All News articles – Page 1765
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News
Home Office plans big cuts in forensic science service
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) could cut up to 800 jobs in a move to make it more competitive. The Home Office confirmed the company, which is owned by the government and analyses crime scene evidence for the police, has begun a consultation with its staff ...
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Tories say new bill of rights would be compatible with ECHR
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed claims by the Council of Europe that Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) could exclude the UK from the EU. Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis, a former Labour MP, said last month that he ...
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Whitehall department struggles to recruit BME solicitors
One of the biggest Whitehall departments is having a ‘depressing’ struggle recruiting black and minority ethnic lawyers, according to its legal chief. All 30 successful candidates in an anonymised recruitment exercise at the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department last year were white, ...
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Employment law: bonus culture and the court of public opinion
During the G20 demonstrations outside the Bank of England I received several texts from assorted City types. In each I was urged to join them on the roof terrace of the Coq d'Argent restaurant, where apparently one could watch the riot below while drinking half-decent champagne and even participate at ...
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Former justice minister cleared of code breach
Former justice minister Shahid Malik (pictured) has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code over a rental agreement. Malik stepped down last month while the prime minister’s independent adviser on the code, Sir Philip Mawer, examined the financial arrangements of a £100-a-week rent deal on a ...
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Busy time for Lord Hunt with new review
Lord Hunt of Wirral must be a workaholic. He is already leading the mammoth Law Society-commissioned review of legal regulation, but one review at a time is not enough, it seems. Yesterday, Hunt’s firm, Beachcroft, announced that their peer partner has kicked off a ‘strategic review of banking in Guernsey’.
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BVT ‘threatens criminal chambers as well as solicitors’ firms’
Criminal chambers as well as solicitors’ firms will go to the wall under best value tendering (BVT), practitioners have warned while calling for the profession to unite on the issue.
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Most students do not understand the reality of a legal career
by Beth Wanonowho is a trainee at Halliwells and a member (elect) of the Law Society Council. There is a difference between a crunch and a squeeze. My impression of the trainee market is that the situation is akin to 10,000 people trying to cram onto ...
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Forced-marriage case training for lawyers
Solicitors working on cases involving forced marriage and honour-based violence are to be offered specialist training and accreditation. Cris McCurley, a partner at Ben Hoare Bell solicitors in Newcastle and charity Karma Nirvana have been working with family law organisation Resolution to create an ...
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Clifford Chance to cut equity partners
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance will report a 5% fall in revenue and profits ‘significantly down’ on last year’s £1.33bn, according to the firm’s global managing partner David Childs. He said the firm will cut around 15% of its equity partners at the end of its ongoing staff restructuring. ...
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Chancery Lane defers decision on compensation fund levy
The Law Society’s Council today deferred a final decision on the level of this year’s compensation fund levy until its next monthly meeting in July. Society president Paul Marsh said this was to accommodate further discussion with the SRA on the matter. Papers for today’s meeting ...
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China clamps down on civil rights lawyers
The Beijing judicial authorities are blocking more than 20 of China’s most prominent civil rights lawyers from renewing their licences to practise, campaigning group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported. HRW says the lawyers have angered the authorities by acting in high-profile cases ...
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India’s fastest emerging cities targeted for investment
The UK government has drawn up a list of emerging Indian cities that it will target for British investment, opening the door for City lawyers to advise British businesses heading to these locations. A report by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), a government-sponsored trade organisation, ...
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Civil procedure
Legal profession – Complaints – Confidentiality – Publication (1) Michael Napier (2) Irwin Mitchell v Pressdram Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Hughes, Toulson, Sullivan): 19 May 2009 ...
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Mr Clean's mission
One upside of the MPs’ expenses saga gripping the nation is that lawyers should make a better showing in league tables of the country’s least trusted professional group. If you can’t be more palatable than politicians at times like this, then you may as well give up. ...
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Hot under the collar
After a half a decade studying sexism in the criminal justice system, those doughty campaigners at the Fawcett Society say they have found ‘clear examples of attempts to make female workers fit the male mould’. Quite literally, in the case of some police forces, which have been caught trying to ...
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Sole practitioners condemn SRA risk-assessment plans
Sole practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ and ‘totally intrusive’ plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to require commercially sensitive information to carry out risk assessments. SRA head of policy Bronwen Still told the annual general meeting of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) that firms ...
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Road works, IT contracts and property rights
Road works: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised 16 commercial banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 15 investment banks on a £6.2bn contract for the M25 motorway. Connect Plus, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Egis Projects and Atkins, will widen the M25 ...
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Law lords ruling on control orders ‘turning point’ on secret evidence
The House of Lords today ruled that three terror suspects have been denied a ‘fair’ trial because they have not been told about, or allowed to challenge, the secret intelligence evidence against them. The suspects, who cannot be named, have been subject to control orders for ...
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Defence solicitors shun pilots of virtual court
Pilots of a ‘virtual court’ enabling defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates by video link have been snubbed by solicitors. Of the 21 firms in Westminster that are eligible to take part in the first 12-month pilot, only 11 have agreed to ...