All News articles – Page 1304
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News
Grieve alarmed by ‘trial by Google’
‘Trial by Google’ offends fundamental principles of the English legal system, undermining trials and open justice, the attorney general has warned. Dominic Grieve spoke last night highlighting the dangers posed to fair trials due to the growth of the internet, but he argued that the law ...
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MPs censure pre-pack deals as Cobbetts takeover goes ahead
‘Pre-pack’ deals like the one that this week saved defunct law firm Cobbetts face new scrutiny, following a critical report by MPs.
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Collective actions will fuel ‘litigation culture’
A US industry body has added its voice to concerns about government plans to simplify collective actions under competition law. The US Institute for Legal Reform echoed the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI’s) warning that US-style collective actions would ‘fuel a litigation culture in the ...
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400 jobs saved as Cobbetts deal goes through
All training contracts will be honoured and more than 400 jobs saved at defunct firm Cobbetts, administrators today confirmed.
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States’ rights or EU rights in 2013?
I have been reading Robert A. Caro’s masterpiece on the life of US president Lyndon Johnson, which I cannot recommend enough. It is not short (four gigantic volumes so far), but is compulsive and brilliant. The relevance of this to EU legal affairs is in its exposure of how the ...
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Small-claims limit could rise above £5,000, Grayling admits
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has said the proposed new small-claims court limit of £5,000 may be ‘too low’ – despite the ongoing consultation on raising the figure from £1,000. Grayling (pictured) told parliament on Tuesday that raising the small-claims limit to £5,000 would mean ...
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Sentence
Defendant harassing actress and breaching interim restraining order – Defendant appealing – Whether sentence manifestly excessive R v Rumbelow: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Rafferty, Globe and Mr Justice Leggatt): 18 December 2012 The defendant, who suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, was sentenced to two-and-a-half ...
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Leniency for whistleblowing? This is not the NYPD
Call me a stooge if you like, but I reckon the Law Society is bang on the money with this one. Yesterday it emerged that Chancery Lane is opposed to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plan to offer whistleblowers leniency if they shop their partners in crime. ...
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Legal privilege
The eagerly anticipated Supreme Court judgment in Prudential PLC and Prudential (Gibraltar) Ltd v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Phillip Pandolfo (HM Inspector of Taxes), in relation to the possible extension of the principle of legal professional privilege (LPP), to encompass advice given by accountants on tax law, was ...
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My legal life: Mandy Rimmer
At school I remember wanting to be a music teacher, and then reading up in the careers library on the Diplomatic Service, and thinking that sounded better. I knew I could relate to people and wanted to do something worthwhile for them – and to be challenged. Law was the ...
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Tired of the law? Try toilet training
A touch of the January blues? Considering packing the profession in? Obiter has come across a website that offers inspiration and guidance just for that. Set up by brother and sister lawyers, leavinglaw.com suggests a wealth of alternative careers, starting with air traffic controller. Apparently ...
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Injunction
Copyright – Newspaper – Article – Breach of privacy – Interlocutory injunction Rocknroll v News Group Newspapers Ltd: Chancery Division: 17 January 2013 The claimant, who was married to the ...
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A sense of history
The dapper fellow pictured is Jesse Gregson, who founded a firm of solicitors in 1788: the year when the First Fleet arrived in Australia, the American War of Independence was a recent memory, and George III was on the throne with his son yet to be appointed Regent.
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Privilege victory but lawyers need to be on their guard
A fire drill at Chancery Lane last week left shirt-sleeved Law Society staff hopping from foot to foot on the ice outside. Yet there was a roseate glow emanating from a goodly number, particularly in policy – and it wasn’t the cold. ‘Lawyers 5, accountants 2,’ offered one observer, having ...
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Survey paints gloomy picture of MoJ morale
Ministry of Justice staff lack confidence in the organisation’s leadership and ability to manage change, the civil service’s annual people survey has revealed. The results show that 28% of staff had confidence in senior management and 32% said the department is managed well. Less than a quarter (23%) of respondents ...
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Hitting gender targets
I write in connection with the report that says we should work more flexibly and get more women in. Here, at solicitor level, we are more than 50% women and they all work flexibly. Unfortunately we did not attend a conference, or write out a plan for any of this. ...
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Legal professional privilege fight goes on
The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ...
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Not so great escapes
David Miller of Kidd Rapinet Solicitors has reminded me of the safe breaker Alfie Hinds’ escape from the Law Courts in June 1957, which must be one of a kind, writes James Morton.
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Employment
Discrimination – Religious discrimination Eweida and others v United Kingdom (App. Nos. 48420/10, 59842/10, 51671/10 and 36516/10): European Court of Human Rights: 15 January 2013 The European Court of Human ...
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Why government reforms on employment law make little sense
There were some statistics that private equity pioneer Adrian Beecroft did not include in his highly controversial report on employment law published last year. The number of claims brought by employees in employment tribunals fell from 236,000 in 2009-10 to 186,000 in 2011-12. The number of claims for both sex ...