All News articles – Page 1754

  • News

    There is no problem with costs in publication proceedings

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    I am beginning to know how Alice in Wonderland felt during her trial as she argued with the Queen who was demanding ‘sentence first – verdict afterwards’.

  • News

    The Coroner

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    M R HallMacmillan, £10 The heroine of M R Hall’s debut novel is not your average coroner. Jenny Cooper is a freshly divorced mother and her nervous breakdown, therapy and ...

  • News

    In-house lawyers urged to contribute to litigation study

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The judge conducting a review of the costs of litigation has called on in-house lawyers to respond, to rectify a ‘dearth’ of evidence from those who pay for the costs of litigation. Lord Justice Jackson, who will present his preliminary report on the costs of ...

  • News

    Occupational hazards: the competing rights of spouses and creditors

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Over recent years a tussle has been going on between the competing rights of spouses and creditors and the inter-relationship of the Insolvency Act 1986, the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) and the ancillary relief regime.

  • News

    CPS urged to change its culture on complaints

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The Crown Prosecution Service needs to become less defensive about complaints from the public, according to the chief inspector of HM CPS Inspectorate (HMCPSI) in his first review of the process.

  • News

    Striding out for cash

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Obiter was tantalised by the arrival of a message entitled ‘solicitor does a runner’. The email contained a link to the news that Geoff Gafford, from Chipping Norton firm Dyakowski Gafford, is legging it up north. Not with the contents of the firm’s ...

  • News

    Litigation funder seeks new cash injection

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The only UK-listed third-party litigation funder is raising a further £35m which it said it needs as the market ‘heats up’. Juridica Investments, based in Guernsey, raised £80m when it launched on the Alternative Investment Market in December 2007, but said it now requires more capital, ...

  • News

    Law Society unveils client care helpline package

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner yesterday unveiled a package of client care measures to help solicitors, including a £100,000 ‘best practice’ consultancy service and a dedicated helpline. Society chief executive Des Hudson described the initiative as an important step toward helping practitioners deal ...

  • News

    Sports partnerships, footwear deals and pro bono cases

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Sporting partners: City firm Taylor Wessing advised ­Kentaro, a sports rights agency, on partnering with Jerome Anderson’s Sport, Entertainment and Media (SEM) Group, whose clients include Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand ­(pictured) and Barcelona ­forward and ­former ­Arsenal striker Thierry Henry. ...

  • News

    New recruits who defer start dates urged to work pro bono

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Law firm recruits who choose to defer their start date are being urged to sign up to pro-bono work to avoid gaps in their CVs. As City firms such as Norton Rose and Penningtons offer graduates £10,000 to take a year out, the Law Society is ...

  • News

    HMRC publishes tax law rewrite bills

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Two draft bills aimed at cleaning up UK corporation tax and international tax legislation have been published by HM Revenue & Customs. The bills, drafted by the Tax Law Rewrite project, form part of a scheme begun in 1996 to rewrite the majority of direct tax ...

  • News

    Is being mentally ill tantamount to a criminal offence in Britain?

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Gazette reporter Jonathan Rayner writes about the journey his son and he have taken through an increasingly dysfunctional system. My son is out of prison now. Patrick (not his real name) has a mental illness, which seems to be ...

  • News

    Six bid to become Society’s deputy vice-president

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Six Law Society Council members have put themselves forward to be deputy vice-president at Chancery Lane in 2009/10, a post which leads to the presidency two years later. Nominations have now closed and the successful candidate will be announced on 16 April.

  • News

    UK solicitors bear extra money-laundering burden, Hudson tells Parliament

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society’s chief executive, Des Hudson, has told a parliamentary committee that solicitors in the UK bear a heavier burden of compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. In the first oral session before a House of Lords European ...

  • News

    Prison – Five hundred years of life behind bars

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Edward Marston The National Archives, £18 From the building of the Tower of London in 1068 to the last executions in 1964, Edward Marston’s Prison is a compelling historical tour of punishment in Britain ...

  • News

    Unpublished research confirms bar earnings divide

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Widely held suspicions that white male barristers earn far more than their female and ethnic-minority colleagues have been confirmed by unpublished research commissioned by the Bar Council.

  • News

    Firms increase their provisions for bad debt

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Some top London corporate firms are expecting to double the percentage of outstanding legal fees they classify as unrecoverable, the Gazette has learned. Data gathered from top firms’ latest accounts and industry sources suggested that firms are upping their write-off estimates to as much ...

  • News

    The Associate

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    John GrishamCentury, £18.99 A core element of John Grisham’s work is the black-and-white presentation of good and evil – this is what makes his books so successful and also perhaps disappointing. ...

  • News

    Pro bono services ask City firms to keep up support

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Some of the UK’s biggest pro bono advice services have called on recession-hit City firms to continue supplying their lawyers for voluntary work amid escalating demand. Citizens Advice, the Law Centres Federation and LawWorks told the Gazette this week that they are concerned about City job ...

  • News

    Four solicitors among six honorary QCs

    2009-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Four solicitors are among the six honorary Queen’s Counsel appointed today (5 March). David McIntosh (pictured), a past President of the Law Society and chairman of the City of London Law Society, was appointed in recognition of his contribution to the legal profession, ...