All News articles – Page 1807
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News
Messing about in boats
Vintage-boat owner and conveyancing solicitor Chris Malley (inset) emailed Obiter to tell of his acting part in film director Richard Curtis’s latest feature – yes, he of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill fame – apparently titled The Boat that Rocked. Malley, 61-year-old partner at Weymouth firm Simon ...
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Top 100 cautious despite growth
Major firms are forecasting single-digit growth in fee income for the coming year, despite continued double-digit growth up to April, according to business advisory firm Deloitte. The top 100 achieved 12% growth in the quarter ended 30 April compared to the same period in 2007, Deloitte ...
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Saying sorry
Lawyers and pressure groups alike know an apology can avert legal actions against the medical profession. So why is it still so hard to apologise? Sorry seems to be the hardest word, and it would seem this hackneyed expression is never more accurate than when ...
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Sartorial scouser
Obiter likes a sharp dresser and there is nobody sharper than Frank Maher, partner at Liverpool law firm Legal Risk. Especially when he is wearing one of his trademark bespoke ties illustrated with images of the type of work his practice does. Maher ...
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Real property
Crown estate - Crown foreshore - Feudal tenure – Franchises - Incorporeal hereditaments - Manorial rights Crown Estate Commissioners v (1) Mark Andrew Tudor Roberts (2) Trelleck Estate Ltd: ChD (Mr Justice Lewison): 13 June 2008 The claimant Crown Estate Commission ...
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Preparing for partnership
I read with sympathy Tony Guise’s plea for more support for those about to enter into partnership (see [2008] Gazette, 26 June, 11). This is a crucial time, when lawyers are making the leap from fee-earning employees to employers with wide management responsibilities. Some of us ...
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Life on the ocean wave
Plymouth solicitor Charles Patterson (see picture, far left) has experience of both sides of shipping law, both as an associate at shipping specialist Davies Johnson & Co, and also as a pirate. The 36-year-old salt responded to our call for lawyers with screen-legend stories to tell with some stirring tales ...
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Year in the life
My time as President of the Law Society has been both memorable and rewarding What a year to be President of the Law Society. From the passage of the Legal Services Act to the legal aid settlement, it has been a pivotal 12 months. Here are ...
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Right to privacy versus the public’s right to know
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) continues to surprise and baffle public sector information managers and lawyers. Every month there are an average of 20 decisions made by the information commissioner and eight by the Information Tribunal.
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Human rights
Family law – Adoption – Discrimination – Eligibility - Unmarried couples In Re P & Ors: HL (NI) (Lords Hoffmann, Hope of Craighead, Walker of Gestingthorpe, Mance, Baroness Hale of Richmond): 18 June 2008 The appellants (P and F), an unmarried ...
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Watchdog may hear grievances
Citizens with grievances against public bodies will have easier access to ombudsmen under reforms to the laws governing redress proposed by the Law Commission this week. If adopted, the proposals would allow citizens to approach the Parliamentary Ombudsman on their own account instead of via ...
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French renaissance
In the first of a new regular wine column, Will Lyons explains why France is back in vogue The reputation of France as a wine-producing country is riddled in paradox. On the one hand the position of its triumvirate of fine wine regions, Bordeaux, Burgundy and ...
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JAC targets top firms for recruits
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is targeting major law firms in its campaign to persuade more solicitors to become judges, a senior commissioner said this week. Frances Kirkham, JAC commissioner in charge of the current selection exercise for recorders, said that firms, as well as ...
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Scottish firm promotes four to partnership
PRIVATE PRACTICE Partners Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens promotes four to partnership - two in the London ...
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Solicitors are doing their duty
I’m pleased to inform Philip Miles that from 14 July the number of duty solicitors working on our schemes will actually rise from 6,161 to 6,206 – an increase of 45 nationally (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 11). Some new solicitors clearly wish to join the profession.
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Doom and gloom
Having just read my Gazette (26 June) I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. I read that our insurance is going to go up by 25% (if we can get insurance at all); we have to raise our professional standards but reduce our fee expectations; we have to ...
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PI reform delay leaves solicitors ‘in limbo’
Defendant and claimant lawyers have condemned the government’s delay in publishing its plans to reform the personal injury claims process, saying it leaves them and clients ‘in limbo’. Recommendations which were due to be implemented by early 2008, according to Lord Falconer, the then Lord Chancellor, ...