All News articles – Page 1732

  • News

    Family law

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Children – Discretion – Residence orders Re R (a child ) sub nom CP v (1) AR (2) CR (a child by his guardian): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Wall, Wilson): 29 April 2009 ...

  • News

    Internet publication and freedom of expression

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    The long-standing principle of ‘publish and be damned’ is jealously guarded by the media. But when it comes to publications on the internet, a recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) shows that those who publish there may find themselves being damned for ever and a day.

  • News

    Solving sell-to-rent-back issues with proprietary estoppel

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    The doctrine of proprietary estoppel may help clients who sold their house in return for tenancy but have since been given notice to quit.

  • News

    Straw drops secret inquest plans

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Plans to hold secret inquests without juries have been dropped by the government, justice secretary Jack Straw told parliament today. Straw said in a written statement that the move to introduce non-jury inquests on national security issues did not garner enough support among the parties. Clauses ...

  • News

    Quick on the draw

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Obiter has received two more entries for the coveted title of ‘fastest lawyer in the land’.

  • News

    Doctor in profit

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Derek Peedell casts light on a substantial issue in the governance of the NHS (see [2009] Gazette, 7 May, 11). GPs are publicly funded to meet the entire cost of the provision of GP services to their NHS patients.

  • News

    Direct criticism

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    John Sirodcar makes reference to my review of certain CDS Direct files (see [2009] Gazette, 7 May, 11). He attributes a quote to me which is not in fact entirely correct.

  • News

    Criminal justice system ‘institutionally sexist’

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Women suffer widespread discrimination at all levels of the criminal justice system, including in the legal profession and judiciary, according to a report launched at the Law Society today by equality campaigners the Fawcett Society.

  • News

    Research shows mentally ill more likely to be victims of crime

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Adults with severe mental health problems are almost 25% more likely to be victims of crime than the general population, a report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice has revealed.

  • News

    QualitySolicitors demonstrate outside Royal Courts of Justice

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    QualitySolicitors.com, the legal marketing brand, marked its launch this week with a symbolic demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice against the prospect of supermarkets offering legal services – so called ‘Tesco law’. Participants shouted ‘Say no to Tesco law’ and handed out cans of ...

  • News

    Counting the costs

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    It is hard to know where to start with Lord Justice Jackson’s gargantuan preliminary report on civil litigation costs. If nothing else, it is as comprehensive a review of the current problems as one could hope to have.

  • News

    Council replaces legal post with head of corporate governance

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    A county council is replacing the role of head of legal and democratic services with a head of corporate governance as part of a series of measures to make £1.4m in efficiency savings. The move, by Northamptonshire County Council, is likely to attract widespread interest ...

  • News

    Hunt condemns unregulated legal services providers

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    The peer tasked by Chancery Lane with reviewing legal regulation has hit out at what he described as the ‘great unwashed’ – unregulated advisers who provide services that solicitors ‘are much better qualified to provide’. Lord Hunt of Wirral was speaking in Manchester ...

  • News

    Law Society warning over Registry’s early completion plan

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Land Registry plans to streamline the completion process will increase solicitors’ costs and make conveyancing less efficient, the Law Society has warned. The new ‘early completion’ practice applies where an application for a discharge of whole has been received along with other applications, but ...

  • News

    Jackson proposes Commercial Court cost reforms

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Costs rules for high-value complex commercial cases could be amended after the judge in charge of a wide-ranging review of civil litigation costs opened the door for reforms. Despite opposition from the Commercial Court Users Committee (CCUC), which is carrying out its own review of ...

  • News

    Collaborative regulation is required for the corporate sector

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Regulation in the City of London has hardly been out of the headlines for some months – most notably in relation to financial regulation, but also in relation to the legal sector. One of the SRA’s key tasks over the next few months is to ensure that we have the ...

  • News

    Closing the gap

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    I write in response to the comments made by Desmond Browne QC, the chairman of the Bar Council, about the impact of fees on black and minority ethnic (BME) and female lawyers (see [2009] Gazette, 30 April, 3).

  • News

    Radical reforms mooted in Jackson civil justice review

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    Radical reform of civil justice is on the agenda in the wake of Lord Justice Jackson’s preliminary report on costs. Greater use of fixed costs, an end to recoverability, a conditional legal aid fund (CLAF), a crackdown on referral fees and changes to the cost-shifting rule ...

  • News

    Chancery Lane steps in to help run migrant lawyer programmes

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society is to help law firms run internship and secondment programmes that were threatened by new immigration rules by launching a scheme for migrant lawyers under Tier 5 (T5) of the points-based system (PBS). As the overarching body for the scheme, the Society will ...

  • News

    SharePoint can provide firms with high-end tech for low-end cash

    2009-05-14T00:00:00Z

    There is a software company that owns solicitors’ desktops. It has the lion’s share of their company email too, and now it wants the rest of their IT business. Microsoft is a brand that needs little introduction, but it is making inroads into areas of law firm IT which were ...