All News articles – Page 1764
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News
Law Society research shows women’s share of the profession growing
The number of women admitted to the profession grew five times faster than the rate for men in the 10 years to July 2008, new Law Society research reveals. The latest Trends in the Solicitors’ Profession study, carried out by Chancery Lane’s research unit, paints ...
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Navigating mental health law
A barrister friend sent me a copy of Jonathan Rayner’s moving and disturbing article on his family’s experience of the law and mental health (see [2009] Gazette, 5 March, 14).
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Lawyers on honours list
Michael Smyth, a partner at Clifford Chance, has been awarded a CBE for services to pro bono legal work in the Queen’s birthday honours list. A partner since 1990, Smyth is an author of Business and Human Rights Act (2000) and chairman of Public Concern at Work, the whistleblowing charity.
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Switzerland moves to protect in-house privilege
Switzerland could become the most attractive location for corporate general counsel in Europe if the country’s parliament accepts a government proposal to grant professional privilege to in-house lawyers. The Swiss Federal Council has published draft legislation that would grant in-house lawyers ‘professional secrecy’ concerning the ‘products ...
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Memory lane
Gazette, 16 June 1999 We are not the enemy, lawyers sayLegal aid solicitors last week called on the ...
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Show of separation
Social stigma around marital breakdown isn’t what it used to be. News has just reached Obiter of a new event in the social calendar, the Divorce Show. Launched to a fanfare of softly weeping violins, the show at the NEC is aimed at more than two million people in the ...
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SRA proposes recovering costs of investigations
Solicitors found guilty of breaking rules could be further hit in the pocket with the cost of investigations doubling under plans put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Changes could be implemented in two phases as the Solicitors Regulation Authority moves towards full cost ...
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Intellectual property
Brand names – Electronic commerce – Infringement – Trademarks (1) L’Oréal SA (2) Lancôme Parfums Et Beauté & Cie (3) Laboratoire Garnier & Cie (4) L’Oréal (UK) Ltd v Ebay International AG & nine ors: (Ch) Ch D ...
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Pro bono – not U2!
Every so often, someone comes up with the idea of coining a modern English phrase for the term pro bono. None of the suggested replacements has caught on – and doesn’t everyone understand pro bono anyway? Apparently not, Cherie Booth QC told the launch of nominations for the Law Society ...
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Accountancy body warns of clash over ABS regulation
Britain’s biggest accountancy body is expected to warn that the introduction of alternative business structures combining solicitors and chartered accountants could founder, because the codes of conduct of the two professions are incompatible. The 132,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will demand ...
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Acting the part
Chris Partington (pictured, right) loves a challenge. Over the past three years, the wills, trusts and probate lawyer at Sale firm Slater Heelis Collier Littler has climbed Kilimanjaro, tackled the National Three Peaks climb and has now cycled 100 miles coast to coast in a day – all in aid ...
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Local authorities face action over obstructing property searches
Private search companies are threatening to get tough with councils who block access to property search information or fail to comply with the government’s charging guidance. The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) said this week that it would take action against local authorities that ...
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Marketing activity needs to complement legal services
I had the privilege of studying under Dr Shiv Mathur, former marketing guru at Cass Business School (he retired in 1997).
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Law firms must adopt a mature attitude to age
During a recent speech to aspiring lawyers at the College of Law, Cherie Booth QC mentioned age and how ‘we’ have not got our heads around the issue.
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Defendant escapes confiscation because no advocate would take legal aid fee
A defendant has escaped confiscation proceedings because she was unable to find an advocate willing to accept the legal aid rate to represent her. The court’s decision, upheld in the Court of Appeal, will fuel an ongoing dispute over the levels of legal aid fees. ...
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Legal aid means testing to hit the Crown court in January
Defendants convicted in the Crown court will have to pay a contribution towards their legal expenses under government plans to redirect legal aid funds more appropriately. The announcement follows a consultation on the proposal to introduce means testing in the Crown court. Under the proposed scheme, ...
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Straw apologises for probation failings
The justice secretary has apologised to the families of the two murdered French students for the ‘serious failures across the criminal justice system’ that left one of the defendants free to kill when he should have been incarcerated. Dano Sonnex and Nigel farmer were found guilty ...
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Solicitors believe judicial appointments ‘not for me’, JAC research finds
Official research published today reveals a ‘widespread and underlying perception’ of ‘inherent prejudice’ in the judicial application process and suggests that solicitors still see the bench as a career for ‘other people’. The study, sponsored by the Judicial Appointments Commission, surveyed barristers and solicitors eligible for ...
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Assisted suicide – killing with kindness?
Is helping a terminally ill loved one die with dignity murder or compassion? Could assisted suicide open the floodgates to society ridding itself of elderly people, invalids and the disabled, because they are surplus to requirements?
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Is speedy hi-tech justice necessarily better justice?
Since 2006, ‘simple, speedy, summary’ justice has been the mantra of successive justice secretaries. It is at the heart of government reforms to ‘rebalance the criminal justice system and increase public confidence’. The latest method to achieve this is the virtual court, which enables (and will ...