All News articles – Page 1323

  • News

    Chancery Lane signs Korea concord

    Archive

    Closer links between the jurisdictions of Korea, and England and Wales will follow the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the Law Society’s president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff and the president of the Korean Bar Association Dr Young-Moo Shin in Seoul last week. The move follows ...

  • News

    The challenges of establishing a separate Welsh legal jurisdiction

    Archive

    by Theo Huckle QC, counsel general for Wales, Welsh Government Since 1998, devolution in Wales has evolved progressively. The changes have been dynamic and extensive.

  • News

    The right judgment call

    Archive

    I do not agree that the judgment in Petrodel v Prest is a ‘cheat’s charter’. The judgment, although by a majority, is a refreshing example of the application of the rule of law and the correct statutory interpretation of section 24(1)(a) of MCA 1973. May it long continue.

  • News

    Solicitors miss a beat

    Archive

    A rum lot, the new police and crime commissioners elected on record low turnouts last week. In terms of diversity of race and gender they make the senior judiciary look positively heterogeneous; but at least there is some variety in professional qualifications for the new post.

  • News

    Asia: following the money

    Archive

    For those corporate lawyers wanting to take on a challenge, a move to Asia might be just the ticket. Where law firms in the UK and Europe are struggling to find new work and grow revenues, Asia’s economies are booming, and the demand for legal services in areas such as ...

  • News

    The Legal Services Commission should not punish all expert witnesses

    Archive

    As a delegate to the recent Bond Solon Expert Witness Conference, I was concerned to hear Lord Justice Goldring use the device of the ‘very concerning rumour’ he had heard, to warn expert witnesses of ‘fee padding’. Put bluntly, apparently some expert witnesses are fraudulently increasing the hours worked per ...

  • News

    Care parents tested for alcohol

    Archive

    Parents with alcohol problems involved in care proceedings may be fitted with ankle bracelets that continuously monitor their drinking following a trial that began this week at a London family court. The SCRAMx continuous alcohol monitoring device tests for alcohol secretions on the skin ...

  • News

    Grayling ponders legal aid ban over prisoner votes

    Archive

    Prisoners may be refused legal aid to sue the government if parliament decides to defy the European Court of Human Rights over voting rights, the justice secretary said today. In a debate following a statement announcing a draft bill on the issue, Chris Grayling said ...

  • News

    Silverbeck to double workforce following acquisition

    Archive

    National firm Silverbeck Rymer has announced plans to more than double its size over the next year. The personal injury firm, bought by listed brand extension company Quindell Portfolio for £19.3m in January, will recruit 300 people to add to its current staff of 250. Around ...

  • News

    Access denied

    Archive

    Is the deskilling and downgrading of our legal system a threat to democracy itself? The question is posed in a week that has seen another full-frontal assault on the fundamental right of citizens to hold the powerful to account: restricting access to judicial reviews.

  • News

    Doomsday for personal injury solicitors

    Archive

    So now we know the government’s vision for the future: personal injury work almost exclusively reserved for the few claims handlers that can do it in bulk and on the cheap. RTA claims on a factory line, out of the reach of solicitors, stacking up befuddled ...

  • News

    Firms named for ‘grave failures’ in immigration disclosure

    Archive

    Immigration solicitors will face disciplinary action if they fail to reveal ‘all material facts’ when applying to prevent removals, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division warned, naming three firms who had not to complied with disclosure duties.

  • News

    Lord chief justice to step down

    Archive

    Lord Judge, lord chief justice, announced today that he will retire at the end of September 2013. A Judicial Office statement said that the process to appoint his successor as senior judge of England and Wales will begin in early 2013. Igor ...

  • News

    Saving face

    Archive

    You know the advertisements that I mean. Whilst plenty of cash has been splashed on some strong photography and ample media space – it is a shame that the best approach they could come up with was to disparage the competition. It seems some firms are ...

  • News

    Making justice systems more restorative - a view from the bench

    Archive

    What might a justice system which embodied restorative principles look like? What might be the judge’s view – the view from the bench - of a more restorative justice system?

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    Solicitors urged to ‘beat the rush’ on PC renewals

    Archive

    Solicitors are being encouraged not to leave practising certificate renewals to the last minute if they want them to be processed as quickly as possible. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has today written to local law societies pointing out that the volume of users presently ...

  • News

    Legal Aid Agency names new faces

    Archive

    Irwin Mitchell partner Andrew Lockley is among three non-executive board members appointed to the Legal Aid Agency, which replaces the Legal Services Commission from next April. Lockley (pictured) heads the public law team at Irwin Mitchell, where he has worked for the past 16 years. Lockley, ...

  • News

    An economic message for our regulators

    Archive

    Here are some statistics which may surprise you (apart from the first sentence): Based on 2010 estimates, the UK had the largest share of the European legal services market followed closely by Germany. In total the UK and German legal services markets accounted for just under ...

  • News

    Should cyclists be treated differently?

    Archive

    by Malcolm Underhill, a personal injury specialist at IBB solicitors There has been much written about the number of cyclists injured on our roads, with campaigns to improve the lot of those who prefer two wheels, to four.

  • News

    Fury and bewilderment at plans to curb judicial reviews

    Archive

    Lawyers responded critically to the prime minister’s call today for measures to cut the number of applications for judicial review. Adam Chapman, partner and head of public law at national firm Kingsley Napley, described the focus on judicial reviews as ‘a peculiar target’ in the ...