All News articles – Page 1391
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News
Legal consultant scales The Shard
Mark Hatt-Cook, a consultant to West Country and London firm Wilsons Solicitors, was among the participants in the abseil descent of Europe’s tallest building, The Shard, last week. Hatt-Cook, 69, has been with the firm for 40 years – but is also a former commanding officer of Royal Marines (City ...
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Court in a crisis
Many congratulations to the Gazette for focusing so crisply upon the real issues over the misconceived proposals for unsociable magistrates’ court hours. The Law Society’s president is also on the case. Her language may need to be relatively diplomatic. That said, these proposals are either half-baked ...
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Foragers on display
Obiter needs to find a spurious appointment near London’s Bedford Row next month, where friends at Collyer Bristow are refreshing their gallery space to accommodate an exhibition titled ‘new foragers’. The foragers have found something for everyone. But while it is not the intention of ...
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Don’t be ‘hoodwinked’ over rules, SRA warned
A former senior City watchdog has warned the Solicitors Regulation Authority that it is being ‘hoodwinked’ into liberalising rules relating to financial advisers. The SRA is set to reveal whether it will relax a rule requiring lawyers to refer clients to wholly independent advisers. Arguing that ...
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Professional duty
Joshua Rozenberg is correct that ultimately the human rights issues raised by the appeals on faith grounds to the ECHR raise a question of balancing competing ideals. But he is wrong to come down on the side of the appellants. Ultimately we are dealing with the obligations of professionals.
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Does new justice secretary’s lack of legal experience matter?
Judging by the look of its website on Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Justice still seems to be reeling a week after the replacement of almost all its ministers. There was little more on its main news page than a staged photograph of Chris Grayling, the new justice secretary and ...
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Fingerprints sometimes lie
It still surprises me that when you say you were a defence lawyer (nb never a criminal lawyer) how many people ask how you could defend people you knew were guilty. The great thing about defending professional criminals was that in the teeth of the evidence – caught on camera, ...
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Helen lets rip
Obiter would like to congratulate Helen Grant on her ascension to a ministerial role at the Ministry of Justice. The Maidstone MP, who entered parliament only in 2010, replaces Jonathan Djanogly, who has been given the chance to spend more time with his constituents after the ...
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Home truths
Housing law in the county court can appear to have a limited range. A typical Possession Claim Online list consists almost entirely of claims founded on rent or mortgage arrears, with perhaps a few involving section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 or antisocial behaviour.
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Intellectual property
Design - Design right - Infringement - Claimant company holding community registered designs and community trademarks Pollen Estate Trustee Company Ltd Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft v Round and Metal Ltd and another: ChD (Pat) (Mr Justice Arnold): 27 July ...
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Intellectual property
Trademark - Infringement - Passing off - Confusion Fine & Country Ltd and other companies v Okotoks Ltd and another company: ChD (Mr Justice Hildyard): 31 July 2012 The claimant ...
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‘Right’ is wrong
Joshua Rozenberg applied his considerable intellect to a razor-sharp dissection of Lillian Ladele’s case, simplifying a complex issue for the passing reader such as myself.
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In-house: pro bono legal advice
The legal profession in England and Wales has a long tradition of pro bono advice of which it is justly proud. The lawyers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries needed no lessons from their 21st century counterparts in helping those who were unable to pay. Rather, the two major ...
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In-house: advising John Lewis
I joined the John Lewis Partnership as its principal lawyer, employment, almost two years ago. Before that I had worked for five years in the employment legal team at Marks & Spencer plc, and so I was very familiar with the retail environment when I started my role with the ...
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Santander requires CQS for all panel members
Santander has changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel to require all existing members to gain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation. The bank, which had already made it a requirement for new members to be CQS-accredited, this week sent letters to existing ...
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Complainants going it alone on PPI claims
Consumers are increasingly making their own compensation claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance rather than rely on claims management companies or law firms, according to research published today. The Financial Ombudsman reported that nearly half of all new complaints during the past six months were made ...
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Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce plot merger
National firms Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce have begun merger talks. The pair confirmed in a statement that discussions are under way to explore the option, although there will be no further comment until those discussions are completed. If it does go ...
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Secret courts 'will conceal UK complicity in torture'
The UN special rapporteur on torture has said that so-called ‘secret courts’ could be used to suppress evidence of British collusion in torture. Professor Juan Mendez, speaking at the thinktank Chatham House on 10 September, became the latest high-profile figure to criticise UK government plans - ...
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In-house: formulating corporate strategy
In the financial services industry we are in a time of unprecedented regulatory change. As a result, now more than ever, in-house lawyers are in high demand to guide the business.