All News articles – Page 1429
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News
Big bang, big crash
Broadly speaking, computer projects make three sorts of news headline. One is the ‘gee-whiz gizmo’ of fond Tomorrow’s World memory. Second is the ‘big brother’ scare story about surveillance or intrusive data-sharing.
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Regulatory reform of financial services
The chancellor has now set out his detailed proposals for financial services regulatory reform. These seek to address three substantial concerns which became clear in the wake of the banking crisis: 1. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Bank of England ...
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Fix costs to save the planet, says Jackson
Lord Justice Jackson has recommended a fixed costs regime to ensure the government fulfils its duty in environmental judicial review cases. The Ministry of Justice launched a consultation last year to ask how to comply with the UK’s international obligations as part of the UN Aarhus ...
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City firm guilty of discrimination, appeal rules
An employment appeal tribunal has ruled that City firm Bivonas discriminated against one of its lawyers on the basis of sexual orientation. Lee Bennett’s discrimination claim focused on a memo from one of the firm’s partners which falsely implied that he instructed only gay barristers and ...
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Chancery Lane appoints former No 10 adviser as corporate affairs chief
The Law Society has appointed a former adviser to the prime minister to the new role of chief of corporate affairs. Dr Patricia Greer will have responsibility for policy, communications and engaging with solicitors, reporting to chief executive Desmond Hudson. Greer will join in March from ...
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Short shrift
So the Civil Justice Council suggests that one way of dealing with the problems caused to the administration of civil justice by untutored litigants in person is for practitioners to sell them small amounts of legal advice, and gives as an example a firm that charges £7 for 5 minutes. ...
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Sharp practice
In Law Society v LSC et al [2010] EWHC 2550 (Admin) the court acknowledged that solicitors working in the Family Court were ‘a band of skilled and dedicated lawyers working for little reward’. Your edition of 12 January records the entry into administration of Jewels, ...
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Police powers
Power to stop, search and detain - Two demonstration camps in London R (on the application of Moos and another) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury MR, Lord Justices ...
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Window of opportunity
Alas, Obiter’s Brighter Window campaign for high street firms is getting off to a slow start. Despite the excellent example set by Gross & Co of Bury St Edmunds it seems most managing partners are still content to display a pane of frosted glass and, if they’re really daring, a ...
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Judge for yourself
The Law Society put together a stellar panel for the launch of its advocacy section, or the fifth inn, as president John Wotton called it. The lineup included the lord chief justice, Lord Judge (pictured), master of the rolls Lord Neuberger and president of the Queen’s bench division Sir John ...
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Human rights
Public order - Freedom of association and assembly - Defendant protestors setting up camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral City of London Corporation v Samede and others: QB (Mr Justice Lindblom): 18 January 2012 ...
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Lifting the lid on ‘hackgate’
by Gill Phillips, director of editorial legal services at Guardian News & Media Ltd As we all now know, News International last month settled 37 of the civil claims brought against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the now defunct News of the World
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The ‘golden rule’
Wharton v Bancroft and Others [2011] EWHC 3250 Ch: this case is a typical example of the strong feelings that can arise where a parent leaves the estate to a subsequent spouse, disinheriting the adult children.
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Rearranged fixtures
April 2012 will see HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) new rules come into effect regarding the availability of capital allowances for purchasers of fixtures. This article considers the changes made to the existing rules and the impact such changes will have for solicitors involved in commercial property conveyancing. ...
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Is the legal profession looking at fission or fusion?
Last week I gave the President’s Oxford lecture at the Saïd Business School. It was a great privilege to be able to address a very distinguished audience on the long-term future of our profession. I felt compelled to ask what implications the freedom of barristers and solicitors to practise together ...
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Restrict title to fight fraud, Land Registry urges
Property owners are being encouraged to register a restriction requiring a solicitor to certify their identity as homeowner before their property can be sold, in the Land Registry’s latest move against property fraud. From this month, the Registry’s Form LL restriction will be free for absent ...
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Trial and error
The impression given by Masood Ahmed in his commentary on the 2011 case of Rolf v De Guerin is that any small builder who attempts to resist an entirely unmeritorious claim by defending it in court rather than submitting to mediation will find himself penalised in costs.
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Dressing down
Somehow West London Magistrates’ Court in Southcombe Street near Barons Court tube station seemed more informal than Bow Street and Marlborough Street, certainly so far as dress code was concerned. I remember at Marlborough Street seeing my friend, the giant Irishman David Sarch, appearing one morning in a Prince of ...