All News articles – Page 1555
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News
What price success? The ramifications of Campbell v MGN
Just as the post-Jackson consultation on abolishing the recoverability of success fees is hotting up, claimants, whose arguments for retention are based on access to justice, have been dealt a blow by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
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Embracing new business models
Avtar Bhatoa’s article is an interesting contribution to the debate about ProcureCos and their role in allowing the bar to bid directly for Legal Services Commission contracts (see [2011] Gazette, 27 January, 12). But his characterisation of the two sides of the legal profession as being at loggerheads is ...
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MoJ drops bill to modernise law of damages
The government dropped proposals to modernise the law of damages last month. The Ministry of Justice has decided not to proceed with the Civil Law Reform Bill published in December 2009. The bill had put forward several amendments to the law on damages, as recommended ...
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Treatment of inherited assets upon divorce
Ever since the House of Lords decision in White v White [2000] UKHL 54, there has been an ongoing debate among family lawyers regarding the treatment of inherited assets upon divorce. As Lord Nicholls stated in White: ‘The judge should take it into account. He should decide how important it ...
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Law firm not liable to loan losses, says appeal court
A law firm that gave negligent advice to a bank before the bank lost £28m in loans advanced to two local authorities does not have to reimburse those losses, the Court of Appeal ruled last week. Overturning a High Court decision, the appeal court ruled in ...
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The proposed legal aid cuts are both irresponsible and inequitable
The recent rally by Justice for All brought to the heart of Westminster the concerns of a coalition of organisations about the Conservative-led government’s proposed cuts to the legal aid budget.
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Appeal court backs CFA costs agreement
Solicitors must be allowed to shoulder the risk of adverse costs orders on behalf of their clients to ensure proper access to justice, the Court of Appeal has ruled, in a judgment welcomed by the Law Society. Giving judgment in Sibthorpe and Morris v London Borough ...
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Council cuts reprieve for legal advice centres
The High Court has quashed a decision by administrative body London Councils to cut £10m from its £26.4m grant scheme for voluntary organisations across the capital, including legal advice centres. The decision would have left more than 200 groups, including the Mary Ward Legal Advice ...
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Citizens’ advice bureaux in Birmingham to close
Five citizens’ advice bureaux in Birmingham are expected to close their doors next week, unless they can raise £50,000 per month to continue, after the city council withdrew all of its £600,000-a-year funding. Without new money, the City Centre, Northfield, Tyseley, Handsworth and Kingstanding services ...
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Taking advantage of a media circus
When a high-profile television presenter makes an age-discrimination claim against the BBC you can be sure there’ll be a frenzy of media attention. That’s exactly what happened in the case of Miriam O’Reilly, one of the former hosts of the TV show, Countryfile. O’Reilly lost her ...
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ProcureCos add insult to injury
I welcome Avtar Bhatoa’s assessment of the threat posed by the use of ProcureCos to obtain contracts from the Legal Services Commission. The Ministry of Justice proposals threaten the very existence of our firms.
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Acting solicitors
Budding thespian solicitors, who have been waiting for a chance to prove it is not just barristers who can be star performers on their feet, may have their chance to shine this summer. The Tricycle Theatre in north London is again opening its doors to ...
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Coalition is moving the Bribery Act issue into the 'too difficult' tray
Monty Raphael, special counsel to Peters & Peters and author of Blackstone’s Guide to the Bribery Act 2010, describes the government’s decision to delay implementation of the act as ‘puzzling’.
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LoveFilm acquisition, steel demerger, fencing sponsorship and shoe sale
In the picture: City firm Hogan Lovells advised internet retailer Amazon on acquiring £200m worth of shares in film rental company LoveFilm, giving it a majority stake. City firm Stephenson Harwood advised LoveFilm. ...
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Accountancy
Autrefois acquit - Cause of action estoppel - Disciplinary procedures - Abuse of process R (on the application of Coke-Wallis) v Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales: SC (Lords Phillips, Rodger, Collins, Clarke, Dyson): 19 January 2011 ...
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Supreme Court widens definition of violent abuse
Solicitors have welcomed a Supreme Court ruling that domestic violence extends beyond physical contact to include other forms of violent conduct.
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Decision time on ABSs
Next month, the Law Society council will have to make the most important decision in my presidential year, the outcome of which will have long-term implications for the profession. Council will have to decide whether to apply for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be allowed to ...
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The debate about employment tribunals and the rise in claims
Reforms to employment law and the employment tribunal system did not feature in the 2010 Conservative election manifesto. But there was a clear commitment to reducing regulation of small businesses. In recent weeks, it has become clear this commitment has translated into controversial plans for substantial reform to tribunal procedures.
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Unbalancing the scales of justice
I admit to a certain amount of grim amusement at the howls of protest from the profession at the proposals in respect of legal aid and conditional free agreements (I have clients who fund their cases under both regimes).
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Changing perceptions on tackling negligence
Another day, another insult, but are we so apathetic that we sigh and say ‘oh well’ when Mike Penning MP throws 'ambulance chasing insults' at us The landscape is changing, yet many lawyers I speak to do not appear to fully realise the potential impact ...