All News articles – Page 1764
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News
How the Mortgage Arrears Protocol affects mortgage proceedings
With mortgage repossessions increasing, the government is stepping in with advice to mortgage lenders. As sources of mortgage finance dry up, families can find themselves facing higher mortgage costs, as well as other budgetary pressures. Their predicament has been exacerbated by the tough attitude of ...
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Legal advice
Conditional fee agreements - Legal costs insurance - Solicitors’ powers Kier Tankard (appellant) v John Fredricks Plastics Ltd (respondent); (1) Fawcett Old Ltd (2) Michael Jane Hair & Beauty (appellants) v Yvonne Hibberd (respondent); Mark Jones (appellant) v Karl ...
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Legal advice
Breach of contract - Conditional fee arrangements - Costs - Retainers (1) Bray Walker Solicitors (a firm) (2) Bevans Bray Walkers Ltd (t/a Bevans) v Carlo Moise Silvera: QBD (Mr Justice Blake): 18 December 2008 ...
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Solicitors act against personal injury ‘capture’
A solicitor group fighting the insurance company practice of ‘capturing’ personal injury clients is to meet the Ministry of Justice next week.
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Law Society regains voluntary accreditation role
The Law Society has regained control of voluntary accreditation schemes from the Solicitors Regulation Authority after 96% of council members voted for them to be handed back to the Society. The vote affects schemes to accredit practitioners in a number of areas, including mental health, ...
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Looking for a wife
Spouse gone AWOL? Then ask a law librarian. That was the instinct of the solicitor who called the Law Society library to say his client wanted a divorce, but had no marriage certificate and could not remember the exact date of the marriage or precisely where it took place (‘somewhere ...
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Judicial obstacles
The recent research carried out by Professor Dame Hazel Genn and quoted in Joshua Rozenberg’s article [see [2009] Gazette, 15 January, 8] highlighted clearly the barriers that women solicitors can face when applying for a judicial appointment.
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Human rights
Sentencing – EC law – Foreign travel – Notification – Sex offenders R (on the application of F) v Secretary of State for Justice: R (on the application of Angus Aubrey Thompson) v Secretary of State for Justice: ...
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Local government
Planning – Human rights – Change of use – Mobile homes (1) Theo Langton (2) Ruth McGill v (1) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (2) West Dorset District Council: QBD (Admin) (Judge Gilbart QC): 7 ...
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Music store purchase, nightclub licence and football sponsorship
Indian club: City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse advised nightclub Chinawhite on a licensing agreement to open another club in the Lalit Hotel in New Delhi, India. It will be run and operated by Bharat Hotels, which was advised by its in-house team. ...
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Phone-recording rule will hit tiny number of firms
Only a tiny number of law firms will be affected by a requirement to record telephone instructions from March, an expert has advised. Ian Muirhead, managing director of Solicitors Independent Financial Advice, said the new rule is aimed at curbing insider dealing and will affect around ...
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Experience necessary
Though a sly old fox, Obiter has almost been out-foxed by Hertfordshire law firm Curwens. We requested details of long-serving legal secretaries and were startled to receive Curwens’ surely unbeatable record of 72 years. Closer scrutiny, however, revealed the firm was claiming the sum of Jenny Rogers’ 48 years and ...
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Novel experience
May I congratulate Neil Rose on an excellent article about combining a professional legal career with that of a novelist (see [2008] Gazette, 18 December, 8). I am not a solicitor, but have worked as administrator for LawCare for the past ten years, and also had my third novel published ...
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SRA to revisit equality strategy
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to ‘revisit’ its equality and diversity strategy after criticism from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The strategy was published this month following Lord Ouseley’s report on the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic solicitors facing disciplinary hearings. It ...
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Developing new skills may help lead to prosperity
As some firms struggle to survive, there is no better time than the present for lawyers to develop the extra skills they may need to prosper. From ‘cocktail party’ training to better writing skills to a three-year doctorate in legal practice – just what skills should ...
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Dying in a democracy
‘The Official Secrets Act is not there to protect secrets, it is there to protect officials!’, the archetypal mandarin Sir Humphrey Appleby told his ministerial dupe Jim Hacker in the timeless sitcom Yes Minister. One recalled Sir Humphrey’s cynicism upon the publication of the Coroners ...
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Practising fees for in-house lawyers could be cut
In-house lawyers could pay less for practising certificates once the Solicitors Regulation Authority decides how it will fund itself in the new era ushered in by the Legal Services Act. The Gazette has learned that the SRA is about to consult the entire profession ...
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Practice criminal law and earn the minimum wage
I was admitted to the roll on 1 September 2008. To be able to work in criminal law, I had to complete police station accreditation, which involved a portfolio of 27,000 words and travelling some 200 miles to take the critical incidents exam. If I want to become a ...
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Court out
Civil litigator Hilary Messer, this issue’s Lawyer In The News, told Obiter she has occasionally misunderstood a judge’s meaning. There was the time when, as a newly qualified solicitor, she got to court early and found herself killing time with the (female) judge. The latter whispered: ‘What are you wearing?’ ...
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Conveyancing specialists go into receivership
The Law Society has urged residential conveyancers not to panic following the collapse of two large Yorkshire firms. Leeds-based Fox Hayes, which employed 115 people, last week went into administration, joining Bradford-based property conveyancing and home information pack processing company Hammonds Support Services (HSS). ...