All News articles – Page 1668
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UK lawyers raise questions over EU e-justice system
UK lawyers have questioned moves by the umbrella body for Europe’s lawyers to support a common e-justice system spanning the EU. At its meeting in Malaga last week, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) narrowly won support for its plan to assist ...
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Leading international law experts overlook high-profile failures
Ditchley Park is a sublimely beautiful 18th century mansion in Oxfordshire where the Ditchley Foundation holds impeccably well-run conferences on international affairs. Last weekend, the state of international law was debated by some of the world’s leading experts. I was there too.
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LSC could face judicial review of 'unfair’ family tender process
The Legal Services Commission could face a judicial review of the process and selection criteria used in the recent tender exercise for its new family contract. A family solicitor who did not want to be identified told the Gazette he has got the support of ‘a ...
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A serious fee?
I wonder whether I am in the majority in disagreeing with the findings of the report on referral fees prepared for the Legal Services Board
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Sinking HIPs
David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both proclaimed that their coalition government signals the start of a new era in which politics will be done differently. Obiter had a taste of just how differently at a media briefing last week. The press had been called ...
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Hurt in the pocket
We keep hearing about the improvement in the housing market and, as a conveyancing solicitor, I can certainly vouch for this.
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Law Society launches privacy rights initiative
The Law Society has joined forces with surveillance watchdog Privacy International to found a privacy rights centre to provide pro bono legal help to victims of ‘oppressive surveillance’ technologies. The centre will coordinate pro bono privacy advice, advocacy and legal action to uphold individuals’ rights. It ...
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Insolvency
Administration – Creditors – Debtors In the matter of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd (In Administration): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Mummery, Hughes, Etherton): 11 May 2010 The appellant joint ...
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Memory lane
The changing decorum of women in law and assessing the double emphasis on a phrase in a 1950s article. Law Society’s Gazette, May 1960 ...
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Negligence
Contacts – Damages – Legal profession (1) Levicom International Holdings BV (2) Levicom Investments Curacao NV v Linklaters (a firm): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Jacob, Lloyd, Stanley Burnton): 11 May 2010 ...
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Paws for thought
It seems new government ministers are not the only ones to go in for ever-so-slightly cheesy photo opportunities.Obiter received this pic from that wonderfully named Leamington Spa firm Wright Hassall, announcing that it has completed some legal work on behalf of pet food producer client Butcher’s Choice. Clearly the lawyers ...
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Walking wounded
The inference of Paul Rogerson’s In Business feature titled ‘Surveying the damage’ (see [2010] Gazette, 13 May, 14), is that the recession is solely responsible for the dire straits which many hundreds of law firms up and down the country now find themselves in.
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Smile for the camera because Big Brother is watching you
We are all film stars now, according to a 1999 study that estimated London citizens or workers could expect, in a single day, to be filmed by more than 300 CCTV cameras on around 30 separate CCTV systems.
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Law Society president warns of looming threat to profession’s independence
The Legal Services Board’s proximity to government could threaten the independence of the legal profession, Law Society president Robert Heslett warned last night. In a speech at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Heslett questioned the need for the LSB’s ‘draconian’ power to seize control ...
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Referral fees are a distraction
The publication of the Legal Services Board’s research on referral fees has created a debate that, while an important issue for the profession to discuss, distracts attention from the real issue for firms.
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MoJ to cut £325m
The government is to cut £325m from the Ministry of Justice’s budget, it said today. The cuts will form part of £6.2bn in savings aimed at reducing the UK’s deficit, outlined by the chief secretary to the Treasury David Laws today. The ...
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You are an EU citizen: do something about it
Much ink has been spilled recently about what it felt like to be a UK citizen during the changes leading to the coalition government – we were being ignored/our wishes were being followed; we were voting for change/we did not know what we wanted; etc (in each case, delete ...
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Law firms fail to maximise internet exposure
Law firms are failing to maximise their exposure to online consumers by improving their rankings with search engines, a report has shown. A study of by consultants Greenlight showed that 1.2m searches were performed in February for legal-related keywords, with 450,000 searches for ‘solicitor’. ...
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Will scrapping HIPs make a real difference?
One of the first steps taken by David Cameron’s new coalition government was the announcement scrapping home information packs, which will be suspended from midnight tonight...
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MoJ unveils new ministers’ portfolios
The Ministry of Justice has announced the roles of its new ministerial team overseen by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke, with the legal aid brief handed to former City lawyer Jonathan Djanogly. Tom McNally, minister of state and deputy leader of the House of Lords, will have ...