All News articles – Page 1493
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News
Ministry of Justice could privatise enforcement work
The Ministry of Justice may seek a private contractor to provide criminal court enforcement services, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has said. Last week, the Gazette revealed that outstanding fines had risen to £609m in the past 12 months, while enforcement staff numbers had dropped by 57, ...
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EU would have to be reinvented if it ends
These are dark days for the EU. Many have noted that its ability to deal with the eurozone crisis is posing an existential test. If it fails, the whole structure could come tumbling down. Let us suppose that this might happen. Other than my being out of a job, what ...
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Employment
European community - contract Duncombe and others v Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families: Supreme Court (Lords Rodger, Mance, Collins, Clarke and Lady Hale): 15 July 2011 The ...
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Law firms to survey staff on diversity
Law firms and chambers will have to carry out regular staff surveys to monitor the diversity of their workforce from next year, after the Legal Services Board published statutory guidance on the issue this week. From 2012, the LSB will require regulators including the Solicitors Regulation ...
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Solicitor-advocates fear QASA disadvantage
Solicitor-advocates fear they will be marginalised by the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, and have suggested that some judges may not take part in the scheme. Advocates looking to gain accreditation at the top-two levels of the four-tiered QASA process will need judicial evaluation as well ...
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Naming and shaming firms well supported but fraught with difficulties
One of the unexpected difficulties in doing the press and publicity around the recent publication of our annual report was the issue of how we brought the bare statistics alive by giving real examples of our work. For the annual report itself that was easy – we simply used the ...
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ICO looks into private detective report obtained by Djanogly
The Information Commissioner’s Office has confirmed that it is looking into a complaint concerning information obtained by private detectives instructed by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly. However, a spokeswoman for the ICO said press reports that the minister had been reported to the commission, or that he ...
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Derivatives
Bank - Bank loan - derivative transaction Standard Chartered Bank v Ceylon Petroleum Corporation: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Hamblen): 11 July 2011 The Queen's Bench Division, Commercial ...
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Linklaters publishes its diversity data
Magic circle firm Linklaters has published anonymised diversity statistics revealing the gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and educational background of its UK lawyers. The statistics come ahead of the Legal Services Board’s requirement that all firms publish this type of research from next year. ...
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Lay conspiracy
While solicitors spend millions of hours getting to grips with the new Solicitors Regulation Authority code (only four years after the last major revision) in the runup to October, they might care to look up the composition of the members of the SRA and the Legal Services Board. ...
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Conflict of law
Challenge to jurisdiction - Claimant judgment creditor bringing proceedings in Greece - Defendant judgment debtors seek to stay UK proceedings Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company SAL and other companies: Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Burton): 13 ...
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IBA updates conduct code
The International Bar Association (IBA) published a new global code of conduct this week, identifying the 10 core ethical principles that should guide legal professionals worldwide. The new code was compiled with the help of practitioners from every continent, including former Law Society president Edward Nally ...
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Consumer panel’s Hayter: solicitors 'in denial' over client views
Solicitors are ‘in denial’ about the way they are viewed by clients, the outgoing chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel told the Gazette in a parting shot at the profession this week. Dianne Hayter (pictured) said she regretted that too many lawyers were unwilling to ...
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Civil procedure
Costs - Probate Shovelar and others v Lane and others: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justice Ward, Moore-Bick and Lady Justice Arden): 12 July 2011 The Court of Appeal, ...
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Leveson a strong choice to lead phone-hacking inquiry
What’s so striking about the judicial inquiry into phone hacking is how high-powered it all is. I had initially thought that the lord chief justice would recommend a retired judge for appointment as its chairman. But Lord Judge recognised that the task was simply too important for someone nearing the ...
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Santander charges ‘compliance fee’
Santander is to introduce an annual compliance fee for its panel members, in a move that the Law Society has called ‘deeply disappointing’. The lender will also open its panel to new firms in August. In a letter to panel members, the bank outlines its plans to move to a ...
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Character study
One of the first offices I worked in as a young lawyer were rented on a floor of a Dickensian building which, for the purposes, may be deemed to be within a two-mile radius of the law courts.