All News articles – Page 1353
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News
Cameron turns right in sweeping justice reshuffle
Prime minister David Cameron has confirmed that Chris Grayling will become justice secretary in what was emerging as a comprehensive clear-out of ministers at the Ministry of Justice. Earlier today Kenneth Clarke became a high-profile casualty of Cameron’s first major reshuffle since coming to office. ...
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Insurers fight uplift ruling
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appealed against the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase general damages. Three senior judges ruled in July that a 10% uplift to be applied to all personal injury awards from April 2013 applies also to cases launched before that ...
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Crunch time for EU criminal lawyers
Last week, as the summer holidays drew to a close, I tried in vain to be funny. This week, I am back in my school uniform, hair brushed and in serious mode, because the EU is about to discuss an important piece of legislation - the right of access to ...
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Death of a Colombian family
First they killed Omairi's daughter. The paramilitaries meant to kill her husband, a journalist who was exposing corruption in Colombia, South America. They bungled the assassination and he survived, but their daughter died. That was 22 April 2004, their daughter's twentieth birthday. More than eight years later, just one person ...
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SRA urges advocates to register as deadline looms
Three weeks before the deadline under the quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA), a quarter of criminal advocates have not yet notified the Solicitors Regulation Authority of their intention to practise after 2013, the regulator has revealed. By 21 September all solicitors and regulated European lawyers ...
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Benefit fraud: additional checks
This is the third of four articles focusing on benefit fraud prompted by the case of Coventry City Council v Vassel 2011 EWHC 1542 Admin. In particular, it highlights the additional checks solicitors make when reviewing the evidence and alternative penalties. ...
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The reshuffle and the business of law
Under the coalition government, the Ministry of Justice has been marked by a phenomenally loose grasp of detail at the top. When it comes to the business of running a legal practice, this, more than the left-right positioning of ministers, has been a problem. In areas such as the implementation ...
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Honours even?
‘There’s nothing new under the sun,’ as my grandmother (92 and still going strong) is gnomically wont to opine. News that a committee of MPs has concluded that too many people - particularly civil servants - receive government honours ‘just for doing their jobs’ shows that the dictum retains ...
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Lawyers berate new law criminalising squatters
Lawyers have branded as ‘headline-grabbing’ and unnecessary the introduction of a new criminal offence of squatting, warning that it could harm vulnerable people. But the government is unrepentant, declaring that the move signals the end of ‘squatters’ rights’. Justice minister Crispin Blunt (pictured) confirmed ...
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Oligarch case judge laments ‘heavily lawyered’ approach
The judge presiding over the acrimonious High Court battle between Russian oligarchs has criticised the ‘heavily lawyered’ nature of the case that undermined witness statements.
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Title teaser
I rather liked the proposal of Sandie Graff that solicitors should have ‘SSC’ after their names. This would be highly appropriate and would give the profession a bit of a boost as most practitioners one speaks to appear thoroughly fed up. Why ...
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Shipping
Charterparty – Arbitration Global Maritime Investments Ltd v STX Pan Ocean Co Ltd; Global Maritime Investments Ltd v Navios International Inc; Navios International Inc v Sangamon Transportation Group: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Christopher Clarke): 8 August ...
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Social security
Income support – Jobseeker's allowance – Claimants claiming allowance R (on the application of Reilly and another) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court (London): 6 August 2012 ...
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Restrictive preventions
Alasdair Lewis, director of legal services at the Land Registry, is imprecise when he states in his letter from July that 'earlier this year [the Land Registry] launched a restriction aimed at owners who do not live at the registered property which has proved extremely popular with our customers’.
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PI pressure
I read that a GP was recently found to have unreasonably induced a patient to accept a cosmetic procedure by offering a discount if it was booked with two other patients. This and other failings led the General Medical Council (GMC) to impose 10 conditions on his registration.
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Networking order
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is holding a conference on 27-28 September in London for regulators from around the world (well, chiefly from the common law world judging from the last programme I saw). It covers many important topics, with an A-list roster of speakers. Its goal is to share best ...
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Medical treatment
There is no evidence whatsoever that the availability of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) is a factor behind the increase of claims for medical blunders (‘Doctors blame "no-win, no-fee" for rise in legal actions’).
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Magistrates
Jurisdiction - Laying of information Media Protection Services Ltd v Crawford and another: QBD (Admin) (Lord Justice Stanley Burnton and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker): 16 August 2012 The respondents were ...
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Lawyer search website ready to launch
A website that introduces clients to solicitors and public access barristers along the lines of services set up to source tradespeople is ready to go live this autumn. MrLawyer.co.uk is the brainchild of London barrister Jasvir Degun (pictured, right) and two of his friends, property ...