All News articles – Page 1822
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News
Solicitors hit back over Iceland
Local government solicitors hit back at accusations that councils acted recklessly by investing in Icelandic banks. Suzanne Bond, chairwoman of Solicitors in Local Government, said: ‘We work to government guidance, which has been followed. If it had been a couple of bodies it could be reckless, ...
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Battle to save Iceland-funded lender: latest
Talks to provide a lifeline to a specialist solicitors’ lending arm of collapsed Icelandic bank Landsbanki were under way as the Gazette went to press. Key Business Finance (KBF) chiefs were in crunch takeover talks with a number of banks to secure the company’s future. KBF ...
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Bertie the bubble car - a BMW in disguise
Kim Griffith, wills and probate partner at Devon firm Roger Richards, emailed Obiter with a typing slip that caused much sniggering when it came in. Her firm used to contain the name Hayman, so you can probably guess the virginal error.
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PI cases up for grabs to the highest bidders
An auction website where solicitors who make the highest bid win the right to take on a case is already generating business, the Gazette has learned. The backers of Legalbid.co.uk said their model is no worse – and, in some cases, better – than other referral arrangements in the market. ...
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Shipping: damages for breach of contract
Two recent decisions of the House of Lords have developed the law on the assessment of damages for breach of contract.
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I'm a celebrity lawyer...
Lawyer to the stars Nick ‘Mr Loophole’ Freeman has signed up with showbiz agents Chase Management. He joins an array of glittering talent, including a former Wonderbra model, a TV game show hostess and a finalist in TV show Pop Idol. Freeman, whose fast-lane clients have ...
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Market chaos leaves firms trading without insurance
Solicitors have been trading without professional indemnity insurance (PII) amid the market meltdown, while the number of law firms in the assigned risks pool (ARP) has increased six-fold, the Gazette has been told. Shortly after the 1 October deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said 150 firms ...
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Charter clarity
I am writing to clarify an inaccuracy concerning the postal ballot on the new Law Society charter. I want to assure all members that non-solicitors will not become members of the Society. They will be able to buy affiliate status that would give them access to products and services that ...
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Fraud chief in prevention pledge
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is planning to clamp down on fraudulent activity before cases reach the courts, its director Richard Alderman said this week. In one of his first public speeches since taking the reins of the office earlier this year, Alderman said the SFO ...
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Litigation claims 'wishful thinking'
Widespread expectations of a litigation frenzy following the financial markets meltdown are ‘wishful thinking and unrealistic’, according to the head of litigation practice Bivonas. Tony Brown, chief executive of the London firm, said that while increases in fraud, corporate restructuring and insolvency work could be expected, ...
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Consultation, confusion and Clementi
I was surprised to read your item about the Law Society's review of regulation, and the reported comments of the Society's chief executive, Desmond Hudson (see [2008] Gazette, 9 October, 1). The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) had been unaware of the Society's plans until last week and did not know ...
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Your clients in their sites
Should we be shocked at the idea of a website auctioning off cases to the highest bidder? It will make many instinctively uncomfortable, but it is arguably just a logical next step in the journey of the past four and a half years, since the ban on paying referral fees ...
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Fair trial plea in Colombia
A last-ditch attempt to defend a bereaved father from ‘trumped-up’ terrorism charges in Colombia has been made by human rights lawyer Yenly Mendez. Mendez was in London this week to drum up international support for community leader Miguel Angelo Gonzales, whose son earlier this year became ...
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Wine column: feeling the heat
Climate change will have a profound effect on global winemaking. It used to be only the British that talked about the weather. Now, rather like the late Victorian field sports we exported across the world, talking about the climate appears to have become a global pastime. ...
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Conveyancing warning
Conveyancing solicitors risk undermining their status as the ‘lynchpin of the property market’ if they overreact to the current banking crisis and stop giving undertakings, Chancery Lane has warned. Law Society President Paul Marsh said solicitors should act with caution, but unless they had a reason ...
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Happy David?
Our collection of legal typing errors continues to grow. Ian Sanderson at Nigel Davis Solicitors, Belper, recalls a young civil litigator almost signing off a letter to ‘Mr X, Consultant Sturgeon’. ‘My trainee secretary did not see the funny side as I pictured the noble ...
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Farewell drink
Even in these uncertain times, you would have thought that selling alcohol to lawyers would be a surefire business proposition. In recent weeks, however, a large padlock and a ‘lease for sale’ sign have appeared on the door of Obiter’s neighbour, the splendid Hodgsons Wine Bar. Over the years, the ...
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Family residence
A look at the changing status of the residence order pursuant to the Children Act 1989. A residence order (section 8 of the Children Act 1989) means ‘an order settling the arrangements to be made as to the person with whom a child is to live’. ...