week on details of the government’s plan to opt out of more than 130 EU crime and justice measures. In evidence to a Lords committee, Theresa May said the government had indicated its ‘direction of travel’, signalling its intention to exercise ...
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Employment
'Worker' – Part-time workers O'Brien v Ministry of Justice (Council of Immigration Judges intervening): Supreme Court: 6 February 2013 The Supreme Court held that the claimant, a retired part-time recorder, ...
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Iron Duke says thanks
More exhibits for Obiter’s collection of long-established firms. In its 227th year is Stratford-upon-Avon firm Lodders Solicitors, which opened for business in 1786 in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. In 1834, according to partner Alastair Frew, the firm received a letter of thanks from the Duke of Wellington, ...
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Website delays
With a growing percentage of new enquiries arriving via solicitors’ websites these days, online is undoubtedly a law firm’s most valuable marketing tool.
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Defining domicile
There has been much discussion in the press regarding the introduction of a statutory test for residence. The test is welcome and should provide a greater degree of certainty for clients in the context of their UK tax status. It should however be remembered that residence is not the only ...
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No new money for defence in Green’s digital justice plan
Overlooked defence lawyers are central to criminal justice reform but will get no funding to help them engage in digital working, the justice minister said yesterday as he outlined plans to overhaul a system beset by ‘unforgivable’ delays. Damian Green (pictured) told an event organised by ...
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Wales to decide on legal jurisdiction
Wales first minister Carwyn Jones (pictured) is today set to reveal whether he backs a separate legal jurisdiction for the country. His long-awaited response to last year’s consultation is expected to recommend a separation of powers. A move towards a Welsh jurisdiction has been widely predicted ...
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US eases curbs on foreign in-house lawyers
Foreign-qualified lawyers are to be allowed to work as in-house counsel at US companies in all 50 states for the first time, the American Bar Association (ABA) has resolved.
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Criminal law
Perverting course of justice – Third party being subject to restraint order R v Kenny: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division: 30 January 2013 The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division ...
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Society council should reflect profession’s diversity
By Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, president of the Law Society I introduced a debate at the 6 February Law Society Council meeting on how the council can better represent the profession.
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NewsRoundtable: conveyancing
While the residential conveyancing market is showing tentative signs of recovery, leading practitioners are focusing on raising standards in a volatile environment
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MoJ considers ending lump sum PI damages
Ministers are to consider the case for successful personal injury claimants to receive damages over a period of time rather than in one lump sum. The Ministry of Justice revealed last week that it is considering a change to the current payments regime – as well ...
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Legal confusion outer Mongolia
Grumbling at the chore of CPD? Spare a thought for our colleagues in the Gobi desert. In the footsteps of, if not Marco Polo, then at least Clyde & Co, Obiter popped along to a breakfast seminar organised by the Law Society’s international division on new markets in Mongolia. ...
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Concession over EU sales law
The Law Society has welcomed an important concession from the European Parliament on the proposed common European sales law. Following lobbying by Chancery Lane, the new instrument is now to be applied only to contracts involving distance selling, particularly online transactions. The ...
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Cobbetts’ demise and resurrection – the full story
Unsecured creditors of Cobbetts are likely to recover just 2p in the pound following the ‘pre-pack’ deal that saw the collapsed firm acquired by DWF, the Gazette can reveal. Owed an estimated £41m, creditors are not expected to receive any money for some years. According ...
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Client interest
In his recent blog, ‘What Mid Staffs and RBS have in common’, Eduardo Reyes asks: ‘Could a greater emphasis on professional ethics have helped prevent failings?’ With the advent of alternative business structures in particular, being a professional now only means that others have a stick with which to beat ...
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Government ‘hiding’ RTA Portal evidence, Society claims
The Law Society has accused the government of hiding key information on which it based controversial new personal injury fees. The Ministry of Justice has rejected the society’s freedom of information request for the full report into the future reform of the RTA Portal extension. ...
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Tax warning over children’s wills
Thousands of parents may need to rewrite their wills to protect their children’s interests because of inheritance law changes introduced in the Finance Bill, the Law Society has warned. The Society’s tax law committee has written to HMRC to voice concerns over what it says are ...
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MPs: family judges should talk to children
Specialist family judges should talk to children whose care cases they deal with, according to an all-party group of MPs. In a report last week, the Child Protection All Party Parliamentary Group warned that government reforms to the family justice system set out in the ...
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Responding to the changing complaints scope
by Matt Rowley, lead associate at LBS Legal In the last few months we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of enquiries from practices looking to reduce the impact of what they consider to be malicious complaints progressed to the Legal Ombudsman