All News articles – Page 1814
-
News
Random selection call
Judicial panels hearing cases before the new UK Supreme Court should be picked at random rather than by the opaque procedure used by the House of Lords, a leading silk suggested this week. Lord David Pannick QC criticised the current system under which even Law Lords themselves do not know ...
-
News
Canny Scotland
Obiter confesses to enjoying a glass or three of the hard stuff at this time of year, so he’s not going to get sanctimonious over revelations that the Attorney General’s office has spent a whopping £102.35 of taxpayers’ money on alcoholic drinks so ...
-
News
Civil costs rates 'next month'
New guideline hourly rates for civil costs may be published by Christmas, the chairman of the committee charged with recommending the rates announced last week. In a rare public address, Professor Stephen Nickell admitted that producing the rates has not been an easy process, with the ...
-
News
It couldn't happen here
There’s been much talk over the past couple of weeks about why the UK has yet to produce a political figure comparable to Barack Obama (pictured). Now Hackney MP Diane Abbott has come up with a novel theory. Chairing a House of Commons meeting on the Ouseley review of regulatory ...
-
News
Last orders for Council
You know what it’s like when you’ve had the decorators in. The Law Society is understandably a little proud of its newly refurbished high-tech Council Chamber, where each seat has ‘access to power and data’ and will shortly have electronic voting. A little fastidious, too. Attendees ...
-
News
Council members vote 'no' to a reduction in seats
Plans to reduce the size of the Law Society Council look to have been killed off following a members’ vote last week. Law Society chief executive Des Hudson predicted it will now be ‘some time’ before any future decision is made on the Council’s size ...
-
News
Crunch skips court
The credit crunch has yet to create a wave of commercial litigation, according to latest Ministry of Justice statistics. Although the number of commercial cases launched in the High Court hit 64,046 in 2007 – the highest for seven years – this represents only a 1.6% ...
-
News
Criminal law
Computers – Criminal Cases Review Commission – Indecent photographs of children – Knowledge – Detected computer images R v Christopher Rowe: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Mr Justice Swift, Mr Justice Cranston): 3 ...
-
News
Criminal evidence
Competence – Learning difficulties – Sexual activity with children - Witness R v M: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Richards, Mr Justice Foskett, Mr Justice Jacob): 4 November 2008 The ...
-
News
Day of reckoning
I congratulate Martyn Day on the success he is having in his use of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) (see [2008] Gazette, 6 November, 14), but it is important to add that the Legal Services Commission (LSC) still funds major group claims.
-
News
Warning over video link for defendants
Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...
-
News
Employment law
Equal pay – Justification – Remuneration – Sex discrimination – Shift workers Blackburn and anor v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Scott Baker, Maurice Kay, Wilson): 6 November 2008 ...
-
News
Laundering reports fall by nearly half
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) wants solicitors to make more and better reports on suspected money laundering over the next year, after reports submitted to the agency fell by more than 40%. In its second annual report, SOCA says it will encourage organisations most ...
-
News
Family law
Contact orders – Fairness – Orders restricting further applications – Residence orders Re G (a child): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Rimer): 6 November 2008 The appellant father (F) ...
-
News
Kickback law to get reboot
Individuals who bribe public officials, or companies that negligently fail to prevent bribery, will be guilty of new offences if Law Commission proposals become legislation. In Reforming Bribery, published today, the commission recommends replacing a ‘morass’ of bribery laws with two general offences of giving bribes ...
-
News
Proof of identity rules will hit home hard
Conveyancing could grind to a halt under new Land Registry rules for requiring proof of identity, the chairman of the Law Society property section, Peter Rodd, has warned. Solicitors should be ‘very cautious’ about dealing with new forms which could expose them to liability. New ...
-
News
Personal injury
Negligence – Health and safety at work – Employers’ liability – Application of exception to ‘but for’ test of causation Grace Sanderson (administratrix of the estate of Mr Sanderson, deceased) v Donna Marie Hull: CA (Civ Div) (Lords ...
-
News
Which? plans legal push
Which? Legal Services will aggressively target customers through pricing and brand awareness as it drives to increase its membership by a quarter over the next year. The consumer group’s new head of legal services, Steve Coyle (pictured), revealed the ambition this week in his first ...
-
News
QC review by Nichol
The Law Society and Bar Council have appointed Sir Duncan Nichol to review the operation of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments system, three years after its introduction. The independent selection panel, developed by the two professions, replaced a process run by the former Department for ...