All News articles – Page 1517

  • News

    Mynah inconvenience

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    A newspaper article I read the other day, about an argument over who should keep ownership of a rather handsome labrador, reminded me of a 1959 breach of promise action, writes James Morton. Middle-aged gentleman William Bensfield had jilted a widow a few years younger ...

  • News

    Lord Judge could not have predicted the impact of the internet on the law

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Technology is inherently subversive, in that it can undermine established authority. It did so during the Industrial Revolution, by creating the bourgeoisie and heralding the decline of the landed aristocracy. And it is hardly fanciful to suggest that it is ...

  • News

    Good legal service matters

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    With regard to ‘Join a brand, warns Holt’ there is a fundamental difference between providing a service and selling a product. Tesco and WHSmith sell products. The legal profession provides legal services. Some may wish ...

  • News

    LSB to further probe value of quality schemes

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Board is to seek further evidence to assess the usefulness of quality schemes for indicating whether law firms provide a good service to consumers, it revealed today. The LSB has asked its Legal Services Consumer Panel, the body that advises it on the ...

  • News

    Family law

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Administration of justice - Anonymity - Lump sum orders - Matrimonial property K v L: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Laws, Jacob, Wilson): 13 May 2011 The appellant husband (H) ...

  • News

    Faith is rational

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Lord Justice Laws’ statement (quoted by Ian Newman in his letter) that 'religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of proof or evidence', is of course itself 'necessarily' subjective being the reasoning or opinion of an individual, no matter how eminent or important.

  • News

    Religious privilege exists

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    In his letter of 19 May (Christianity needs more than just ceremonial support) in response to my letter of 6 May, Ian Newman makes some interesting points. He seems upset that the Queen has done nothing to ‘Defend the Faith’. ...

  • News

    Disability discrimination

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    The decision of the House of Lords in London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm [2008] UKHL 43, [2008] 4 All ER 525, made it significantly more difficult for a disabled tenant to argue that his landlord had discriminated against him on the grounds of ­disability. Mr ...

  • News

    Different ethics

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Atheism and Christianity produce different law and ethics. Militant scientific atheism tells us that, biologically, a human is more intelligent but no more special than a chimpanzee or a slug. Our noblest thoughts are just chemical ...

  • News

    Station of the cross

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    It wasn’t quite a papal decree that kept David Morgan, consultant at London firm RadcliffesLeBrasseur, away from a meeting of European lawyers in Luxembourg last week. But it came within a cardinal’s whisker of being one. Morgan, a member of ...

  • News

    Criminal procedure

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Compensation - Facts - Fresh evidence - Miscarriage of justice R (on the application of Andrew Keith Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice: In the matter of Eamonn MacDermott: In the matter of Raymond Pius McCartney: SC (Justices ...

  • News

    News focus: counsel for Europe

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Proposals for an EU-wide approach to collective redress exposed deep divisions among delegates gathered in Luxembourg for last week’s plenary session of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Collective redress, sometimes called group litigation or class action, was the subject of one ...

  • News

    Cost judges voiced fears over Jackson reforms, report reveals

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Three costs judges from the Senior Court Costs Office broke ranks to object to radical reform of civil litigation, it has emerged. Masters Campbell, Haworth and Leonard said they were ‘unhappily’ unable to agree with the majority view of the costs judges who supported recommendations made ...

  • News

    High Court delays judgment over Sittingbourne court closure

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    The High Court has reserved judgment in its judicial review of the Ministry of Justice’s decision to close Sittingbourne Magistrates Court. The court will close for business tomorrow, but the legal challenge to that closure, brought by Kent firm Robin Murray & Co, was heard yesterday ...

  • News

    City law firms urged to rethink strategy

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    City firms must reinvent themselves to keep pace with the changing corporate sector over the next decade, according to a report published last week. Legal consultancy Jomati, run by Tony Williams, former managing partner of magic circle firm Clifford Chance, said firms will need a new ...

  • News

    Christianity is not totalitarianism

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    I cannot believe that Darren White equates Christianity with totalitarianism. The latter imposes its will on the population. The former tells people what the situation is and leaves them free to decide for themselves. Likewise David Rhodes, with respect, misunderstands what ...

  • News

    Child's play

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Obiter’s recent news that Law Society president Linda Lee saw her own daughter admitted as a solicitor earlier this month sparked a rush of correspondence. Last week the Gazette heard from Charles Palmer, who recalled his embarrassment at not being able to understand Lord Denning’s ...

  • News

    Law firms face new financial management challenges

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    The legal sector is increasingly focused on financial management. Contributing factors have included high-profile collapses such as Halliwells and Howreys, as well as ongoing failures and distressed mergers and acquisitions activity in the mid-markets. Common reasons cited for law firm collapses ...

  • News

    Magistrates drop court closure challenge

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    Sedgemoor magistrates have dropped legal action seeking to prevent the closure of their court after having ‘lost faith in the system’. The decision leaves the Ministry of Justice facing three actions over its programme of court closures. Mike Dodden, former chairman of ...

  • News

    Branding with hot irons?

    2011-05-26T00:00:00Z

    ‘Brand’ is a widely used description that covers many things in a lot of marketing areas and means many things to many people. Focusing on your firm’s brand is one way (of many ways) to manage the marketing process within your firm. ...