OBITER – Page 79
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NewsQuestion time for returning MPs
After a two-and-a-half-month break punctuated only by a fortnight back at Westminster and a week for each party conference, it is only natural that MPs are itching to get back to work. None more so, it would seem, than shadow justice minister Imran Hussain. The Bradford MP and barrister near-bombarded ...
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NewsClock-watching in legal London
Have you been late for court recently? Obiter has noticed that for a profession traditionally focused on (billable) time, the law could be taking better care of legal London’s timepieces.
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NewsDevils have all the best tunes
Quite a few law firms these days have their own ‘in-house’ rock band, though on investigation it often turns out that most of the line-up consists of friends and relatives rather than lawyers.
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NewsSRA makes its presence felt at Tory party conference
Modest turnout for regulator's views on meritocracy (and maybe a drink).
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NewsLawyers feel Labour's love
Judging by the atmosphere at this year’s Labour conference in Brighton, you’d be forgiven for thinking the party had won the general election back in June. But the outcome, which took away Theresa May’s majority, has certainly rejuvenated the opposition, judging by shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti’s very apparent optimism. ...
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NewsThe Chuckles and the fury
Few judgments from the Upper Tribunal can be read in the style of the Chuckle Brothers, but Obiter has a candidate. Perhaps exasperated, judge Nicholas Wikeley decided that the children’s TV legends were the only appropriate medium for a case which had progressed from ‘car crash’ to a ‘mini motorway ...
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NewsWalk this way (or run or cycle)
Feeling fit? This autumn’s London legal fundraising event, Walk the Thames, is coming up on 28 October. The course is a half- or full-marathon, following the Thames through the City of London out to the Surrey countryside. ‘Some people run it and a few cycle it,’ says the trust. Organisers ...
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NewsMemory lane
The Law Society Gazette, 4 October 2007 Court video drive The government is to pilot extending the use of live video links into Crown courts for witnesses in certain sex offences in the next few months. A spokesman for the Courts Service said it is hoped that the pilot will ...
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NewsLidington cuts super regulator down to size
If you hear strange noises emanating from the Legal Services Board this week, it may be that teeth are still being gnashed. Certainly the ‘super regulator’ may well have been seething at having its homework given a ‘U’ by the lord chancellor David Lidington last week. Lidington turned down an ...
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NewsEscape from Alcatraz
We do not often celebrate a solicitor’s escape from jail, but here is an exception. Jonathan Throp (pictured centre), a partner at Pearson Hards Solicitors in New Malden, Surrey, has survived the notorious two-kilometre swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco. Throp says: ‘It is challenging partly due to the ...
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NewsDeath becomes her at Old Bailey
Florence Earengey sat in on the Beatrice Pace murder trial when her husband was junior counsel to Norman Birkett, but the first woman to lead in a murder case at the Old Bailey was Venetia Stephenson. She defended William Holmyard, charged with the December 1928 murder of his 72-year-old grandfather. ...
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News160 all out for SJ
Obiter is saddened to hear of the demise of Solicitors Journal, the oldest (and for many years the only) publication aimed at our branch of the profession. The final edition appears tomorrow. From its first number in January 1857, the Journal took a broad view of legal interests, for instance ...
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NewsAviva slapped down over its need for speed
Insurance heavyweight Aviva has never been afraid to put the boot into what it calls the ‘aggressive and sustained’ marketing campaigns of claims companies. So it may offer claimant lawyers a little Schadenfreude to learn the insurer is in hot water itself over one particular bit of advertising. Aviva’s campaign ...
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NewsA popular cease and desist? Stranger Things have happened
Almost by definition, ’cease and desist’ letters from multinational corporations rarely reveal a sense of humour. So kudos to media giant Netflix for its passive aggressive note to the owners of a pop-up bar in Chicago. The bar is a tribute to the Netflix show Stranger Things, a horror drama ...
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NewsWhitehall fudge
Justice ministry’s three-word equivalent to ‘strong and stable’ rolled out by latest incumbents.
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NewsMemory lane
The Law Society Gazette, 20 September 2007 In-house solicitors reel after privilege ruling In-house lawyers must rethink their strategy for dealing with European Commission dawn raids, the Commerce & Industry Group has warned. It follows the long-awaited decision of the European Court of First Instance in the Akzo Nobel case, ...
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