All News articles – Page 1484
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News
The ‘consumerisation’ of technology is having a profound impact on law firms’ IT strategies
City journalists are wont to expend an indecent amount of hagiographic flannel on billionaire ‘entrepreneurs’ whose broader impact on society ought to merit at least a degree of ambivalence. We won’t engage the libel lawyer by naming names.
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Conflict of laws
Foreign judgment - Enforcement or recognition - Jurisdiction of foreign court Re New Cap Reinsurance Corporation Ltd (in liquidation): Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lords Justice Mummery, Lloyd, Mr Justice McFarlane): 9 August 2011 ...
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Compliance overload is stifling law firms
by Ronnie Fox, City solicitor specialising in partnership and employment law at Fox Lawyers The chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority wants the scope of reserved legal activities to be extended. He says that broadening the definition of legal activities regulated by the Legal Services Act ...
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Court clash
In the heart of legal London, the latest dispute in need of resolution appears to be between near-neighbours the Royal Courts of Justice and ancient lawyer watering hole the Seven Stars pub on Carey Street. Obiter recently spied ...
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Implications for foreseeability in claims for personal injury
The Court of Appeal has ruled that in order to recover damages for personal injury all a claimant for damages for anxiety and distress arising from the negligent conduct of building works needs to prove is that the injury was the foreseeable result of the intrusive works. All that was ...
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Update to the Civil Procedure Rules
The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules 2011 (SI 2007/1979) are a feeble affair with just three provisions, only one of which will be regarded as important by practitioners. Part 36 (offers to settle) ...
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Firm denies claim of caste discrimination
A solicitor and her practice manager husband have brought the first employment tribunal case attempting to claim for wrongful dismissal on the grounds of caste discrimination. Amardeep Begraj, 33, and her husband Vijay, 32, who are of Indian descent, met while working at Coventry firm Heer ...
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Clyde & Co commences Canadian merger
City firm Clyde & Co has continued its expansion with the formal takeover of Canadian insurance specialist Nicholl Paskell-Mede. The London-based firm recently announced a merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and has now crossed the Atlantic for a further tie-up. As ...
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Lessons for the law from bookshops
Going by comments made on the Gazette website, and letters to the editor, there are plenty of practitioners who see some of the changes in the legal landscape that we are told are in prospect as pointless, and who see no reason why a ‘brave new world’ is inevitable.
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Localism Bill
Some time ago, Paul McCartney sang about a long and winding road that led to his loved-one’s door. Many years later (in a slightly less romantic context) the Localism Bill is also travelling a very long and winding road that will no doubt lead to royal assent, probably in late ...
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Weak link between firms' growth and profits shown
Law firms with a turnover of more than £5m often struggle to turn further growth into greater profitability, according to benchmarking research seen by the ...
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New criminal bar chair pledges to fight cuts
The new chairman of the Criminal Bar Association has warned that legal aid cuts could ‘cripple’ the criminal bar, and urged his colleagues to remain united in the face of the challenges that lie ahead. Max Hill QC (pictured), from London’s 18 Red Lion Court, gave ...
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Local authority
Accommodation - Duty to provide - Appellant failed asylum seeker SL v Westminster City Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Laws, Richards, Rimer): 10 August 2011 The appellant was an ...
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Arbitration
Stay of proceedings - Defendant purporting to invoke arbitration clause in consultancy agreement Wilky Property Holdings PLC v London & Surrey Investments Limited: Chancery Division: (Richard Snowden QC): 17 August 2011 ...
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News
Campaign against eviction of rioters
Some 2,000 people including a prominent human rights solicitor have joined a campaign to protest against the eviction of convicted rioters and their families from council housing, the Gazette has learned. The campaign’s supporters argue that evicting a rioter’s family is an unlawful collective punishment in ...
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Sole practitioners sound ABS ethics alarm
The Sole Practitioners Group is to launch a public relations campaign aimed at warning the public that profit-driven commercial organisations providing legal services may not offer the same high standard of ethics as law firms. The SPG will spend £15,000 on a three-month campaign to address ...
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Lawyers2you national franchise set for launch
A new solicitor-led national law firm franchise will launch next week, with ambitions to extend to continental Europe and the US, the Gazette can reveal. The Lawyers2you franchise has been set up by West Midlands firm Blakemores, spearheaded by its managing partner Guy Barnett (pictured). ...
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HMRC and mortgage lenders launch verification scheme
A new mortgage verification scheme to help combat mortgage fraud will be launched on 1 September. HM Revenue & Customs, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association have worked together on the scheme, which was announced in the March 2010 budget. ...
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Experts’ liability should be welcomed
One of the key recommendations of the Walker reforms of 2009 was to increase the responsibilities of non-executive directors. The reforms proposed that NEDs should spend up to 50% more time in their roles and have a far greater understanding of the business below board level enabling them to challenge ...
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Are claimant lawyers winning the argument on recoverability?
With the Civil Justice Council having just set up a working party to implement the Jackson reforms, one could be forgiven for assuming that the government’s plans to shake up civil litigation costs are a done deal by now. But of course the Legal Aid, Sentencing ...