All News articles – Page 1745
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News
Open and shut case?
Of the 150-odd people who packed out Chancery Lane’s reading room last week to discuss plans to admit journalists into family courts, we reckon that about 149 considered it a bad idea.
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Uncovering the potential of Brazil’s wine industry
Snaking our way upwards, through the lush, bucolic vegetation that hugs the rolling hills surrounding the coastal city of Port Alegre, it is hard to imagine that there is any sort of wine industry, let alone vineyard, in this thick sub-tropical landscape.
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Personal injury lawyers blame NHS for rise in clinical negligence costs
Clinical negligence lawyers billing the NHS £130m a year have rejected a claim that their fees are ‘indefensibly expensive’ by blaming rising costs on the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) and its panel solicitors. The NHSLA, in its submission to Lord Justice Jackson’s review of ...
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Draft bill would create two new bribery offences
Practitioners have welcomed government proposals to reform ‘antiquated’ bribery laws to create a framework of two general offences of giving and accepting bribes. Justice secretary Jack Straw last week published a draft bribery bill, modelled on recommendations made in the Law Commission’s November 2008 Report, Reforming ...
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Big four mortgage lenders reassure conveyancing panel firms
Four of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders have reassured solicitors that they have no plans to cut firms from residential conveyancing panels. Last week, Abbey cut the number of law firm offices on its panel from 12,000 to 6,050, provoking dismay from those affected. Halifax, Nationwide, ...
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Practitioners condemn best value tendering for police station work
Practitioner groups have condemned the government’s ‘reckless’ and ‘cavalier’ decision to go ahead with the introduction of best value tendering (BVT) for criminal legal aid work. The Legal Services Commission last week announced that the scheme, under which firms bid for work at police stations, will ...
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Slaughter and May becomes latest magic circle firm to freeze pay
Slaughter and May has become the fourth member of the magic circle to freeze pay for all staff. The firm’s announcement today (2 April) comes three days after Clifford Chance announced it will freeze pay. Fellow magic circle firms Allen & Overy and Freshfields announced pay freezes earlier this year. ...
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Local government solicitors urged to become less cautious
Local authority lawyers should lose their ‘cautious’ reputation, according to the new chair of Solicitors in Local Government (SLG). Guy Goodman told the SLG’s annual general meeting in Warwick last week that the profession faces a battery of immediate challenges, including changes to the code ...
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Back the right horse
Although not normally a betting man, Obiter is tempted to put a monkey on trainee solicitor Simon Latchford’s first ride at Aintree on Saturday. Latchford, 29, has won the right to compete in the John Smith’s People’s Race on Grand National Day (see [2009] Gazette, 5 February, 31). The trainee ...
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First legal executive appointed partner
The Institute of Legal Executives announced that for the first time a legal executive has been appointed a partner in a legal disciplinary partnership. Nick Hanning (pictured), a legal executive with Poole law firm RWPS, took up his new status on 31 March, when LDPs came ...
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Child care application charges under parliamentary fire
Pressure is mounting on the government to abolish fees for child care application proceedings following two parliamentary interventions. Lord Laming (pictured), who investigated the deaths of Victoria Climbié and Baby P, told MPs last week that he sees no need for fees. Meanwhile Sir ...
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Straw announces date and details of family court openings
Family court hearings in county courts and the High Court will be opened to the media from Monday 27 April, subject to parliamentary approval, justice secretary Jack Straw announced today. Media representatives who wish to attend family courts will need to be holders of the UK ...
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Family barristers attack legal aid fixed-fee scheme
Family barristers have attacked plans for the payment of fixed advocacy fees in legal aid cases from 2010. The Family Law Bar Association (FLBA), which represents 2,300 barristers, alleges that the proposals take a ‘breathtaking risk with the most vulnerable in society, namely families and children at risk of serious ...
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Age old problem
The debate concerning age discrimination is set to continue. Might I suggest that newly qualified solicitors who are of mature years stop whingeing and show prospective employers how they can increase profit margins.
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Adopting the terminology of big business demeans our profession
While other professions and enterprises are adopting terminology designed to elevate those who use their services, why is it that we are docilely using terms which demean our clients, our profession and the services we provide?
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Jurisdiction of adjudicators
Kompetenz-Kompetenz for adjudicators? The effect of Air Design v Deerglen Air Design allows an adjudicator much wider scope in determining the issues referred to him, even those relevant to questions of jurisdiction. The growth of ...
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Worldwide deals, acquisitions and power stations
Warsaw bonds: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised the city of Warsaw (pictured) on a €1.3bn (£1.2bn) debt issuance programme, which will allow the city to issue bonds for the first time since the Second World War. ...
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Access to justice
‘You in the legal profession by any chance chief? I had that John Mortimer in the back of my cab once – lovely fella, he was. Didn’t half talk a lot, mind. Now then, the Law Society. Is it OK if I drop you at the corner, or do you ...
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Access to civil justice is failing, says Association of District Judges president
Access to justice in the civil courts is worse than it was a decade ago and is set to decline further, according to the new president of the Association of District Judges. David Oldham, who took over last week from Edwina Millward, said that repeated ...
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Outrageous Abbey
I write in connection with your story last week, ‘Abbey strikes thousands from conveyancing panel’ (see [2009] Gazette, 26 March, 1). Abbey’s action is outrageous.