All News articles – Page 1650
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News
Who will take up external investment?
The Gazette revealed this week that law firms are already getting well into discussions with external investors in readiness for when the rules change in October 2011, and indeed some are even going as far as to...
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MoJ consults on implementing Coroners Act
The Ministry of Justice has called for views on how it should implement reforms to the coroner’s service in a consultation paper. Responses will assist in the drafting of secondary legislation, with a final consultation to be held in 2011.
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Oops, did I really do that?
Time to announce the five lucky winners of last month’s competition to win copies of series two of Law & Order: UK. Readers were asked to come up with an amusing ending to the following sentence: ‘If there were a TV show called Lawyers Who Do Silly Things, I could ...
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Legal profession
Barristers’ powers and duties – Instructions – Overriding objective – Retainers Richard Buxton (solicitors) (appellant) v Huw Llewelyn Paul Mills-Owens (respondent) and Law Society (intervener): CA (Civ Div) (Sir Mark Potter (President Fam Div), Lords Justice Dyson, Maurice ...
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Memory lane
An address to the students of the Society’s School of Law on the qualities required in order to become a good lawyer. Law Society’s Gazette, March 1960 ...
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Word games
Obiter can’t resist just a few more of those dictation blunders. Favourites this week have been a puzzling reference to a Russian Owl in the transcript of a judge’s summing up, which turned out to be a rationale. ...
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Financial regulation
Civil evidence – Human rights – Disclosure – Documents (1) Financial Services Authority (2) Elisabeth Connell (3) Patricia Senra (appellants) v (1) AMRO International SA (2) Creon Management SA (respondents) and Goodman Jones LLP (interested party): CA (Civ ...
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No level playing field
Des Hudson claims that subjecting immigration solicitors to a two-hour exam if they want to continue doing publicly funded work is ‘the least burdensome’ option for reaccreditation (see [2010] Gazette 4 March, 11).
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Leap of faith
Bond Pearce associate Michelle Essen (pictured with her instructor) recently leapt out of a plane along with 11 daredevil colleagues – including the firm’s chairman – as part of a six-month fundraising effort that has seen the south-west firm raise £18,394 for charity and come fifth in the Prince’s Trust ...
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The new PC fee system will end historical inequalities within the profession
The current practising certificate fee system is crude and unfair. It is a clumsy ‘one glove fits all’ approach to collecting the funds to pay for regulation. It takes no account of the type of work done by the solicitor, whether he or she handles client money and the statistical ...
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Elephant in the room
I read with glee Mr Gafford’s letter ‘Conveyancing fee embarrassingly low’ (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 11), not because I take joy in other people’s angst, but because it’s about time that someone mentioned the elephant in the room.
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Down with the kids
Last week saw a new event on the regional calendar – the first Manchester Legal Awards, run by Manchester Law Society. Eversheds scooped four of the 17 gongs, while Pannone and Addleshaw Goddard picked up two apiece. Roger Pannone also won an outstanding achievement award ...
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How to define failure?
I am intrigued as to how standards of advocacy are to be assessed. Who are the people making the assessments? Do they have checklists which they tick off when the right questions are asked? What experience have they got of the courts in question?
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IT glitch hits operation of virtual court
IT problems caused a ‘meltdown’ in the operation of the virtual court at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court last month, with the system down for a week, the Gazette has learned. An IT fault meant that the virtual court system, whereby defendants make their first appearance ...
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Court staff go on strike over cuts to redundancy pay
More than 10,000 courts service staff this week refused to cross picket lines as part of a national strike by civil servants over cuts to redundancy pay, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claimed. However, a spokeswoman for HM Courts Service said that, while there were some reductions in ...
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‘Out of touch’ Law Society of Scotland facing a vote of confidence
The 10,500-member Law Society of Scotland is to face a vote of confidence on its future as the voice of Scottish solicitors, as grassroots opposition to the introduction of so-called ‘Tesco law’ intensifies. Members disillusioned by the body’s policy of support for external ownership and alternative business structures are behind ...
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Courts are places for the dispensation of justice, not vulgar commerce
‘Today’s drink-driving hearings are brought to you by Gethomesafely Ltd personal breathalysers.’ Excuse our flippancy, and it will be infinity and a day before that message is broadcast across an HM Courts Service public address system. One hopes. But our disclosure this week that commercial ...
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Commerce & Industry Group in-house trainee push
The Commerce & Industry Group is to encourage in-house departments to take on trainee solicitors, its new chair John Bleasdale has told the Gazette. Bleasdale said he wants the group’s 4,500 lawyer members to increase significantly the number of in-house training contracts available to Legal Practice ...
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Probate: inheritance tax, mistakes, Hastings-Bass and disinherited children
Mr Pitt was left brain damaged after a road accident. His wife was appointed his receiver. Mr Pitt received £1.2m in agreed damages. Acting on the advice of financial advisers Mrs Pitt transferred the lump sum to a discretionary settlement.
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Children should give evidence, says Supreme Court
Children in family proceedings should be called to give live evidence in court if the advantage it would bring in deciding the case outweighs the risk of harm to the welfare of the child, the Supreme Court ruled last week. In a unanimous decision, five law ...