All News articles – Page 1777
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News
Tougher credit rules and anxious clients
‘Cash is king’, the practice management mantra for firms in the downturn, is sadly more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The collapse last month of Key Business Finance (KBF), the specialist solicitors’ lending arm of the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki, is a case in point.
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Richard Alderman to shake up the Serious Fraud Office
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is trying to shed its reputation as unwieldy, expensive and blundering. In doing so, it is about to undertake the difficult task of cutting the amount it spends on barristers and train staff to do the advocacy work instead. This ...
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Formal memorandums and production-sharing agreements
Law of the Land: City firm SJ Berwin advised British Land in establishing a formal memorandum of understanding with the Highways Agency. The memorandum establishes a framework for promoting sustainable development and regeneration. The Highways Agency was advised in-house.
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Potential based on ability alone is not ‘political correctness’
Barack Obama’s election marks a turning point far beyond America’s shores. It is not proof that the problems of equality and diversity are behind us, but it provides an impetus for us all to make renewed efforts for lasting change.
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Criminal law: Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons)
On 6 April this year, new legislation to control curved bladed swords came into force. Since that time there has been a great deal of confusion over the intended interpretation of the statute.
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FTSE 100 to have say in review
The UK’s biggest companies will take part in Lord Hunt of Wirral’s corporate liaison group, the members of which can now be revealed by the Gazette. In-house counsel at FTSE 100 companies will be represented by Peter Maynard, chair of the GC100 and company secretary at ...
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Proof in the pudding
Our collection of legal typos continues to grow – and some of them would make Russell Brand blush. In the more printable category, Edm und Coxhead of PCB Solicitors recalls being intrigued by the mention of an ‘enjoyment rug’ in a typed-up draft of a will. ...
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New tricks treat
From now on, Obiter wants to see more musicians on this page. Like the family departments of Cumbrian law firms Temple Heelis and Thomson Wilson Pattinson which, in the spirit of ‘give a little bit’, took the idea of collaborative law one step further by organising and funding a live ...
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International law
European Union – Legal Certainty – Orders in Council – UN resolutions - Vires (1) A (2) K (3) M (4) Q (5) G v HM Treasury: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice ...
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Mixed half-year results picture
Big UK firms have endured mixed fortunes so far this year, with the half-year revenue estimates released so far showing large variations in growth. At the top end of growth, City firm Trowers & Hamlins estimated fee income up 16% to £42m for the first half ...
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'Right to reject' goods at risk
Plans for a new European directive on consumer rights would place UK consumers in a weaker position, the Law Commission has warned. Commissioners said the Consumer Rights Directive could lead to the abolition of the ‘right to reject’ faulty goods for a refund within a reasonable ...
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Getting personal
‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,’ advised Sun Tzu, the Chinese general and military strategist. Manchester Law Society has clearly taken this message to heart. The latest issue of its journal, The Messenger (Harbinger, more like) includes an article from shy and retiring BBC ...
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Societies seek united front
The City of London Law Society and the Law Society have begun meeting formally to discuss potential areas of co-operation, the Gazette has learned. David McIntosh (pictured), City of London Law Society chairman, said the two societies were developing a ‘sensible liaison’ to present a ...
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Flying tonight
Crispy duck ovens are not all they are quacked up to be. Westminster City council, precipitating a crisis that threatened to banish the dish from eateries across Chinatown, had condemned the ovens for failing to meet European carbon monoxide emission standards.
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Fee-cap 'outrage'
Practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ government proposals to cap payments for acquitted defendants’ legal costs that would leave innocent people out of pocket. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week published a consultation on reform to the system of reimbursing the legal costs of people acquitted ...
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'Fragmentation' fears over regulation review
A review of solicitor regulation must not be allowed to fragment the profession, sole practitioners have warned. Hamish McNair, chairman of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG), said: ‘Sole practitioners and solicitors at magic circle firms may have very different clients, but it is important to ...
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Freedom of expression remains secure for internet users
The online community breathed a collective sigh of relief at the end of September. The European Telecoms Package was passed, but without a number of controversial amendments that would have threatened the right to freedom of expression for internet users – in particular, the amendments that looked set to enable ...
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Media: danger in the detail
We are all told to pay attention to detail at school and as lawyers it is paramount. Many a case has been won when a tiny, apparently trifling detail has been uncovered, often at the last minute. The late George Carman was a master of ...
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Standing out from the crowd
If a law firm launched a campaign that boasted ‘we will act in your best interests and provide you with good service’, it would seem a modest boast indeed.
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Criminal procedure
Armed forces – Anonymity – Court martial – Hearings in chambers (1) Times Newspapers Ltd (2) Guardian News & Media Ltd (3) soldier B (appellants) v (1) R (2) soldier A (3) soldier C (4) soldier D (5) soldier ...