All News articles – Page 1678
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News
Conveyancing discrimination
I was unable recently to act on behalf of a client in a conveyancing transaction because my firm was already acting on behalf of her seller.
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It’s a fair cop guv
Prison law associate Mike Pemberton (pictured), of Manchester firm Stephensons, went above and beyond the call of duty to try to empathise with his clients last week. He got himself banged up for half a day in a Victorian cell at the Manchester Police Museum. The heinous crimes for which ...
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Nominations sought for Law Society Council
Elections for new Law Society Council members have now opened, with 17 seats up for grabs across 15 constituencies. The deadline for nominations is 6 May, and successful candidates take office on 15 July. The term of office is four years, and for the casual vacancy ...
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Law Society unveils new online resource with details of CPD courses
The Law Society has launched a new online resource with details of hundreds of CPD courses from leading suppliers, and a free CPD planning and recording tool. The new CPD Centre, which aims to be the portal of choice for all CPD requirements, takes solicitors through ...
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Criminal law
Affray – Bystanders – Threatening to kill – Public Order Act 1986 Carol Leeson v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Lord Justice Pill, Mr Justice Rafferty): 16 April 2010 The ...
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Time for solicitors to reinvent their customer services
In a rapidly changing market it can often help to look at other businesses and economies for an indication of how things might develop.
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Full disclosure required
Gillian Phillips is absolutely right in calling for claimant libel lawyers to disclose the outcomes of their CFA-funded cases (see [2010] Comment, 15 April, 10). CFAs and the accompanying high success fees genuinely have a ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of expression. As my firm represents the ...
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Should the SRA provide discounts on PC fees for part-time workers?
Diversity considerations have occupied a fair chunk of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s time in the last couple of years, and will clearly continue to do so. Certainly, the Association of Women Solicitors’ claim that the proposed flat-rate practising certificate fee for individuals potentially discriminates against ...
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Dispute resolution: reasonable settlement and third parties
Where a defendant settles a claim with the claimant and then seeks to recover his losses from a third party, the third party may attempt to challenge the settlement on the basis that it was unreasonable. What approach, therefore, would the courts take in assessing whether a settlement was reasonable?
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Will parliamentary privilege protect ex-MPs from prosecution over expenses?
In a month’s time, lawyers for three former Labour MPs will try to persuade Mr Justice Saunders that he has no jurisdiction to try them on charges of false accounting.
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Family law
Human rights – Local government decisions – Placement orders – Risk to children Re A (children) sub nom EH v (1) X London Borough Council (2) AA (3) Rea & Rha (by their guardian) [2010] EWCA Civ 344: ...
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Insult to injury
This year’s annual conference of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) was held at the decidedly swish Celtic Manor hotel in Cardiff. After witnessing a thoroughly satisfying day of insurer barracking, Obiter was honoured to attend the association’s gala dinner as a guest. Upon arriving in a bustling dining ...
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To tee or not to tee?
An unearthly hush fell over the 300-plus diners in the packed room. The chime and clink of glasses was stilled. Nobody laughed or heckled. It was what literary types like Obiter call a pregnant pause. The occasion was the black tie dinner at the annual weekend school for local government ...
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Could mediation be the answer to a hung parliament?
Proponents and practitioners of mediation often have an evangelical belief in its ability to bring about resolution to even the most intractable disputes.
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Legal Services Commission delays outcome of mental health tender
The Legal Services Commission has delayed the announcement of the outcome of the mental health tender. It said: ‘Following the election we will need to discuss the outcome of the tender process with any new ministers, and it is likely that notification to applicants will take ...
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Nationwide removes 300 firms from its conveyancing panel
Nationwide Group has shed around 300 firms from its conveyancing panel in what is understood to be a ‘risk-based review’. The Law Society has immediately entered into discussions with the lender. The group covers mortgages provided by Nationwide; the Mortgage Works; ...
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A five-year Action Plan for justice in the EU
The UK has been going through waves of Cleggmania, but has largely ignored the EU as it undergoes the process of how it will be governed for the next five years. Now the EU has published its own plans for the next five years in the justice sector.
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Jackson report: litigation processes and their impact on costs
Much has already been said about Lord Justice Jackson’s proposals for success fees, after-the-event insurance, costs shifting and the like, but much less, if anything, about litigation processes, and their impact on costs. Yet it is surely unarguable that a streamlining or simplification of the litigation process would result in ...
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Surge in new laws sparked by recession, research reveals
Some 98% of new laws introduced by the government in 2009 were brought in as statutory instruments without full parliamentary debate, research has revealed today. Data from legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell showed that the number of laws introduced by the government during the last ...