All News articles – Page 1793
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News
UK solicitors bear extra money-laundering burden, Hudson tells Parliament
The Law Society’s chief executive, Des Hudson, has told a parliamentary committee that solicitors in the UK bear a heavier burden of compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. In the first oral session before a House of Lords European ...
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Six bid to become Society’s deputy vice-president
Six Law Society Council members have put themselves forward to be deputy vice-president at Chancery Lane in 2009/10, a post which leads to the presidency two years later. Nominations have now closed and the successful candidate will be announced on 16 April.
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Is being mentally ill tantamount to a criminal offence in Britain?
Gazette reporter Jonathan Rayner writes about the journey his son and he have taken through an increasingly dysfunctional system. My son is out of prison now. Patrick (not his real name) has a mental illness, which seems to be ...
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HMRC publishes tax law rewrite bills
Two draft bills aimed at cleaning up UK corporation tax and international tax legislation have been published by HM Revenue & Customs. The bills, drafted by the Tax Law Rewrite project, form part of a scheme begun in 1996 to rewrite the majority of direct tax ...
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Sports partnerships, footwear deals and pro bono cases
Sporting partners: City firm Taylor Wessing advised Kentaro, a sports rights agency, on partnering with Jerome Anderson’s Sport, Entertainment and Media (SEM) Group, whose clients include Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand (pictured) and Barcelona forward and former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry. ...
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New recruits who defer start dates urged to work pro bono
Law firm recruits who choose to defer their start date are being urged to sign up to pro-bono work to avoid gaps in their CVs. As City firms such as Norton Rose and Penningtons offer graduates £10,000 to take a year out, the Law Society is ...
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Law Society unveils client care helpline package
The Law Society and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner yesterday unveiled a package of client care measures to help solicitors, including a £100,000 ‘best practice’ consultancy service and a dedicated helpline. Society chief executive Des Hudson described the initiative as an important step toward helping practitioners deal ...
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Striding out for cash
Obiter was tantalised by the arrival of a message entitled ‘solicitor does a runner’. The email contained a link to the news that Geoff Gafford, from Chipping Norton firm Dyakowski Gafford, is legging it up north. Not with the contents of the firm’s ...
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Litigation funder seeks new cash injection
The only UK-listed third-party litigation funder is raising a further £35m which it said it needs as the market ‘heats up’. Juridica Investments, based in Guernsey, raised £80m when it launched on the Alternative Investment Market in December 2007, but said it now requires more capital, ...
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CPS urged to change its culture on complaints
The Crown Prosecution Service needs to become less defensive about complaints from the public, according to the chief inspector of HM CPS Inspectorate (HMCPSI) in his first review of the process.
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Occupational hazards: the competing rights of spouses and creditors
Over recent years a tussle has been going on between the competing rights of spouses and creditors and the inter-relationship of the Insolvency Act 1986, the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) and the ancillary relief regime.
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In-house lawyers urged to contribute to litigation study
The judge conducting a review of the costs of litigation has called on in-house lawyers to respond, to rectify a ‘dearth’ of evidence from those who pay for the costs of litigation. Lord Justice Jackson, who will present his preliminary report on the costs of ...
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The Coroner
M R HallMacmillan, £10 The heroine of M R Hall’s debut novel is not your average coroner. Jenny Cooper is a freshly divorced mother and her nervous breakdown, therapy and ...
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There is no problem with costs in publication proceedings
I am beginning to know how Alice in Wonderland felt during her trial as she argued with the Queen who was demanding ‘sentence first – verdict afterwards’.
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A round-up of recent events in probate
The statutory legacy payable on intestacy to surviving spouses and civil partners rose as of 1 February 2009 to £250,000 where there are children and £450,000 where there are no children but parents or siblings.
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Financial regulation
Legal profession – Partnerships – Conduct of business – Financial promotion Financial Services Authority v Fox Hayes (a firm): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Longmore, Wilson, Lawrence Collins): 17 February 2009 ...
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Firm urges US to follow regulatory reforms
US-based international law firms face a future as subsidiaries to English firms unless the US adopts English-style regulatory reforms, according to the chief executive of a firm operating in 46 US states. Michael Skoler, of The Law Offices of James Sokolove Law, said that the US’s ...
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Free legal web project seeks funding
A scheme to create a comprehensive online guide to English law is looking for £50,000 to fund its first phase. The Free Legal Web, the brainchild of legal publishing consultant Nick Holmes, has already won a government-sponsored prize for innovative uses of official information.
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Office of the Public Guardian highlights positives
I am disappointed to see that the Gazette continues to highlight criticism of efforts made by my office to improve services to customers. I think it’s wrong for the Gazette to portray the views of a vocal minority as the general (and current) position. It is true that there ...
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How’s that?
The West Indies have been racking up huge batting totals in the Caribbean this winter (Ramnaresh Sarwan, 291, Barbados, springs to mind). These gritty performances have in turn caused great anguish for the English bowling attack. Unfortunately, Obiter has to predict that the pained expressions of Andrew Strauss & Co ...