All News articles – Page 1534
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Civil evidence
Police - Criminal investigations - Remuneration - Trustees in bankruptcy Andrew v Newsgroup Newspapers Ltd and Ors: Ch D (Mr Justice Vos): 18 March 2011 The claimant sports agent (X) ...
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Civil procedure
Civil Procedure Rules - Media and entertainment - Anonymity - Breach of confidence (1) Zac Goldsmith (2) Sheherazade Goldsmith v BCD: Jemima Khan v BCD: QBD (Mr Justice Tugendhat): 22 March 2011 ...
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News focus: responses to the Jackson consultation on civil costs
The Ministry of Justice consultation on the implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s (pictured) recommendations on reforming civil litigation and funding costs closed on 14 February. Six weeks later, we have the government’s response to the 600 submissions it received. They must be speed-readers at the MoJ. ...
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Definition of CHIS
Ibrahim Hasan may have misstated the position when he wrote that a witness on a housing estate who discloses information about anti-social behaviour is considered a covert human intelligence source. In his thoughtful and useful article, he states that section 29(8) of the Regulation of Investigatory ...
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Importance of legal ethics must not be sidelined in changing market
Close to the start of my presidential year I spent a weekend in Prague with colleagues to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of the independence of the Czech legal profession. Out of a small Czech bar of only 8,804 members, more than 500 ...
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Outcomes-focused regulation will require cultural changes by solicitors
by Tony Guise, director of GUISE Solicitors Limited, a specialist law firm providing regulatory and compliance advice 'When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
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Luton solicitor's campaign set to change road safety law
A Luton solicitor has been instrumental in an apparently successful attempt to change road safety laws. Mark Wardrop, partner and head of litigation at Pictons in Luton, campaigned for the creation of a new offence of ‘causing death by dangerous or reckless cycling’ after acting for ...
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Open and ready for business? Changes in immigration
A Statement of changes in Immigration Rules, detailing changes due to come into force yesterday, was laid before parliament on 16 March. The statement announced changes to the Tier 1 category of the points-based system (PBS), as expected, and in particular to the Tier 1 ...
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Legal Services Board rebuffs Djanogly on ILEX rights
The Legal Services Board has dismissed a call by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly for it to consult more widely on proposals to extend the rights of legal executives to conduct litigation and appear in court. Last week, Djanogly told the House of Commons that an application ...
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Conveyancing solicitors call for binding contracts
Conveyancing solicitors and estate agents have called on the property industry to develop legally binding preliminary contracts to reduce the number of house sales that fall through. At an event hosted by the president of the E-Homebuying Forum, Sir Bryan Carsberg, last week, representatives from ...
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Solicitors Regulation Authority unveils handbook
The Solicitors Regulation Authority published the final version of its new solicitors handbook this week, as it revealed it had received ‘quite a number’ of enquiries from potential new market entrants about becoming alternative business structures. The SRA has applied to become a regulator of ...
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APIL calls for damages discount review
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has alleged that a failure by the justice secretary to review the damages discount rate has led to some claimants being under-compensated by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. Launching a judicial review against the MoJ last week, APIL said the ...
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Anybody listening?
I took part in the recent consultation exercise concerning the Jackson proposals for the reform of civil litigation. The government has now published its response. As far as I can see, the Jackson proposals will be fully implemented. There is ...
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Family lawyers welcome 'ambitious' Justice Review Panel plans
Family lawyers have welcomed the ‘ambitious’ proposals published by the Family Justice Review Panel last week, but warned that the changes will not work unless there is adequate funding. The Law Society and Family Law Bar Association supported the interim recommendations of the panel, which ...
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Forecasting the creative impact of alternative business structures on law
The challenge of alternative business structures (ABSs) appears to have given fresh legs to a neologism. Lawyers should be ‘pessoptimistic’ – that is, in a state of contradiction, living with both dread and a sense of opportunity. A pessoptimist (the word was coined by Palestinian ...
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Welcome news as Allen & Overy offers placements and minimum wage
Nick Clegg’s strategy to boost social mobility targets unpaid internships, a nice illustration of the incongruities that can arise in coalition government. As recently as February, his Tory partners were busy auctioning internships in City banks and hedge funds at a £400-a-head fundraiser. Clegg doubtless reasons ...
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DAS considers offering written legal advice
Legal expenses insurer DAS is considering providing written legal advice to its policyholders once reforms allow, its legal chief told the Gazette this week. DAS head of legal Kathryn Mortimer said that the insurer, which has already made clear its intention to acquire Bristol firm CW ...
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Carlisle solicitor admits fraud
A former Carlisle solicitor is awaiting sentence after admitting a £250,000 fraud. Pauline Lesley Butler, who worked as a sole practitioner at her firm Pauline L Butler in Carlisle, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court last week to charges of fraud and false accounting. ...
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Bribery Act guidance
It is now 13 years since the UK committed to fulfil its obligations under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, and almost nine years since it became a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption. In that time, there has been an unremitting flow of effort aimed ...
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New tax on settlors imposes ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’
A new system for collecting tax from settlor interested trusts is complex and expensive, and imposes a ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’ on everyone involved, the Law Society has warned. A settlor interested trust is one where a person – the settlor - has placed assets, such as money ...