Last 3 months headlines – Page 1127
-
News
Selecting the judiciary on merit
I recently received an email on behalf of the Judicial Appointments Commission, inviting me to complete a survey because ‘they would like to know your views on what motivates lawyers to apply – or not to apply – for judicial office... One of its statutory responsibilities is to reach and ...
-
News
Wrong assumption on innocence
Ian Craine argues that the presumption of innocence ‘is not the same thing as an assumption’, and also seems to regard it as something more than a ‘rule of evidence’. He has against him the US Supreme Court which, in Taylor v Kentucky, stated: ‘The presumption of innocence … is ...
-
News
In conflict with clients
The Jackson reforms undermine the most important principle of achieving fairness for victims of injustice. That is to ensure that the victim is returned to the position they would have been in but for the wrongdoing. Damages-based agreements will permit a direct deduction from damages. ...
-
News
Domicile poser
In what was otherwise an excellent article, Jane Lee used the term ‘UK domicile’ in her Practice Points. The correct term is, of course, an English and Welsh, or Scottish, or Northern Irish domicile. James Aitken, Legal Knowledge, ...
-
News
Unpaid overtime costs lawyers £14k
Legal professionals are among the most likely workers to do unpaid overtime, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A national study published this week found that 49.6% of legal professionals work unpaid overtime. Their average unpaid overtime, 9.7 hours a week, is exceeded only ...
-
News
Negligence claim fears over ATE insurance
Solicitors have been warned they could face professional negligence claims if their client cannot secure after-the-event insurance before civil litigation reforms come in to force on 1 April. ATE insurers have told the Gazette they have been ‘inundated’ with law firms trying to secure cover while ...
-
News
MoJ acts after court interpreter fiasco
The Ministry of Justice says it has accepted all of the recommendations made by the Public Accounts Committee in its report on the department’s ‘shambolic’ handling of the court interpreter contract. The committee last month published a damning verdict on the procurement and delivery of the ...
-
News
Immigration debate has shifted from a meaningful exchange of ideas
There is a deficit of meaningful dialogue in the immigration debate. Despite unprecedented access to countless news sources, rich information and varied points of view, we often tend to only consume our favourite flavour of opinion. Partly because of the explosion of online media and the ...
-
News
We are witnessing the triumph of ideology and cynicism
News that the army’s most senior legal officer during the Iraq war has signed a letter to the Daily Mail from hundreds of lawyers opposing secret courts (tinyurl.com/cnxcazg) raises a curious prospect. If there were a military coup in this country, we would be moving to the Left (apologies to ...
-
News
The bar is wrong in its objections to non-trial advocates
by Andrew Bishop, a solicitor-advocate and managing partner at Bishop & Light Solicitors, Hove It now seems that both the bar and solicitors are strongly opposed to QASA, the proposed quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates.
-
News
Positive discrimination in judiciary faces struggles
The appointment of three ‘top judges’ attracted predictably little press attention last week, even though Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge will make up a quarter of the Supreme Court. Perhaps that is a good sign; it suggests the public has no reason to doubt that the ...
-
News
High Court throws out RTA fees cut challenge
The High Court today threw out a challenge to a new fees regime expected to cost personal injury firms £200m a year. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society were challenging a decision by the Ministry of Justice to cut ...
-
News
BT Law is born as claims unit granted ABS licence
Telecommunications giant BT today announced its long-expected move into legal services with the launch of BT Law Limited. The subsidiary, which has received an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, will offer services to corporate customers, initially in the motor claims ...
-
News
Contempt of court
Committal – Breach of undertaking McCann and another v Bennett: Queen's Bench Division: 21 February 2013 The parents of Madeline McCann sought the committal of the defendant for contempt by ...
-
News
Honoured solicitors with a cross to bear
Say what you like about the honours system, but at least one branch of it has an anti-establishment dash. None of the three solicitors granted honorary silk-ship this week could remotely be described as buggins-turn time-servers. Eileen Carroll, admitted as a solicitor in 1981, ...
-
News
Europe versus the internet monsters
Although we are distracted by daily news of crime (for instance, Oscar Pistorius) or sex (Jimmy Savile and others), we all know that there are more important developments changing our world. An example is the way the huge internet barons – Amazon, Google, Facebook – are altering our physical and ...
-
News
Scroll with it
Plenty of firms are currently weighing up the pros and cons of ABS status – but many more would surely take the plunge if they knew of this extra benefit.
-
News
Jackson gets green light from McNally
Justice minister Lord McNally has confirmed that Jackson reforms of civil justice funding will come into force on 1 April. The peer had come under pressure during a Lords debate to delay implementation of conditional fee agreements and damages-based agreements to allow parties to prepare ...
-
News
EU online training
The European Commission has begun work on an online service to help train EU lawyers in cross-border European law or the law of another member state. The European Training Platform will cost £177,000, including a contribution of £35,400 from the Council of Bars and Law Societies ...