All News articles – Page 1547
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News
The Bellfield trial and a counsel of caution
The fallout from the trial of Milly Dowler’s murderer has proved discomfiting for defence lawyers. Defence barrister Jeffrey Samuels QC has been vilified in the press for his questioning of Milly’s father and has apparently been sent threatening emails. The ...
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Clyde & Co enters Canadian market with merger
City firm Clyde & Co has become the latest UK practice to move into the Canadian marketplace. The firm, which has 24 offices around the world, has confirmed a merger with Canadian insurance firm Nicholl Paskall-Mede (NPM). NPM’s 40-strong team, including 15 ...
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Dianne Hayter resigns as chair of legal services consumer watchdog
The first chair of watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel has resigned after two years in the post. Baroness Hayter (pictured) has decided to step down because of her commitments in the House of Lords, the Legal Services Board said in a statement. ...
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Abandonment - a growing concern
Why are we seeing such an increase in the situations where partners in law firms are just giving up their practice and simply closing the doors? These are predominately partners rather than LLP members but the fundamental issues are equally applicable to members of ...
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Commons committee fires warning on clinical negligence funding reforms
The House of Commons health committee has warned that government proposals to change the funding of clinical negligence cases could undermine access to justice and reduce compensation for some of the most seriously injured or disabled claimants. In a report published today, the committee, chaired by ...
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New rules on giving evidence aimed at protecting vulnerable
New laws designed to make it easier for children and vulnerable people to give evidence in court came into force today. The changes, contained in amendments to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, provide a range of special measures which the court can direct ...
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Legal news round-up from Europe
Last week, I wrote about developments in France. But there are changes of interest for lawyers taking place in other European countries, too. Poland seems to be having the hardest time. There is currently an Act ...
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Insolvency litigation funding
Insolvency practitioners (IPs) represent a sector of the litigation community that has been largely overlooked by Lord Justice Jackson and the Ministry of Justice through its endorsement to the proposed changes to eradicate recoverability of success fees and premiums. Critics argue the blindsided attention ...
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We did listen on legal aid, Djanogly insists – but Law Society’s Lee vows to fight on ‘every clause’
Jonathan Djanogly has insisted that the government took full account of thousands of hostile responses to the government’s controversial proposals on legal aid and the Jackson reforms of civil litigation costs. However, the justice minister confirmed that the legislation published earlier this week is to ...
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Fast-track for second reading of legal aid and sentencing bill condemned
Lawyers and MPs have expressed outrage at the government’s attempt to fast track the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill through Parliament. Following the first reading of the bill on Tuesday 21 June, it was confirmed this week that the second reading will be ...
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British businesses buried by European legal avalanche
Businesses are struggling to keep abreast of the hundreds of new laws published last year by the European Union. Legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell says 806 new laws impacting the UK were created in 2010. The majority of those were made ...
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Watchdog highlights ‘imbalance of power’ between consumers and lawyers
Consumers have benefited from the first four years of the Legal Services Act, but there remains an ‘imbalance of power’ which acts to their detriment in dealing with lawyers. So says the first consumer impact report by watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel, published today. ...
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Firms failing on client needs, study reports
Law firms are failing to understand their clients’ needs, creating a significant expectations gap, a study has found. DLA Piper joint chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles said the findings should serve as a ‘call to arms’ to practices to improve in this regard. ...
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Part 36 offers and recent judgments
One of the most successful innovations introduced by the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) has been part 36 offers. In 2007, part 36 offers replaced payments into court as the sole mechanism under the CPR for making offers to settle, which, in the words of Lord Justice Moore-Bick, have ‘far-reaching consequences ...
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Government set to press ahead with legal aid cuts and Jackson reforms
The Law Society and legal profession this week vowed to continue campaigning against the government’s legal aid cuts, following publication of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke. The bill, issued as the Gazette went to press, confirmed the ...
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Whitehall turns a blind eye to fallout from legal aid cuts
It is a common cry, when a decision goes against someone, that there was a flaw in consultation. But the objections to what is proposed for the withdrawal of legal aid in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill are more substantive than the lamentations of sore losers.
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Animal instinct and the law
I read the letters page weekly and normally find the tone of the correspondence quite depressing. I was therefore delighted to read the item ‘Become a vet’ which made me laugh out loud in my office. Not that I wish to seem joyful at ...
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Arbitration
Award – Appeal – Defendant employed by claimant Wilson & Partners Ltd v Emmott: QBD (Comm) Mr Justice Andrew Smith: 8 June 2011 The claimant company was incorporated in the ...
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It makes sense to restrict arrests for crimes of universal jurisdiction
Government reforms designed to restrict arrests for crimes of universal jurisdiction survived new challenges in the House of Lords last week. If the proposals emerge unscathed after a further debate this month, there will be less risk that politicians visiting Britain from countries such as the US, China and Israel ...
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Irani scoops JLD pro bono award
Shireen Irani won the first LawWorks Junior Lawyers Division pro bono award at the LawWorks annual awards ceremony last night. She won the award for developing i-pro bono, an independent not-for-profit organisation connecting bodies in need of legal assistance with lawyers and students who want to ...