All News articles – Page 1813
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News
Vulnerable face discrimination
Vulnerable offenders suffer ‘systemic and routine discrimination’ at the hands of the police, court and prison services, according to a damning report.
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Fears over UKBA immigration shake-up
Concerns are mounting in the legal profession over new immigration rules described by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) as the biggest shake-up of border security in 45 years. Tiers 2 and 5 of the points-based system, which go live today, require 20,000 employers to have ...
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In-house lawyers, the Gazette needs you
Take part in our survey of what in-house lawyers are thinking, and doing, about outsourcing work offshore. To follow this week's feature on outsourcing and offshoring legal work (see Features section), the Gazette needs your input to a survey on what businesses are doing in terms ...
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Human rights
Defamation – Education – Local government – Privacy – School exclusions H v Tomlinson: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Sedley, Longmore): 13 November 2008 The appellant head teacher ...
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Immigration law
Entry clearances – Public order offences – Reasons – Snoop dog Cordozar Broadus (USA) v Entry Clearance Officer: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Laws, Carnwath, Richards): 13 November 2008 The ...
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Insurance rethink
Staggered renewal dates for professional indemnity insurance (PII) and a return to the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) are being considered by the Law Society’s PII crisis group, as the number of firms in the assigned risks pool (ARP) looks set to register a six-fold increase. As ...
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Offshoring legal work: do lawyers risk outsourcing themselves?
When City firm Lovells was faced with reviewing more than a million documents as part of a major case, it decided to outsource the work to India – saving more than £3m in the process. This is a sign of the times – increasingly, client pressure over fees is prompting ...
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Peak practice
Matthew Davies, a partner at Hill Dickinson in Liverpool, got in touch after receiving a text message from a client stuck in a blizzard 4,000 metres up Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus (and, indeed, Europe). His client wanted legal advice after an expedition member was injured: what ...
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Rat race
No jokes about rodents and sinking ships, please. The above are esteemed members of the City of London Solicitors Company, sister to the City of London Law Society, which marks its centenary this year. This was not a Pied Piper-esque flushing out of City lawyers via the Thames. It was ...
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Sweet sixteen
A trio of doughty legal wordsmiths can look forward to a bubble this Christmas after solving – or nearly solving – our recent anagram competition. John Seagrave of A Broken Card (aka Barker and Co) in Hull, together with Giles Bennett of Devonshires (sod his nerve!) win special plaudits for ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Paul Dacre’s belligerent attack on Mr Justice Eady
‘Dull doesn’t sell newspapers. Boring doesn’t pay the mortgage.’ Thus did Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre begin his speech to the Society of Editors. He proceeded to give a masterclass in exactly what he meant. No nuance clouded his demonisation of the Human Rights Act or of Mr Justice Eady. ...
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Baby P 'scapegoat' claim
Local government solicitors have defended colleagues at the London Borough of Haringey against press criticism of their role in the case of ‘Baby P’. Suzanne Bond, chair of Solicitors in Local Government, said that some media coverage of the case had been ‘chilling’ in ...
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Of bills and balance sheets
Some solicitors enter the profession because it is a vocation, others because lawyering offers a comfortable living and a measure of status. We would venture that only a small minority become solicitors primarily because they aspire to be business people or entrepreneurs. After all, you study accountancy if you want ...
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Late surge boosts PC numbers
A late surge in applications for practising certificates over recent days has reversed an apparently startling decline in numbers. Latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show 97,291 submissions as of 16 November – 477 more than at the same time last year. The previous ...