All News articles – Page 1721
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News
Family law
Care proceedings – Findings of fact – Non-accidental injury – Standard of proof Re D (Children) sub nom NH v (1) A County Council (2) NH (3) RD & SD: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Thorpe, Wall, Elias): ...
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Income rises but profits fall at Field Fisher Waterhouse
City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse today reported an 8% increase in revenues, but predicted that profits would be down on last year. The firm’s turnover increased from £88m in 2007/08 to £95m for the year ended 30 April 2009. The firm did not release a figure ...
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Event to remember Henry Hodge
An event to celebrate the life of Sir Henry Hodge is to be held next week. Sir Henry, who was one of the first solicitors to become a High Court judge, died this month. The event will take place at 4pm on ...
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Scourge of the establishment
Obiter enjoys needling the establishment – it’s part of the journalist’s job. But he’s never attained the heights of iconoclasm achieved by Heather Brooke, who 12 months ago wrote a piece about her High Court freedom of information (FoI) victory ...
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Private equity firms target legal sector
Private equity firms are in ‘advanced negotiations’ over taking short-term stakes in leading law firms once they are allowed to do so, according to the peer in charge of reviewing legal regulation on behalf of the Law Society. ‘The figures they are talking about are astronomical,’ said Lord Hunt of ...
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Online database identifies serial employment tribunal litigants
Serial litigants whose employment tribunal claims are costing employers and taxpayers millions of pounds in defence costs and court time are to be targeted through a new database. Solicitor Gordon Turner of Partners Employment Lawyers and barrister Damian McCarthy of Cloisters chambers have set up ...
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Information technology: data retention regulations
The contentious Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 came into force on 6 April, in the face of opposition from privacy campaigners and serious questions from lawyers. Billed as a vital tool in the fight against terrorism and other crime, the regulations stand accused of being yet another snoopers’ charter.
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Criminal evidence
Admissibility – Hearsay evidence - Witnesses – Need for evidence to show reasonable steps taken R v T(D): CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Thomas, Mr Justice King, Judge Moss QC): 4 June 2009 ...
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European corporate counsel told that the recession provides a ‘golden opportunity’
With impeccable timing, the European chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) convened in Switzerland for its annual conference on 8 June. A few weeks earlier, the Swiss government had released draft legislation that could give corporate in-house counsel in Switzerland a right to professional privilege that does not ...
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Civil procedure
Costs orders – Hourly fees – Lawfulness of reduced rate for travel and waiting time R (on the application of Schwartz) v Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court: QBD (Admin) (Lord Justice Sullivan, Mr Justice Wilkie): 3 June 2009 ...
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Some court costs to rise in civil fee reform
Changes to 30 types of civil court fee will come into effect on 13 July. The Ministry of Justice said the changes are aimed at targeting taxpayers’ money more effectively while helping those in financial difficulty. Several fees will rise. For example, the fee for sending a bailiff to collect ...
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Charles Plant named as SRA’s next chair
Charles Plant has been appointed chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board. The Herbert Smith consultant will take up his post on 1 January 2010, taking over from Peter Williamson. The appointment was made by a panel of five, chaired by Elizabeth Filkin, the former parliamentary commissioner for standards. ...
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Open the cage
Last week’s front page: ‘Solicitors face road traffic fees cut’, ‘Final nail in the coffin of legal aid firms’, ‘Compensation fund levy could hit £875 in 2010’ (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 1). Open the cage and let me in! ...
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Law Society plans new branding campaign
The Law Society is building upon last year’s £450,000 advertising and public relations programme with a new campaign to promote the brand of solicitor to the public. Last year’s campaign, which ran from early May to late June 2008, carried the strapline ‘Your solicitor, qualified ...
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Bower power
Bruce Bower is the latest reader to join the select club of lawyers who have journeyed from Land’s End to John O’Groats by muscle power. Bower, a private client solicitor at Everys Solicitors in Devon, averaged 137 miles a day during the 956-mile journey and ...
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ECJ trademark ruling deals blow to ‘lookalike’ products
The European Court of Justice has extended protection for trademarks in the EU in a judgment in L’Oréal v Bellure today. The claimants, cosmetics manufacturers L’Oréal, Lancôme, and Laboratoire Garnier, accused the defendants, Bellure, Malaika Investments and Starion International, of ...
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Birmingham courts pilot Jackson review’s cost management model
Judges in two of Birmingham’s business courts have begun trialling Lord Justice Jackson’s concept of ‘costs management’. The pilot in the Mercantile and Technology and Construction Courts aims to test whether judges can actively control costs throughout a case. In his ...
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Does the Coroners and Justice Bill go far enough - and is there enough money
In Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, the coroner’s court is in the back room of a pub, the Sol’s Arms (geddit?). The coroner is drunk and the inquest is held – and a verdict dispensed – while a game of skittles rattles in the background. Of course, this is Dickens at ...
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Best use of taxpayers’ money
In the piece, ‘Criminal legal aid is under threat like never before’ (see [2009] Gazette, 4 June, 17-20), Paul Marsh expressed concerns about best value tendering (BVT), which are important to address.
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Tories will halt roll out of best value tendering, says Grieve
A Conservative government would suspend the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) to enable a proper evaluation of the controversial new scheme, the shadow justice secretary announced last week. Dominic Grieve QC said that pilots due to begin in Greater Manchester and Avon and ...