All News articles – Page 1670
-
News
Competence to practice
I read with some interest about the various proposals for solicitors to undergo ‘real time’ peer review to assist in measuring their competence (see [2010] Gazette, 1 April, 1). While the proposals strike me as overly burdensome, the issue of competence is certainly a relevant inquiry.
-
News
Double standard
The conduct of elections has come under the microscope in recent weeks. Joshua Rozenberg noted (see [2010] Gazette, 13 May, 8) that section 23 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 says that ‘no parliamentary election shall be declared invalid by reason of any act or omission by the ...
-
News
Saudi electric issues sukuk and Polish exchange listing
Saudi sukuk: Allen & Overy, with affiliate Saudi firm Abdulaziz AlGasim, advised Saudi Electricity Company on issuing a SAR7bn (£1.3bn) sukuk. US firm Latham & Watkins, with Saudi firm Law Office of Mohammed Al-Sheikh, advised joint lead managers HSBC Saudi Arabia and Samba ...
-
News
The end of lawyers? Pah! This is the time of the 'super lawyer'.
In March, Alastair Moyes stated that 'law firms need to work hard in the face of commoditised legal providers'. Last month he bravely stuck his neck out and suggested that we, today's lawyers, need to embrace radical change...
-
News
Exclusive: QualitySolicitors launches high street network
Law firm marketing alliance QualitySolicitors has launched a national high street branch network in a bid to become the first ‘household name’ legal brand, the Gazette can exclusively reveal. Today sees the opening of the first 15 QualitySolicitors branches across the UK, in a strategy described as a ‘game changer’ ...
-
News
Moving towards a fairer system
We understand the reluctance of Simon Osborne (see [2010] Gazette, 13 May, 13), as somebody who does only pro bono work and does not hold client funds, to pay the full practising certificate fee.
-
News
The last farewell
As probate lawyers know only too well, there are an awful lot of folk out there who still haven’t got round to making a will (it is, of course, at the very top of Obiter’s to-do list, and has been for years). This means the estates of some disorganised types ...
-
News
Lawyer fears over Tories’ FSA U-turn
City lawyers have criticised an apparent U-turn by the Conservatives over their plans to scrap the Financial Services Authority (pictured) and hand its fraud-busting powers to a new agency. According to reports, the Conservative manifesto plan to scrap the FSA has been scuppered by the Liberal ...
-
News
Home information packs suspended
After a week in office, the new coalition government today announced that the requirement for home sellers to provide home information packs will be suspended pending primary legislation to abolish them entirely. The suspension of the controversial sellers packs will take effect from midnight on Friday ...
-
News
London legal walk
Led by lord chief justice Igor Judge and master of the rolls Lord Neuberger (pictured with Law Society president Robert Heslett), 4,500 lawyers, judges and students took part in the sixth London legal walk this week. Some £400,000 was raised for legal advice and pro bono agencies.
-
News
Music man
Rock star Andy Booth (pictured), who also happens to be head of company commercial and creative industries at Manchester firm Turner Parkinson, has just been appointed director of the company behind Manchester music venue Band on the Wall. Booth, a specialist music lawyer since 1994, acts for the likes of ...
-
News
Roll survivors
Some jobs are known to be high risk. Firefighting, for example, or mountain rescue. But did you know that being in the upper echelons of the judiciary can also put one’s life in jeopardy? Addressing an audience at Lincoln’s Inn recently, master of the rolls Lord Neuberger – who must ...
-
News
The four-year prison term that became a life sentence
The hanging’s-too-good-for-them school of thought on penal reform will probably be unsympathetic, but a recent case shines a spotlight on how inadequate medical care in prison can lead to jail sentences that never end.
-
News
Neuberger calls for curb on legislation
The master of the rolls has called for fewer and more carefully drafted laws to avoid handing too much power to the judiciary. Speaking at the annual conference of the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) last week, Lord Neuberger (pictured) said: ‘Poorly drafted legislation risks giving more ...
-
News
Ministry of Justice appoints City lawyer as minister
A former City solicitor has been appointed a junior minister in the Ministry of Justice’s new line-up. Jonathan Djanogly, a former partner at SJ Berwin, has become a parliamentary under secretary. The Conservative MP for Huntingdon was previously the shadow solicitor general and a shadow minister ...
-
News
Public funding for representation at inquests: equality of arms?
The charitable organisation INQUEST has criticised the current inquest system because ‘there is no equity of arms in terms of legal funding’...
-
News
Lawyers getting connected in the EU
The cliche brands of Facebook, Skype and Google tell us how we have become intimately interconnected, wherever we live on the planet. There will obviously be more of it in the future. One of the great, unsung advantages of the EU is that it is preparing us – not for ...
-
News
Referral fees do not harm consumers, LSB research shows
There is no evidence that referral fees have caused consumer detriment in either the conveyancing or personal injury market, according to an economic analysis commissioned by the Legal Services Board which was published today. However, there is concern that a focus on profitability causes some criminal ...
-
News
New ministers appointed to Ministry of Justice
The Liberal Democrat’s leader in the House of Lords has been appointed as a minister in the Ministry of Justice. Lord McNally, who is also the Lib Dem spokesman on constitutional affairs, has been appointed a middle-ranking minister. The 67-year-old peer is a former Labour MP ...