Last 3 months headlines – Page 1130
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Knives smuggled into courtrooms
Knives were smuggled past security and into courtrooms on 10 separate occasions in the space of nine months last year, the Gazette has discovered. A freedom of information request has uncovered security breaches in courts across England and Wales between April and December 2012. ...
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Sixty suitors for troubled Yorkshire firm Atteys
Yorkshire firm Atteys – which last week announced it had given notice of intention to appoint administrators – is to be broken up and sold, the Gazette has learned. Interim chief operating officer Mark Feeney said more than 60 local firms have expressed an interest in ...
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MP accuses QCs on tax avoidance
MPs have turned their attention to lawyers who advise promoters of tax avoidance schemes. In a report examining marketed tax avoidance schemes, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) identifies ‘leading lawyers’, along with banks and accountancy firms, as supporting and advising on tax avoidance ...
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Lawyer jailed for £20m sham marriage scam
A London solicitor has been jailed for 10 years for running a £20m sham marriage scam. Tevfick Souleiman (pictured), partner at north London firm Souleiman GA Solicitors, and immigration advisers Cenk Guclu and Furrah Kosimov, were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court of conspiracy to ...
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IP ‘conflict of interest’ warning
Intellectual property lawyers have been warned to exercise care when claiming ownership of intellectual property from clients in settlement of outstanding bills. A practice note issued by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board, which regulates patent and trademark attorneys, warns practitioners to ensure that exercising a lien over IP in settlement ...
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Personal devices are weakest security link
The largest international law firms are among the UK practices that have a poor grip on the security of their data, according to research conducted among 200 firms. The widespread use of personal devices is the weak link in security, with an overwhelming majority of professionals ...
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New order at Barclays
In the world of banking and financial services, 1999 was another age. Back in the day, as bankers and regulators grizzled with age may one day recall, international finance was able to weather storms such as the Asian financial crisis, a fall in confidence in Russian investments, and a burst ...
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Nature of Cobbetts deal does raise wider questions
The SRA is not alone in possessing a focus and principles that originated in the good times. Remember when the Financial Services Authority was keen not to hamper financial ‘creativity’?
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Pre-pack process is unfairly maligned
by Lee Manning, president of insolvency trade body R3 For a legal insolvency process sanctioned by government, pre-packs have copped a lot of flak; although accusations that they are being marketed as a way of dumping debt tend not to be accompanied by evidence.
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My legal life: Gordon Turner
I sat my law degree in Newcastle, though I didn’t fancy being a lawyer at first. Then my sandwich business, ‘The Great North Bun’, flopped so I came to London and found myself in Shelter’s legal department. Once I saw the law being used in real situations I started to ...
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Up against it
Conspiracy theorists may want to take a seat for this one. The Association of British Insurers hosts its annual motor conference next month, with some eye-catching people on the agenda. Chair of the event is Susanna Reid, co-presenter of BBC Breakfast. No doubt she will recuse ...
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Off his own bat
On the subject of ministerial perks, you may recall Obiter asked earlier this month where the hospitality register for justice ministers had disappeared to. Well, now it’s up – from July to September 2012. Largely it’s a list of ‘nil return’ next to a bunch ...
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Consultation on rights to light
The Law Commission is seeking views on proposals to simplify the law on rights to light. These include introducing a statutory notice procedure. This would require landowners to tell potential developers within a specified time if they intend to seek an injunction to protect their right to light. ...
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India trade mission boosts contacts
The prime minister has returned from India after a three-day trade mission which included international firm DLA Piper and southern England firm Dutton Gregory. Dutton Gregory head of India group Amarjit Singh said: ‘The size and scope of the delegation was unprecedented and significantly strengthened ...
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Judges begin flexing their Jackson muscles
What with judges’ general dislike of all things costs related, and the latest announcement from the senior judiciary that new costs budgeting rules will not normally apply to disputes of a commercial nature over £2m, one could be forgiven for thinking that our friends on the bench are really not ...
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Central property search register set for test
Property search information could be available from a single national electronic database if a prototype being developed by the Land Registry is successful. The Registry has announced that seven local authorities will take part in a pilot scheme to see if their local land charge information ...
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Lawyer training – a rising EU profile
Last week, I wrote about how EU funding has helped lawyers, through the creation of a Find-A-Lawyer database (some welcomed the money, others saw it is a waste). I should have called it EU funding - part 1. This week comes part 2, which tells how EU funding is supporting ...
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Human rights
Prison – Prison conditions – Disabled prisoner R (on the application of Hall) v University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and another: Queen's Bench Division, Divisional Court: 8 February 2013 ...
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Another PI firm goes into administration
Personal injury firm Calibre Solicitors has been placed into administration resulting in 14 people being made redundant.