All News articles – Page 1375
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News
Off centre
Taking up where Nye Moloney left off, I have found the County Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) to be lacking. I am uncertain as to how the interaction between the centre and the Northampton Bulk Issue Centre pans out in practice.
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Civil rights concern over costs-shifting
Lawyers representing claimants against the police have warned that abuses of state power will go unchallenged under costs reforms coming into force in April. The Police Actions Lawyers Group wants qualified one-way costs-shifting extended from personal injury to cover all civil liberties cases.
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Effective extradition and rights must be combined
by Jago Russell, chief executive of Fair Trials International The Gary McKinnon case has again caught the attention following the home secretary’s recent announcement on extradition reform.
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Support costs
Once upon a time we filled in the form to renew our annual practising certificates by hand and then continued to do proper work. Now the Gazette brims with articles on the regulatory process and how to live with it. Charles Plant tells us the ...
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Court interpreter mess ‘led to custody’, MPs told
Defendants are being remanded in custody solely because court interpreters have not been sent by the company contracted by the Ministry of Justice to provide them, a parliamentary committee heard this week. Giving evidence to the Justice Committee, the chair of the Law Society’s criminal law ...
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Profit a ‘dirty word’ in law, says Dragon’s Den judge
Entrepreneur and investor James Caan has revealed he found a culture where profit was a ‘dirty word’ when he looked to buy a law firm. Former Dragons Den judge Caan, whose private investment company Hamilton Bradshaw bought Midlands firm Knights in June, said he had spoken ...
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Detrimental move?
Bradbury v Taylor & Burkinshaw [2012] EWCA Civ 1208 This is a slightly unusual proprietary estoppel case in that it was brought by the alleged promisor, Bill, who sought a declaration that the defendants had no beneficial interest in his house. They counterclaimed for a ...
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Employment
Pay – Statutory minimum Nambalat v Tayeb and another; Udin v Chamsi-Pasha and others: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justice Pill, Lady Justice Black and Mr Justice Bean): 5 October 2012 ...
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Expensive Saga
At the sort of prices Saga is quoting I do not think the average high street conveyancer should lose any sleep. I just obtained a quote from Saga for a freehold sale at £150k and a freehold purchase at £250k – a typical, everyday transaction outside ...
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Medical expert witness independence
Britain is the whiplash capital of Europe, with more than 1,500 claims a day, including people claiming for whiplash injuries sustained in the most minor of incidents. In May 2011, the House of Commons Transport Committee published a report into the cost of motor insurance, warning that spiralling costs are ...
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Extradition
Extradition order – Application for stay of extradition R (on the application of Fawaz) v Secretary of State for Home Department; R (on the application of Bary) v Secretary of State for Home Department; R (on the application of ...
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Mediation is the future, Falconer says
The Supreme Court’s equal pay ruling yesterday will lead to ‘billions and billions worth of claims’ Labour’s former lord chancellor has predicted. Lord Falconer (pictured) suggested that such claims be mediated rather than leaving them to the ‘vagaries of the legal system’, which he said would be costly and could ...
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Five years on: progress ‘largely static’ towards LSA nirvana
The Legal Services Act has made little difference to standards in the profession, according to a report released today by the Legal Services Board. The baseline report, published five years since the act, found that indicators such as diversity, quality of service and access to legal ...
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Small Fry
Chris Fry, managing partner of Sheffield firm Unity Law, had a double celebration last week. After receiving his Law Society Excellence award for community investment, Fry had to dash from Old Billingsgate in London to Sheffield where his wife Jackie was going into labour. He made it for the birth ...
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McNally: learning as he goes
Lord McNally’s first speech on legal aid since taking the brief was delivered to the Legal Aid Practitioners Group. Into the lion’s den. McNally wants to move on from LASPO, admitting the bill’s passage was ‘bruising for everyone’. His emollience was welcome; the absence of credible answers to practitioners’ questions ...
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Mental health
Patient – Responsible local social services authority – Residence of patient R (on the application of Sunderland City Council) v South Tyneside Council: Court of Appeal, Civil Division: 9 October 2012 ...
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Motor insurance
Compulsory insurance against third party risks – Liabilities required to be covered Bristol Alliance Limited Partnership v EUI Ltd: Court of Appeal, Civil Division: 11 October 2012 The Court of ...
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, 28 October 1987 Legal aid: what future? The willingness of legal aid practitioners to co-operate with the introduction of new schemes such as the ‘contingency legal aid fund’ or the ‘fixed costs scheme’ must be tempered by one ...
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Learn from your mistakes
The good ship Legal Ombudsman has been navigating some pretty treacherous waters of late. We have managed to steer past one or two potential rocks – notably the announcement that we will be taking on claims management complaints from next year, and then the publication of the first quarter of ...