All News articles – Page 1310
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News
Coalition reforms threaten to jeopardise English law’s peerless status
Winston Churchill described Russia as a ‘riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’, and the fall of Soviet communism has hardly invalidated that description. We refer you to the fast-growing state-run global news service RT (Russia Today). For some ‘in the west’, RT is a sort of anti-Fox News, ...
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Combination punchlines
Obiter’s application for a research grant to study the impact of combined firm names on perceptions of the profession is still languishing in the regulator’s inbox, but in the meantime here are a few contributions from our readers. Jonathan Davidson of Liverpool firm QualitySolicitors Jackson ...
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Jurors ‘confused’ on new media contempt
Groundbreaking research on juries has revealed that most jurors feel they are not given enough guidance on conducting deliberations, while almost a quarter misunderstand the rules on internet use during trials. Among jurors who misunderstand the contempt rules, 16% believe they cannot use the internet at ...
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Legal education move by embattled Co-op
The Co-operative Group’s legal services arm is to set up a ‘learning academy’ later this year to give legal training to aspiring lawyers who cannot afford university.
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Litigants in person; oral evidence; and costs management
Sir Alan Ward in Wright v Michael Wright Supplies Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 234, a case which concerned two litigants in person (LIPs), opened his judgment by warning the reader that ‘this judgment will make depressing reading’. The case highlighted the difficulties increasingly encountered by the judiciary at all levels ...
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Traffic courts to be set up
Dedicated traffic courts will be established to deal with low-level road traffic offences and free up the courts to deal with more ‘serious and contested’ cases, the government announced today. The new courts follow a pilot in nine areas. The Ministry of Justice said it is ...
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MoJ plans crackdown on ‘so-called’ experts
Experts whose evidence is ‘not up to scratch’ will be driven out of the family courts by reforms announced today by the Ministry of Justice. It has opened a nine-week consultation on new national standards designed to raise the quality of experts in family courts ...
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‘Don’t ditch quality,’ says Desmond Hudson
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has warned firms to avoid a ‘race to the bottom’ as they seek to survive and prosper in a tough market.
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Dog-eat-dog profession
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 ...
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Employment
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 ...
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Law firms’ marketing plans
I get to see a wide range of solicitors’ marketing plans ranging from the weighty dissertation to the single sheet.
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Government red tape reverse
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 ...
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Grayling says no to regulating will-writing
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 ...
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Tendering: grim precedent
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 ...
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Shadow minister hints at ‘unwind’ of Jackson reforms
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 ...
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Sri Lanka relents on visit
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 ...
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Russia’s legal sector
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 ...
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Libel and slander
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 ...
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Seconds out, round one
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 ...
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SRA’s popularity slips
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 ...