All News articles – Page 1543
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News
Wise words
Those (such as Obiter) who follow speeches by the master of the rolls will have noticed that the reputation of judges and lawyers, particularly in times gone by, is a common theme. At a lecture last week in honour of utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham (who had a famously low opinion ...
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Self-preservation society plea
Many of your correspondents state that the level of service provided by lending institutions is deplorable. However, of greater concern is their prospective elimination (in concert with the estate agency fraternity), of the high-street solicitor’s practice. In 1984, my then senior partner, William Heath, and I ...
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Strength in numbers?
Does it really take the nine senior judges of the Supreme Court to decide an issue of housing law, albeit an important one (Manchester City Council v Pinnock (No.2). In the same issue of the Gazette, Lord Phillips is reported as berating the government over the ...
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Who says mediation is a panacea?
I have got a lot of time for Christina Blacklaws and agree with much of what she has to say about the lack of joined-up thinking in government family law policy. However, I was disappointed with the article’s headline, ‘No panacea for family problems’.
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Long and winding road
Obiter’s Memory Lane slot often features correspondence to the Gazette’s editor. But rarely are we contacted by the original author across the intervening decades: Dear Sir,What a surprise to see a letter ...
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Tell the litigant if he is likely to win
Stephen Trahair is a tad unfair to Lord Justice Jackson and his attempt to deal with the costs issue. Two factors are in play: 1. Reconstructing events and arguing over them with indemnity-insured trained legal representation costs money;2. All any solicitor should want is to be ...
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Viva Las Vegas
I have just received notification of a proposed order of the District Court of Nevada and been advised that a class action has been brought on behalf of people who rented cars at Las Vegas and Reno airports between 3 June 2007 and 30 September 2009, on the basis that ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, March/April, 1971 Letter to the editor – advertisingNo one has yet considered the connection between advertising and the present urgent need of the solicitor ...
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Lawyers are not just motivated by money
I have to take issue with something Lord Neuberger said in his recent Bentham lecture. ‘Now, it is no part of my function to defend lawyers’ fees,’ said the master of the rolls, ‘although I would say that, unless you pay lawyers properly, you won’t attract able people to the ...
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Reinventing intellectual property litigation
The Patents County Court has undergone a major makeover, to make it the venue of choice for small-to-medium-sized intellectual property disputes. Intellectual property is generally seen as being a good thing, both for businesses or the individuals that own it, and for society at large. Patents ...
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Government words are hard to stomach
I read with interest your excellent feature 'War of the words'. For some time, I have been criticising the manner in which government departments and regulators use language that is intended to mislead.
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‘Glass windows’ are not for everyone
I doff my cap to Tania Jeffery and Kellie-Jayne Cox, who have recently opened a new practice in Hampshire. It is particularly noble in these difficult days. I think, however, that the ‘glass window’ policy may be questionable, and a grumpy old gaffer like me would ...
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Defence solicitors warn MoJ over interpreter outsourcing
Criminal defence solicitors have urged the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the standard of interpreters does not deteriorate as a result of cost-cutting plans to outsource translation services across the criminal justice system.
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Russia pressured on Sergei Magnitsky death
Prime minister David Cameron has thrown his weight behind a campaign to expose the truth behind the death of a lawyer investigating an alleged £142m fraud against a UK company in Russia. Sergei Magnitsky (pictured) was working for UK investment firm Hermitage Capital when, after alleging ...
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Radical shakeup of social housing is potentially damaging
The Law Society has been coordinating responses from members of its relevant committees (planning, conveyancing and housing) to large parts of the Localism Bill. This is the bill that proposes to bring in far-reaching plans to devolve power to the local community to build on the government’s idea of the ...
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How the law can be used to fight cuts to services for disabled people
Disabled children and disabled adults need significant support from public bodies to help them lead ordinary lives. These groups require both specialist and targeted services and flexible universal services which can be adapted to their needs. The past decade has seen services for disabled children ...
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Four Cumbria law firms say no to referral fees
Four Cumbria law firms have declared their practices to be ‘no-go areas’ for referral fees to estate agents. Wigton firm Beaty & Co; Penrith, Keswick and Carlisle firm Scott Duff; Carlisle and Wigton firm Atkinson Ritson; and Carlisle, Penrith and Brampton firm Cartmell Shepherd said ...
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Law firms develop new strategies to stand out from the crowd
In Kingdom, a TV drama, Stephen Fry plays Peter Kingdom, a local solicitor with a natural human and personal touch, going out of his way to help the locals in a small town in Norfolk. This idealised portrayal of life as a solicitor could not be further from the world ...
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Counsel of woe
Establishment stalwart Obiter is, of course, deeply reluctant to take the michael out of esteemed government departments. But sometimes it simply cannot be resisted. Last week’s Ministry of Justice announcement of 120 new QC appointments raised an eyebrow at Obiter Towers, and not because there were only a measly two ...