All News articles – Page 1608
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News
Green paper warning from mental health professionals
The government’s pledge to divert mentally ill people away from the criminal justice system and towards health services is ‘strong on rhetoric’, but understates the extent of the problem, mental health professionals have warned. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke’s green paper on sentencing and rehabilitation, published this ...
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Grudge judge
As number two in the judicial pecking order, second only to the lord chief justice himself, one might expect Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to be above petty grudges. But it turns out that, in common with most advocates, he finds it difficult to accept when a ...
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Solicitor who 'shamed profession' jailed
A solicitor who ‘brought shame on the profession’ has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years at Croydon Crown Court for his part in an immigration scam. Adeyinka Adeniran, 39, a principal at London firm Julius Ceasar, supplied clients and documents to a bogus college located at a ...
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Law Society sets up lobbying working party
The Law Society has set up a working party to address government plans to force law firms to disclose the identities of their lobbying clients, after the coalition government said it will establish a register of lobbyists in a bill to be introduced next year. ...
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WikiLeaks take us into a legal – and moral – maze
Cablegate has some way to run. It is far too soon to know the final consequences for all those involved, though few may find that the affair ends well for them. We may, however, be able to glimpse the wider implications of this episode. We could, after all, be in ...
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Magnum opus
It’s Christmas (or Winterval if you’re politically correct) so it must be competition time. We are indebted to Gazettereader offer partner Averys Wine Merchants for the generous donation of six magnums (magna?) of the finest Chateau La Rose Gadis 2004 Bordeaux Rouge. One will duly wet the whistle of the ...
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Razing money
Obiter promised one, and only one, Movember pic, and here it is. These handsomely moustachioed chaps from south-west firm Burges Salmon raised an impressive £2,000 for men’s health charities by growing their facial hair, of which they are all clearly immensely proud. Nice ...
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Roll on retirement
My 9 December Gazette arrived late because of inclement weather. Just as well. Last week, I was in a really bad mood. Now, I’m just cross.
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Star trekkers
Pictured are David Green, solicitor at the Longton office of Stevens, and his wife Andrea Muckley, solicitor at TRP in Birmingham, having just completed a three-and-a-half day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru in aid of charity RNIB. Given that the 26-mile trip includes altitudes of ...
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10% of your earnings to charity?
Three of the five magic circle firms publish corporate social responsibility reports, outlining, among other things, their charitable giving in terms of time and money. According to these reports, and where figures were available, in 2009/10, Linklaters donated £2.5m to charity and Clifford Chance £2.4m. Over ...
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Firms set to be forced to publish diversity data
Law firms and barristers’ chambers will be forced to publish data about the diversity of their legal staff, under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Board today. Publishing a consultation, Increasing diversity and social mobility in the legal workforce: transparency and evidence, the LSB said that ...
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Will parliament spot the real problem with legal aid cuts?
by Paul Rumley, a partner in the clinical negligence team at Withy King As shown in president Linda Lee’s excellent summary piece it is clear that the government has a simple arithmetical problem (over and above the deficit itself). The debate on legal aid today in ...
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Allen & Overy faces lawsuit over employee sacked for erotic blog
A former Allen & Overy solicitor sacked for writing an erotic blog that allegedly used the names of her co-workers and a client is claiming £3.5m compensation from the firm for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. Former senior associate Deidre Clark, 44, who wrote under the ...
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Government announces court closures
The justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today that 93 magistrates’ courts and 49 county courts will be closed as part of the government’s drive to improve the justice system. The government says the move will save an estimated £41.5m, alongside a possible £35.8m raised from the ...
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Impact of the VAT rise on law firms
On 4 January 2011 the standard rate of VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20% – the third change in the standard rate in the last two years. This impending rise may have prompted some savvy partners to buy their new refrigerators or computers now instead of next year, but ...
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Consumers unattracted by non-legal brands, survey suggests
Two-thirds of consumers would not want to buy their legal services through non-legal brands, according to a survey of 2,000 clients seen exclusively by the Gazette. In the poll by law firm referral service Contact Law, 66% of consumers said they would not be happy to ...
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Leading Sheffield firm falls victim to downturn
Century-old Sheffield law firm Ashton Morton Slack LLP has collapsed into administration, becoming the latest regional casualty of the economic downturn. Administrators from BDO, appointed by the limited liability partnership’s members last Friday, blamed the firm’s demise on cashflow problems arising from declining volumes of work and increasing overheads. ...
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A single telephone number for Europe
Here’s a good idea. The European Commission is consulting on a single numbering service for businesses in Europe which have branches in more than one member state.
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Is more mediation in divorce cases missing the point?
In recent speeches legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has emphasised the government’s commitment to increasing the use of mediation, particularly in disputes over arrangements for children, property and finances that arise when family relationships break down. As well as the obvious desire to achieve savings that ...
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Youth crime has fallen, report suggests
The volume of crime committed by young people has fallen by 25% over the last decade, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. However, the report reveals that those offenders who receive serious community sentences or custodial sentences remain just as likely ...