All News articles – Page 1392
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News
In-house: education and training
In my experience, an in-house lawyer is a different breed from those working in other sectors. In-house teams are small and their visibility within the business results in a constant flow of queries that require immediate attention. An in-house lawyer is expected to make decisions with the business people. Strong ...
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Magnates for law: oligarchs in London
Readers will be familiar with the phenomenon of the Commercial Court sitting in London (a specialist division of the Queen’s Bench Division) and playing host to a good deal of litigation involving Russian oligarchs and others among the central and eastern European super-rich. But just how much may come as ...
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Sorry, but the SRA is right
I want you to sit down and take a deep breath. Perhaps have a stiff drink to hand. Maybe one of those stress balls too. I’m going to write something in support of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Before I start let me make it clear I’m ...
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Beginner’s guide to the ban on age discrimination in goods and services
From 1 October, the government will bring into force the provisions within the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) which prohibit age discrimination in the field of goods and services by virtue of the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No 9) Order 2012. This means that commercial, charitable and public sector organisations ...
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Law Society announces Excellence Awards shortlist
The Law Society has unveiled the shortlist of lawyers and firms nominated for this year’s Excellence Awards. The awards recognise the most outstanding practitioners in the legal profession in categories ranging from Excellence in Innovation and Solicitor of the Year – Private Practice, to Excellence in ...
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MoJ backtracks on victim compensation cuts
The government has announced it will delay proposed changes to compensation for victims of crime – just three days after defending its plans in parliament. On Friday, new justice minister Helen Grant backed the government’s proposals to cut compensation for victims claiming less than £2,500. However ...
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Law Commission calls for divorce law shakeup
The Law Commission has proposed a ‘fundamental and principled’ reform of how assets are divided on divorce. A consultation published today says that the ‘incomplete and uninformative’ law lacks a clear objective of what courts should attempt to achieve for couples when they divorce or dissolve a civil partnership. ...
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Divorce: end to meal ticket for life settlements?
The Law Commission’s paper reviewing spousal maintenance and its duration following a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership gives a scathing critique of current law, but could its proposals result in less work for lawyers, especially from wealthy overseas clients? The commission calls for ‘fundamental ...
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How to be an excellent work experience student
It is probably safe to come out of my room. Throughout the summer we have had the usual crop of internees, work experience candidates and volunteers - call them what you will. They were all keen, pleasant, polite, and frighteningly intelligent and some even really impressive. Work experience is an ...
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A vote against culture wars
Two legal items were reported on the same day last week, which led me to fear that the UK is moving towards the culture wars that disfigure debate in the US.
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Client money focus as SRA reviews mortgage fraud strategy
Cutting the need for solicitors to hold client money in conveyancing transactions is among measures being looked at by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as part of a review of its strategy to help firms reduce the risk of mortgage fraud. The SRA announced today that it ...
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‘Litigious climate’ harming public services, says thinktank
The ‘destructive consequences’ of health and education-related litigation have been attacked by influential conservative thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies. Co-authored by social commentator Frank Furedi, ...
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Grant: crime compensation scheme ‘not sustainable’
Helen Grant, the newly appointed justice minister, has reiterated the government’s intention to cut compensation for victims of less serious crime. Grant (pictured) said the new scheme, due to be implemented at the end of this month, will save the taxpayer around £50m a year and ...
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Nicklinson widow launches article 8 appeal
The widow of locked-in syndrome victim Tony Nicklinson is to pursue the appeal that her late husband would have brought if he was still alive, it emerged today. Nicklinson failed to convince the High Court in mid-August that friends and doctors should be allowed to help ...
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All-round roasting for family justice reforms
MPs, judges and expert practitioners yesterday condemned the government’s planned legal aid cuts and family justice reforms, warning that the fiscal imperative driving them will harm children. Plaid Cymru MP and barrister Elfyn Llwyd said the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, which from ...
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The legal services reform catechism of cliché
My attention has been drawn to a recent tendency to slackness among innovators in the supply and regulation of legal services. I refer of course to the failure to include every possible cliché in emailed announcements concerning the said innovations. As a corrective, the Gazette offers ...
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News
Managing the risk of IP theft
Intellectual property theft is often linked to cases of redundancies or team moves, where an employee leaves the company, taking with them sensitive documents such as business plans, customer information, or financial results. The employee will then offer a next employer this IP or will use it to start a ...
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Increase in damages by 10%
In Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039, the Court of Appeal has added to the general splashing about which precedes the enactment of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. In an effort to provide ‘proper, prospective warning’, it has jumped in ahead of the implementation ...
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Summertime blues as 250 law firms shut
More than 250 law firms have ceased conducting business since the start of summer, but observers are divided on whether the trend is the first sign of long-awaited consolidation or a statistical blip. Data published this week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority show a total ...
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ABS newcomer eyes conveyancing panels
A conveyancing sole practitioner has become an alternative business structure – in a bid to get on to lenders’ conveyancing panels. Nicola Phillips, who has run her own firm in Horsham since 2008, told the Gazette that her status as a sole practitioner has excluded her from panels including those ...