All News articles – Page 1836
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News
Mosley’s win: a slightly larger private world
The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated into UK law article 8, guaranteeing the right to respect for private and family life, and its arch rival article 10, protecting the right to freedom of expression. Max Mosley’s hotly contested privacy action was the battlefield for the latest high-profile ...
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Lasting power to the people?
More often than not, government, public bodies and other authorities appear to be opposed to revising, or repealing, new legislation that has been hugely unpopular or problematic – no matter what. So it is a refreshing change to hear that the new public guardian, Martin ...
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A suspect package
The ‘telecoms package’ is a potentially dangerous piece of legislation that will lead to many users losing internet access. The ‘telecoms package’ is winging its way through the European Parliament under the watchful eye of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Our representatives ...
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Peak practice
This week it is solicitors on foot – and at all altitudes too. A team of six from regional firm Geldards scaled the three tallest peaks in the UK – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – and came home first with a time of 23 hours and 29 minutes. ...
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Rules & revolution
How extraordinary that the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority should state, in relation to non-lawyer managers, ‘there is little regulatory sense in requiring, for example, those who have worked within firms and already have a detailed understanding of the accounts rules to go on a prescriptive course'. (see ...
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Sentencing
Human rights – Penology and Criminology – Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – Life imprisonment R v David Francis Bieber (AKA Coleman): CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Mr Justice Pitchford, Mrs Justice ...
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Comparative advertising - the ECJ fizzes it up
In a ruling that could have a noticeable impact on advertising in the UK and across Europe, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last month ruled that businesses can use the distinctive trademarks of their competitors when comparing their goods and services.
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'Shoddy' phone advice for bail defendants
The telephone advice service for people detained by police on less serious offences is giving a ‘shoddy service’ to some defendants arrested in breach of bail terms, a leading criminal lawyer has claimed. Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said practitioners were beginning ...
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Alcohol test for care cases
A new rapid call-out service to test for evidence of alcohol abuse by parents might be used to speed up the launch of child care proceedings, its manufacturers claim. Trimega Laboratories says hair samples will be taken within 90 minutes of an initial request. Test results, ...
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Anonymity balance
In his comment, Ian Kelcey, chairman of the CLSA, argues that witness anonymity could seriously damage a defendant’s right to a fair trial, and acknowledges that ‘there may be some cases where it is desirable to achieve a conviction [sic], but at what cost?’ (see [2008] Gazette, 17 July, 8). ...
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Searching for answers
We do not accept private searches on behalf of clients or their lenders and would insist on carrying out a proper local authority search, because the conditions of such searches contain a proviso that the information has been obtained by a personal inspection of public records and other legitimate sources ...
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Automatic higher rights plan 'threat to standards'
Proposals to give solicitors automatic rights of audience in all courts undermine consumer interest and will enable barristers to market themselves as superior advocates, the chairman of the Bar Council has told the Gazette. Tim Dutton QC said the proposals to end the current requirement for ...
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News
Barking eyes new legal markets
Local government will take a further step towards entering the open legal services market this week when the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham announces the reorganisation of its legal team along private sector lines. The council has lured three senior ‘partners’ from neighbouring authorities: ...
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Setting Sail for Beijing
City firm Charles Russell gave paralympic sailor Helena Lucas a hearty send off on her way to the Beijing games last week. Lucas, a member of the Skandia Team GBR, will be racing in the 2.4m single-handed keelboat class. The firm has provided the sailor, tipped to bring home a ...
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Planning Bill under fire
Two key parts of the government’s planning reforms have come under attack from environmental law experts this week. Members of the UK Environmental Law Association’s (UKELA) planning and sustainable development working party described some provisions of the Planning Bill – which has been delayed in ...
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Bolly good show
Word reaches Obiter of yet more Bollywood action in the legal world. Elizabeth Mitchell, 34-year-old partner at York firm Wood Sherwood Solicitors, is currently preparing for her second Bollywood role after appearing in the West Yorkshire Playhouse summer production of Bollywood Jane last year, see Obiter 24 May 2007. ...
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Starmer sets out CPS brief
Ensuring the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the public’s full confidence will be top of the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) to-do list, Keir Starmer QC has told the Gazette.
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A model campaign
Your last edition rightly concentrated on the government’s proposals to (mostly not) change the system for claims for personal injury, housing etcetera (see [2008] Gazette, 24 July, 1). You framed much of your coverage in terms of the winners and losers – the government, the unions, insurers – essentially asking ...
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Challenging times
As the saying goes: ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ And some people will go to extreme lengths to keep dullness at bay. Edward Hardy (pictured far right), a senior solicitor at the Nationwide Building Society, is a case in point. He and a team of ...
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Changes in dentistry prompt hike in negligence claims
The decline in NHS dentistry and an increase in cosmetic dental treatment have led to an surge in negligence claims referred to solicitors, practitioners have told the Gazette. Simon Elliman, head of clinical negligence at regional firm Withy King, said the department has seen more enquiries ...