Last 3 months headlines – Page 1185
-
News
Advisers on compromise agreements 'manipulated'
by Nicholas Lakeland, head of the employment and pensions team at Silverman Sherliker As an employment lawyer, I am used to advising on compromise agreements, no more so than in recent years.
-
News
Expert report calls for more action on people trafficking
A ‘significant number’ of child victims of human trafficking go missing from UK local authority care and back into the hands of people smugglers, a report published this week warns. The report, compiled by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in ...
-
News
Spending watchdog trains fire on interpreter contracting chaos
The Ministry of Justice has come under fire from public spending watchdogs for awarding a £90m contract for court interpreters to a company that lacked the ability to deliver it. In a damning report on the outsourcing of language services in the justice system to Applied ...
-
News
Helen lets rip
Obiter would like to congratulate Helen Grant on her ascension to a ministerial role at the Ministry of Justice. The Maidstone MP, who entered parliament only in 2010, replaces Jonathan Djanogly, who has been given the chance to spend more time with his constituents after the ...
-
News
Shades of Grayling baffle staff
When Kenneth Clarke, the 72-year-old veteran minister of the Thatcher and Major years, joined the coalition’s team at the Ministry of Justice, there would have been no mistaking the identity of the man in brown suede shoes when he popped in at Petty France. But ...
-
News
Backing Boris
Another minister who is hardly a household name is our new solicitor general, the barrister and Hertfordshire Conservative MP Oliver Heald. This is a bit unfair as Heald is one of the very few shufflees to have ministerial experience. As a junior minister in the ...
-
News
Foragers on display
Obiter needs to find a spurious appointment near London’s Bedford Row next month, where friends at Collyer Bristow are refreshing their gallery space to accommodate an exhibition titled ‘new foragers’. The foragers have found something for everyone. But while it is not the intention of ...
-
News
Home truths
Housing law in the county court can appear to have a limited range. A typical Possession Claim Online list consists almost entirely of claims founded on rent or mortgage arrears, with perhaps a few involving section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 or antisocial behaviour.
-
News
ABI claims milestone as fraud register launched
Insurers will add suspected fraudsters to a list that will be shared by all other insurance companies – even if the claimant has not been convicted. The Association of British Insurers today confirmed the creation of the Insurance Fraud Register containing details of what it calls ...
-
News
Fingerprints sometimes lie
It still surprises me that when you say you were a defence lawyer (nb never a criminal lawyer) how many people ask how you could defend people you knew were guilty. The great thing about defending professional criminals was that in the teeth of the evidence – caught on camera, ...
-
News
ABSs era producing innovative legal services
ABS licensing has gathered pace over the summer with August seeing a surge of licensing approvals. So far 28 licences have been granted with more in the final stages of the application process. It was always going to be difficult to predict the level of interest and type of structures ...
-
News
Magnates for law: oligarchs in London
Readers will be familiar with the phenomenon of the Commercial Court sitting in London (a specialist division of the Queen’s Bench Division) and playing host to a good deal of litigation involving Russian oligarchs and others among the central and eastern European super-rich. But just how much may come as ...
-
News
Complainants going it alone on PPI claims
Consumers are increasingly making their own compensation claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance rather than rely on claims management companies or law firms, according to research published today. The Financial Ombudsman reported that nearly half of all new complaints during the past six months were made ...
-
News
In-house: advising John Lewis
I joined the John Lewis Partnership as its principal lawyer, employment, almost two years ago. Before that I had worked for five years in the employment legal team at Marks & Spencer plc, and so I was very familiar with the retail environment when I started my role with the ...
-
News
In-house: formulating corporate strategy
In the financial services industry we are in a time of unprecedented regulatory change. As a result, now more than ever, in-house lawyers are in high demand to guide the business.
-
News
Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce plot merger
National firms Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce have begun merger talks. The pair confirmed in a statement that discussions are under way to explore the option, although there will be no further comment until those discussions are completed. If it does go ...
-
News
Secret courts 'will conceal UK complicity in torture'
The UN special rapporteur on torture has said that so-called ‘secret courts’ could be used to suppress evidence of British collusion in torture. Professor Juan Mendez, speaking at the thinktank Chatham House on 10 September, became the latest high-profile figure to criticise UK government plans - ...
-
News
Sorry, but the SRA is right
I want you to sit down and take a deep breath. Perhaps have a stiff drink to hand. Maybe one of those stress balls too. I’m going to write something in support of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Before I start let me make it clear I’m ...
-
News
Santander requires CQS for all panel members
Santander has changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel to require all existing members to gain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation. The bank, which had already made it a requirement for new members to be CQS-accredited, this week sent letters to existing ...
-
News
In-house: education and training
In my experience, an in-house lawyer is a different breed from those working in other sectors. In-house teams are small and their visibility within the business results in a constant flow of queries that require immediate attention. An in-house lawyer is expected to make decisions with the business people. Strong ...