All News articles – Page 1452

  • News

    MPs call for review of legal aid cuts

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has added its voice to calls for an independent assessment of the impact of the government’s cuts to legal aid. In a hard-hitting report on Ministry of Justice finances, the committee said the government’s own impact assessment ‘has ...

  • News

    Civil court group anger over Salford system

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    A body whose membership spends around £49m a year in the civil courts has questioned why the new centralised facility to handle money claims in civil cases was launched earlier this week without its long-awaited payment by account (PbA) electronic system. The vice chair of the ...

  • News

    UK lawyers leading Camp Ashraf challenge

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    by Hossein Abedini, a member of parliament in exile of Iranian Resistance At a glance one might ask why UK lawyers are doing all they can to help 3,400 Iranian refugees in a camp based some 3,000 miles away in Iraq. The two groups are not ...

  • News

    Taking the biscuit

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Anyone wondering whether those in government are hep to modern technology should be in no doubt after justice minister Lord McNally’s performance at a conference last week. Responding to a question on whether the forthcoming defamation bill would be compatible with the EU directive on ...

  • News

    Closing QS member blames Jackson

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    A two-partner member of the QualitySolicitors network has blamed its closure on the Jackson reforms and the ‘spectre’ of reduced fees for personal injury claims. QualitySolicitors Carters, which carried out personal injury and clinical negligence work, ceased trading at the end of February. The 10-year-old Peterborough ...

  • News

    Breaking the silence

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    It is perhaps ironic that a lecture by a judge on when it might be appropriate for judges to speak to reporters should have remained unnoticed by reporters until two weeks after it was delivered.

  • News

    Higher calling

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Hitesh Keshvala of London firm Ally Lindsay has risen to the challenge of claiming to be the country’s youngest higher rights advocate. ‘My date of birth is 1/6/87 and I qualified with higher rights on 15 November 2011, making me a higher rights advocate at 24 years and 167 days.’ ...

  • News

    Claimant firms warned of wind of change

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    A leading insurance solicitor has urged claimant firms to follow the lead of defendants and change their business model. Anthony Hughes, chief executive of national firm Horwich Farrelly, told the 2012 Claims Management Conference yesterday that change is inevitable in the personal injury market. ...

  • News

    CPS commits to serving paper files

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has pledged to continue serving paper documents to defence solicitors amid concerns about its plan to go digital from April. However, the Law Society said this week that criminal solicitors will continue to face ‘financial and regulatory risks’ in preparing ...

  • News

    Company

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Member - Unfair prejudice to member's interests McKillen v Misland (Cyprus) Investments Ltd and another: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justices Lloyd, Rimer and Tomlinson): 24 February 2012 In ...

  • News

    Many contributions offer fresh and original insights on the topics to hand

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    One of the more gratifying aspects of the development of the Gazette’s website in the last three years has been the democratisation of comment on our content. Some readers may still not be aware there are comment threads on news stories. Many contributions offer fresh and original insights on the ...

  • News

    HSE postpones cost recovery plan

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    The Health and Safety Executive has postponed the launch of its new cost recovery scheme for at least six months. The organisation planned to launch the Fee for Intervention scheme next month to recover costs from health and safety offenders. The money was to cover the ...

  • News

    Criminal

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Immigration offences - Statute - Defendants being involved in conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration R v Kapoor and others: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Wilkie and Mr Justice Stadlen): 9 March 2012 ...

  • News

    Criminal

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Proceeds of crime - Benefit from criminal conduct - Defendants being involved in MTIC carousel fraud R v Ahmad and another: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Hooper, Sir Christopher Holland and Recorder of Nottingham): 2 March 2012 ...

  • News

    Criminal

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Trial - Retrial - Application to quash acquittal of acquitted person and for retrial R v B: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Mrs Justice Macur, Mr Justice Saunders): 29 February 2012 ...

  • News

    Firms must cut staff, warns RBS

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Law firms may have to cut thousands more solicitors to restore profits to pre-2008 levels, according to Royal Bank of Scotland’s 2012 review of the legal profession. The report says that at least 5% of fee-earners may have to be culled.

  • News

    Disclosure

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Pre-trial or post-judgment relief - Disclosure of documents - Orders being made in phone-hacking case limiting disclosure of court documents Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd and another: ChD (Mr Justice Vos): 27 February 2012 ...

  • News

    ECHR withdrawal ‘gift to Putin’

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Britain’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights in favour of a British bill of rights would be Vladimir Putin’s ‘best present ever’, an East European delegate at a Council of Europe event for lawyers told the Gazette last weekend.

  • News

    ‘Primordial role’ no excuse for gender stereotyping, ECHR rules

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Gender stereotyping can breach the rights of men and women alike, irrespective of prevailing social attitudes or perceptions of ‘man’s primordial role’, Europe’s human rights watchdog ruled today. It said that it would not be in the public interest to allow someone’s choice of employment to imply that he or ...

  • News

    Employment

    2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Employment tribunal - Procedure - Hearing - Adjournment O’Cathail v Transport for London: EAT (Judge Richardson, Mr A Harris and Mr J Rivers): 13 January 2012 The employee was employed ...