All News articles – Page 1778
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News
Criminal law
Life imprisonment – Minimum term – Mitigation – Murder – Sentencing guidelines R v (1) John Height (2) Malcolm Anderson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice, Lords Justice Thomas, Leveson, Mr Justice Owen, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke): 29 October ...
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Making regulation credible
You may have read in the press that the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have had what might be called a ‘full and frank’ exchange of views. The trigger was the way in which the Law Society had established Lord Hunt’s review into the future of regulation.
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Courting the regions
Claimants will no longer be forced to come to London to have administrative cases heard, under plans to improve access to justice due to be announced by the Ministry of Justice. The Gazette has learned that four regional centres of the Administrative Court are to open ...
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Court fidelity
It was disappointing to read Roger Smith’s rather unforgiving assessment of the recent performance of the US Supreme Court (see [2008] Gazette, 23 October, 10). Mr Smith singled out the court’s decision in Boumediene v Bush as an example of the court’s ‘illiberalism’, yet this was ...
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Tumultuous period for costs draftsmen continues
An imminent root and branch review of the costs system and an overhaul of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements, with Justice Secretary Jack Straw threatening to cap success fees, could change the landscape for costs draftsmen. Sir Rupert Jackson, recently promoted to the Court of Appeal, ...
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Civil Procedure Rules changes, part two
The most important forthcoming change to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) is the new part 6 on service (see [2008] Gazette, 18 September, 25]. This article considers other reforms.
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Medical care 'lottery' for detainees
A top forensic physician has criticised the quality of medico-legal help available to some police station detainees, backing lawyers’ claims that cost-cutting in medical care could block access to justice.
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Child care cost case fails
Councils have failed in their attempt to challenge increases in court fees for child care and placement applications. High Court judges last week dismissed a claim brought by four local authorities that the policy of ‘full cost recovery’ in family proceedings was unlawfully introduced. Since ...
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Identity cards and protecting information
I was surprised to hear a former colleague mentioned on Radio 4’s News Quiz last week. Harvey Mattinson – now with GCHQ – suggested that it was ‘absolute bunkum’ for politicians to claim that ID cards would help thwart terrorism.
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Let 'em eat cake
Talk about having your cake and eating it. Walsall solicitors Enoch Evans is looking for sponsorship for the forthcoming local half-marathon. But hey, who can motivate themselves to slog through all those miles of training on wet November evenings unless there is a tangible benefit ...
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Building Society mergers, offshore farms and property development
Big build: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is advising Skipton Building Society on its proposed merger with Scarborough Building Society, which, if completed, would create a society with 860,000 members and more than £16bn in assets. Completion is expected in early 2009. ...
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Jersey offers British lawyers a choice opportunity
For a couple of weeks a year, a select few British lawyers become the envy of their peers. Instead of struggling down the Strand to argue cases before unsympathetic judges, they sit as judges themselves – indeed, as no less than a court of appeal. ...
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New procedure for recovery of costs in pro bono cases
Pro bono came of age on 1 October. That was the day when section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into effect. Section 194 confers legislative recognition of pro bono legal services and enables a valuable new source of financial support for organisations ...
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Pro bono lesson
Attorney General Baroness Scotland launched the seventh national pro bono week with a mock trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, led by the National Centre for Citizenship & the Law. BPP Law School students debated knife and gun crime with a jury of young people from the Behaviour Support ...
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Blow for third-party funding
A leading Australian litigation funder has pulled out of its European joint venture less than six months after it set up, the Gazette can reveal. In a blow to the nascent third-party funding market, IMF has withdrawn from Claims Funding International (CFI), which it formally launched ...
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Review: The Barristers
The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...
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HMRC warned over barristers
HM Revenue & Customs prosecutors have relied too heavily on too small a pool of barristers to fight cases, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts said this week. According to its report on the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO), one set of chambers, ...
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KBF back in business soon?
Troubled legal lender Key Business Finance (KBF) could be back in business within weeks – but money already paid to KBF would remain in the hands of its administrators. Gazette sources said KBF’s management team is looking to buy ...
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New assault on third-party capture
Solicitors are joining forces to attack the practice of insurance companies ‘capturing’ personal injury clients. The move reflects continuing concern that some insurance companies are pressurising claimants into instructing companies’ panel solicitors, rather than their independent solicitor, and to accept reduced compensation.
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Anglo-Welsh
I am sure I was not alone in reading your focus on Wales with a mixture of interest and frustration (see [2008] Gazette, 23 October, 12). The thriving legal community in Chester was barely mentioned.