All News articles – Page 1738
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News
New guidance issued on assisted suicide law
New guidance intended to clarify the law on assisted suicide does not provide any guarantee against prosecution, director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC warned today. The guidance sets out the legal boundaries for people who help somebody commit suicide. It follows a ruling in the ...
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Lawyers to stand trial on insider-dealing charges
Two former City lawyers charged with eight counts of insider dealing by the Financial Services Authority have been committed to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court. Andrew Rimmington, former partner at US firm Dorsey & Whitney, and Michael McFall, former partner at US firm McDermott Will ...
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SRA launches tender for new legal panel
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has invited law firms to tender for the provision of regulatory work. The regulator is seeking to appoint a panel for three years that will coordinate: dealing with court ...
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Should more cash be spent on ad campaign to help solicitors’ own brand?
When the Law Society ran an ad campaign last year, the reaction from the profession was pretty strong. While some supported it, the Gazette received a good number of letters questioning...
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Law Society publishes Excellence Awards shortlist
The Law Society published the shortlist for its legal Excellence Awards this week. Entrants range from David Wilde, the senior partner of a two-partner Devonshire firm who has been shortlisted for private practice solicitor of the year, through to the microfinance working group at magic circle ...
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Lawyers, the rule of law and trust
On a happy introductory note, I can record that lawyers gained a major victory this week at European level. Before submitting himself to a vote in the European Parliament to support his candidacy to be renominated as president of the European Commission (a vote he won), José Manuel Barroso conceded ...
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Keep your head, and your past clients
It's difficult to write a positive article when solicitors' firms are facing the reality of Professor Stephen Mayson's prediction from a couple of years ago, when he told the profession that thousands of firms faced extinction.
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Surge in online professional networking
Nearly a third of professionals have set up an online professional profile, research showed this week. A study of more than 2,000 professionals commissioned by business network LinkedIn showed that 29% now have an online business profile. More than one-fifth of those ...
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MoJ admits personal data breaches
Nearly 2,000 people have had personal information about themselves lost by the Ministry of Justice over the past year, in a series of incidents listed in the department’s accounts, published last week. The disclosure comes after the MoJ faced embarrassment last year when its IT supplier ...
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LSB cost deferral too late to affect PC fee
The Law Society is to offer the Legal Services Board early payment of the amount it must contribute towards the £19.9m setup costs of the board and the Office for Legal Complaints, in return for an early payment discount. The LSB announced last week that ...
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Firms shut down ahead of PII renewal
Law firms of various sizes have begun to close down ahead of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal deadline, with others contemplating closure to avoid paying spiralling PII premiums for the second year running, the Gazette has learned.
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APIL argues Lord Justice Jackson is putting the cart before the horse
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is not given to grandiose gestures, so its decision to walk out of the mediation on extending fixed costs throughout the fast-track is significant.
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APIL walks out of fixed-fee talks
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has walked out of talks on extending fixed costs in personal injury cases, in an unprecedented move for the organisation. The Civil Justice Council (CJC) has begun a mediation process to produce industry-agreed fixed costs for all ‘fast-track’ road ...
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Novel approach
The route to a career in law has changed a bit since Judith Shepherd, general counsel at Barclays Bank, global retail and commercial, went for her first job interview at a London law firm. ‘The whole interview process has been professionalised,’ she told the young audience at the Black Lawyers ...
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Aspiring judges are quizzed on race
Applicants for judicial office are facing aggressive questioning about their attitudes to race, an approach which has in some cases caused offence, the Gazette has learned. One white male barrister was asked if he was ‘racist’ as an opening question, while another was quizzed about why ...
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Barclays’ group GC Mark Harding discusses business, management and law
As group general counsel at Barclays, Mark Harding is a powerful man about the City. The drama of the last two years has left his company in a strong position: Barclays declined the government’s offers of direct financial assistance, while Royal Bank of Scotland accepted a 70% taxpayer stake and ...
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Whitehall needs to re-examine how best to use intercept evidence
Three young British Muslim would-be suicide bombers were sentenced to life imprisonment this week for plotting to blow up seven airliners over the Atlantic. Directing that they serve minimum terms of up to 40 years, Mr Justice Henriques called the plot the most ‘grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within ...
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Jewellery stores, chocolate bids and phone deals
Sparkling opening: City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse advised jeweller David Morris International on opening four stores in the United Arab Emirates. Life is sweet: Slaughter and May and US firm Shearman & ...
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Town halls call for monitoring officers with legal expertise
Local authorities are overwhelmingly in favour of requiring monitoring officers to be legally qualified, a recent consultation by Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) and the Law Society has revealed.
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Chancery Lane drive to promote high street solicitors
The Law Society is to launch a £250,000 advertising campaign to promote high street solicitors next week. The latest campaign, which takes a Beatles theme with the strapline ‘Help, I need somebody’, will be featured in the print media and on posters in more than 200 ...