All News articles – Page 1577
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Human rights
Criminal procedure – Admissibility – Police interviews Cadder v HM Advocate: SC (Lords Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Walker, Brown, Mance, Kerr, Sir John Dyson): 26 October 2010
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History lesson
Jeff Skidmore, a partner at Roy Thomas Begley & Co in Swansea, writes in to point out an error in last week’s item by James Morton about Ewen Montagu. The latter was indeed mastermind of 'The Man Who Never Was', but the deception plan was carried out in the Mediterranean ...
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Orwell and good
As Christmas approaches, some of you may have started thinking about what to buy for those awkward friends and relations. If these include members of the judiciary (and they can be awkward), the perfect gift idea could be a copy of George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. ...
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QualitySolicitors opens first ‘legal store’
National legal services brand QualitySolicitors today launched its first ‘legal store’ in a shopping centre in London, offering ‘instant wills while you shop’, and late evening and weekend opening. QualitySolicitors Freeman Harris, based in the Lewisham Shopping Centre, is one of 54 new franchises opened by ...
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Family law
Ancillary relief – Financial provision orders – Fresh evidence Erik Maurice William Robson v Chloe Annabel Robson: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Ward, Hughes, Patten): 27 October 2010 The appellant ...
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Employment
Automatically unfair dismissal – Disciplinary procedures – Redundancy Douglas Cartwright v King’s College London: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Sedley, Rimer, Patten): 27 October 2010 The appellant former employee (C) ...
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Court security is ‘over the top’
I would like to highlight a new danger associated with my job that I had not previously considered. While airport security measures are likely to be relaxed, magistrates’ courts seem to be adding extra layers to their security procedures. While attending our local court last week, I emptied my pockets, ...
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Consumer panel wants lawyers to undergo ‘regular MOT’
Lawyers would have to demonstrate at regular intervals that they are competent to practise under radical proposals from consumer watchdogs for beefing up quality. The Legal Services Consumer Panel has today called for the introduction of ‘periodic validation’ – a review of permission to practise after a fixed time – ...
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The legal needs of vulnerable clients
Lindsay Taylor’s experience of financial institutions’ ignorance of the difference between a lasting power of attorney and court order will be a familiar story to most solicitors specialising in elder and capacity law.
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Miners’ compensation claims website under investigation by MoJ
A no win, no fee website set up to farm former coal miners’ undersettlement claims is being investigated by the government claims regulator, the Gazette has learned. The Ministry of Justice is investigating justiceforminers.org.uk after Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham, complained to the claims ...
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Downgrading of child protection
I was alarmed to learn of the government’s recent decision not to abolish the court fees payable by local authorities when commencing care proceedings. In his report following the Baby P case, Lord Laming called for these fees to be reviewed. A review followed which ...
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Virtual court pilot in ‘chaos’
Efforts by the Ministry of Justice to increase use of the virtual court at Camberwell Green magistrates’ court in London have led to ‘chaos’ because the court list is overloaded, criminal solicitors allege. For the last fortnight all overnight remands from the 20 London police ...
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Born to hang
It was, we recall, a singing Telly Savalas (aka Kojak) who crooned that a ‘picture paints a thousand words’. And how right he was. To that end, we urge you to lay down your pen (or iPad, BlackBerry – whatever) and pick up your paintbrush. For more submissions are requested ...
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Surprise fall in solicitors' PII bill
Solicitors paid 11% less to insurers for professional indemnity insurance (PII) this year, official figures have revealed. The cost of insuring the profession on the open market in 2010 was £214m, down from £241m in 2009 and £226m in 2008. The fall occurred despite some solicitors ...
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How the south-west legal market is battling recession
The south-west’s economy has recently brightened after the gloom of the recession, recording a rise in the Business Activity Index at the end of the summer from 52.8 to 54.1. This is good news for the large, commercial firms in the region, which confirm that their own numbers have improved ...
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ProcureCos could earn bar ‘millions’ in new work
The bar is in ‘rapid change mode’ and could secure ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ of work through its new ProcureCos, Nick Green QC told the bar’s annual conference. But the bar’s chairman said that despite a ‘jockeying for position’ with solicitors, the two professions would ...
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Judicial Appointments Commission survives quangos cull
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman will not fall victim to the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke (pictured) told parliament today that the two bodies will remain ...
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Another route to qualification
I write in response to Robin Dunne’s letter . I agree that it is truly unfortunate when a law student has accrued considerable debt in completing their degree and LPC, then cannot secure a training contract. But it is not correct to say that, unless the LPC providers restrict the ...
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'Solicitors from Hell' owner vows to persevere after another libel loss
The owner of solicitorsfromhell has vowed to keep the site going, despite losing the latest in a string of libel cases. In the High Court last week, London firm Brett Wilson forced site owner Rick Kordowski to make an undertaking to the court: not to publish ...
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Publicly funded legal advice gets a ringing endorsement
by Steve Hynes, director of the Legal Action Group In the wider media, legal aid is often demonised, with only two stories tending to predominate. Story one concerns the unworthy, scrounging recipients of legal aid – the clients. The latest high-profile variation on this theme concerns ...