All News articles – Page 1527

  • News

    Human rights LinkedIn launch

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The Gazette has launched a human rights LinkedIn group for solicitors interested in civil liberties and human rights issues in the UK and internationally. The group, launched jointly with the Law Society’s international human rights team, will become a leading discussion forum for topics ranging ...

  • News

    Wish you were here?

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    It’s not quite Prague or Venice, but local firm Powell Forster has produced this postcard to celebrate its home town of, er, Brixton, sadly still most famous for the 1981 riots. ‘Beautiful’ might be pushing it a bit, but Obiter applauds the sentiment.

  • News

    Local government

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Human rights - Social welfare - Child protection - Disclosure (1) H (2) L v A City Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Pill, Hooper, Munby): 14 April 2011 The ...

  • News

    Team GB: world police?

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    It is said that it is far better to give than to receive. That may be so, but under the Bribery Act 2010 both may be an offence, so ‘receiving’ may now have the edge. After a false start or two, the act will finally come ...

  • News

    Legal flicks

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Killing time on Twitter last week, Obiter was amused by a thread of tweets under the hash tag ‘solicitormovies’. Twits, twitterers, the legal twitteratti, or whatever the appropriate term is, have posted film titles incorporating the names of law firms. ...

  • News

    Law Society will intervene over LPP extension

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society will seek to intervene to prevent legal professional privilege (LPP) being extended to accountants if the matter comes before the Supreme Court, Chancery Lane said last week. Financial services company Prudential was granted leave to appeal a previous Court of Appeal decision ...

  • News

    Lawyers at the heart of the EU’s single market

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    We already know that there are many different forms of English – Microsoft allows for 18 of them – and I suggest that Euro-English now join the group as the 19th. I am reminded of this because the European Commission wants to boost the single ...

  • News

    Decision to support SRA structures regulation shows leadership

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    As announced in the Gazette, the Law Society has voted to support the Solicitors Regulation Authority's (SRA) application to the Legal Services Board for approval as a licensor of alternative business structures. In doing so the Law Society demonstrated an element of the leadership that ...

  • News

    EU takes UK to court over environmental law 'failings'

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission has referred the UK government to the European Court of Justice (pictured) over its failure to provide an affordable procedure for mounting legal challenges to development plans that might damage the environment. The ECJ has the power to impose fines of up to ...

  • News

    Court stenographers to be replaced with digital recording

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The quiet tapping of the court stenographer will be silenced by next year to be replaced with a high-tech recording system.

  • News

    Solicitor set to pay for wasted costs

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    A London solicitor at the centre of a dispute over alleged illegal file sharing could face a huge costs bill after a judge ruled that he had breached the code of conduct and ‘brought the legal profession into disrepute’. Judge Birss, sitting in the Patent County ...

  • News

    Contracts

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Agency - Agents’ liabilities - Misrepresentation - Mistake Knight Frank LLP v Aston Du Haney: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Lloyd, Wilson, Tomlinson): 12 April 2011 The appellant firm of ...

  • News

    Juror ‘contempt’ over Facebook contact

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    A juror who allegedly contacted a defendant through Facebook during a trial could face jail for contempt of court. Attorney general Dominic Grieve QC has applied to the High Court for permission to pursue contempt proceedings against juror Joanne Maria Fraill, who is alleged to have ...

  • News

    Comparing lawyers with doctors proves maturity of profession

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    by Jonathan Goldsmith, secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe There was fuss and nonsense in the press recently about the growing number of solicitors.

  • News

    MoJ ends training subsidy for Chinese lawyers

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The Ministry of Justice has put an end to a £370,000 annual subsidy paid out for the last 20 years to help train Chinese lawyers. The Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme was aimed at engaging with young Chinese lawyers to improve their understanding of the English legal ...

  • News

    MoJ could face judicial review challenge over civil cost reforms

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Charitable group the Public Law Project (PLP) has threatened to launch a legal challenge to the Ministry of Justice’s civil costs and funding reforms. London firm Leigh Day & Co has sent a letter before action to the justice secretary Ken Clark on behalf of the ...

  • News

    Careful George, he’s tooled up

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Watching an old episode of The Sweeney on television last week, I was struck by how much rhyming slang – much of it politically incorrect – was used. Who now would dare or wish to say ‘bubble’ or ‘lemonade’ in their homes, let alone on ...

  • News

    Privacy law, not injunctions, should be on press's agenda

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The press worked itself up into a predictable lather of self-righteousness last week as editors saw their circulation figures threatened by privacy laws. Firmly in their sights were what they called ‘super-injunctions’ - although an injunction whose existence may be reported is no more a ...

  • News

    Is age discrimination rife in the legal profession?

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Age discrimination is not what it used to be. I think. The problem is I don’t so much get senior moments these days as senior minutes, hours, even weeks, and it may be that I’m misremembering, to quote someone whose name is ...

  • News

    Complaints pour in on lenders' panel advice

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Law firms are suffering financial loss because lenders are incorrectly advising clients that they cannot use their own solicitor for conveyancing and mortgage work, the Law Society has warned. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said Chancery Lane had received a stack of complaints from firms ...