All News articles – Page 1808
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News
Tour de France
Nadine Emsley cannot remember how or why she decided to cycle from London to Paris, but she’s sure it seemed a good idea at the time. Slogging from Calais to Abbeville (79.8 miles) in driving rain and a 14mph head wind, she began to have doubts. ‘I was averaging 8.1mph ...
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Criminal evidence
Anonymity - Intimidation of witnesses - Right to fair trial - Special measures R v Davis: HL (Lords Bingham of Cornhill, Rodger of Earlsferry, Carswell, Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Mance): 18 June 2008 The appellant (D) appealed against the Court of Appeal’s ...
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Whistle-blow code defence
A new code of practice on whistle-blowing could provide a defence for companies facing legal or regulatory penalties, one of its authors said this week. Guy Dehn, head of the charity Public Concern at Work, said that implementing the first British Standards code on arrangements ...
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City firms eye Malaysia market
City law firms are sizing up the Malaysian legal sector as a potential area for development, after the government there signalled its intention to lift curbs on foreign firms operating in the country. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Malaysia’s law minister, told reporters at a press conference last ...
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Chinese walls
The world’s fourth-largest economy is gradually liberalising its legal services market, but significant obstacles remain. ‘Not a single month goes by without some international firm planning to open up in Beijing, Hong Kong or even Shanghai,’ reflects Alastair Da Costa, DLA Piper’s managing director of ...
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CFAs under scrutiny
The government has commissioned a review of ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements, despite failing to publish the findings of its much-delayed consultation on the personal injury claims process – originally launched in April last year. The academic study, announced last week, will examine whether such arrangements ...
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Cause for complaint
Solicitors must not give up the right to deal with a client’s complaint without involving the regulator I have recently been involved (for the first time) in a complaint by a former client to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). The client did not complain to me ...
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What does ‘business services’ mean?
Council lawyers lacking practising certificates are not adequately protected by the new Code of Conduct Local government lawyers may find themselves liable to regulatory sanction and criminal conviction as a result of cutbacks, if their practising certificates are not renewed and they remain held out as ...
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Citi brokers law firm private equity talks
Citi, the world’s largest bank, has brokered meetings between the UK’s biggest private equity houses and major law firms in a bid to strike investment deals before the Legal Services Act is fully implemented, the Gazette has learned. Citi’s specialist legal group has sent its private ...
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Beyond our Ken
Ken Livingstone was on chipper form at the Tower of London last week, notwithstanding his recent ejection from City Hall. No – Boris Johnson is not planning to chop his predecessor’s head off. The former mayor was booked to speak at the Legal Leaders of London event, organised by outsourcing ...
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Getting better
Two recent announcements about the LCS have once again placed the spotlight on the effectiveness of the organisation. What has been revealed is not the failing picture that some would choose to paint but that of a confident organisation making impressive strides year on year, whose ...
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Local authority vires: procurement law
I am afraid that my social circle does not include many amoebae. However, this is undoubtedly my failing, since it appears that this remarkable one-cell life-form can not only change shape at will but can also split its cell to create a whole new amoeba. How clever is that?
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If in doubt, let’s have another review
What the profession craves more than anything is a prolonged period of certainty and stability The government’s decision last week to initiate an academic review of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements came totally out of the blue.
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'Angry' Anwar escapes jail
A Scottish solicitor has escaped a possible jail sentence after judges at Edinburgh’s High Court ruled that comments he made following a terror trial at Glasgow’s High Court were not in contempt of court. If prosecuted, it is believed Aamer Anwar would have been the first ...
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Aim higher
Looking back to the performance of the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in complaint-handling for the year ended 31 March 2008, I announced that, while complaints were not handled in accordance with the Law Society’s plan, I would not levy a penalty. In reaching this decision ...
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CJC makes class actions call
An opt-out class action procedure is needed to provide access to justice for consumers wanting to bring collective or multi-party claims, the government is to be told. The Gazette can reveal that, following an 18-month process of consultation and research which found ‘overwhelming evidence’ that meritorious ...
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Aussie class action drive
One of Australia’s leading class action law firms has joined forces with a top Australian litigation funder to mount on assault on the class action market in the UK and Europe, the Gazette can reveal. One of the most significant entries to the nascent third-party funding ...
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Client account reform
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has backed controversial proposals to allow non-solicitors in law firms to handle client money – despite opposition from members of a profession labelled ‘historically obsessed with status’, the Gazette has learned. The SRA board decided at last week’s meeting to recommend ...
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Net-surfing lawyers warned of compliance risk
Solicitors risk breaching conduct rules and could face insurance claims if they use non-specialist online sources for legal research, a leading QC solicitor has warned. Evidence has emerged that increasing numbers of solicitors, from trainees to senior partners, are putting clients and their own practices at ...
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Making amends
Restorative justice keeps people out of prison and saves money, but has struggled to become established in the face of a widespread misconception that it is a ‘soft option’. Last month the prison population of England and Wales reached an all-time high of over 82,000 ...