Last 3 months headlines – Page 1197

  • News

    My legal life: Gordon Turner

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Up against it

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Off his own bat

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Consultation on rights to light

    25 February 2013

    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. ...

  • News

    India trade mission boosts contacts

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Judges begin flexing their Jackson muscles

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Central property search register set for test

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Lawyer training – a rising EU profile

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Human rights

    25 February 2013

    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 ...

  • News

    Learning from LFW

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

  • News

    Another PI firm goes into administration

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    Personal injury firm Calibre Solicitors has been placed into administration resulting in 14 people being made redundant.

  • News

    Time running out for ATE to beat Jackson

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    Applications for after-the-event insurance may miss the 1 April Jackson deadline if they are not made by next Monday, brokers have warned. Commercial litigation broker The Judge has written to all solicitor clients warning of a backlog of files set to slow down the system in ...

  • News

    Supreme Court appoints three more male judges

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    Downing Street has today announced the appointment of three male judges to the Supreme Court, leaving Lady Hale the only female judge sitting in the country’s highest court. The new justices are Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge. Lord ...

  • News

    My conviction is unsafe, says QC jailed for VAT fraud

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    A London silk sentenced today to three and a half years in prison after being convicted of a £600,000 VAT fraud says he will fight to clear his name. Rohan Anthony Pershad, who practised from Thirty Nine Essex Street, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court earlier ...

  • News

    Bulger killers: attorney general is right

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    The question of how to deal with society’s most undesirable people is one of the most difficult we face. In last week’s excellent Black Mirror TV drama (spoiler alert) the public had turned into voyeuristic vigilantes, replicating a killer’s most heinous act against the perpetrator. It’s ...

  • News

    One solicitor makes grade in new QC round

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    A single solicitor was among the 84 Queen’s Counsel appointments announced today. Karyl Nairn (pictured), litigation and arbitration partner at international firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was the only successful solicitor-advocate to be awarded the rank. Just two of ...

  • News

    Harassment, sexism and progression

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    In the past week the Liberal Democrats, for whom I once worked, have started to investigate and confront the way that complaints of sexual harassment by party figures were dealt with in the past – announcing two independent inquiries, one QC-led, and co-operating with the Metropolitan police. ...

  • News

    SRA's assurances on enforcement under fire from super-regulator

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority must focus more on performance and legal services consumers than on the theory of policy, an assessment by the Legal Services Board has found. The super-regulator said the SRA had achieved much since it was formed in 2007, but had yet to ...

  • News

    Three solicitors honoured for contribution to the law

    2013-02-25T00:00:00Z

    Three solicitors and the chairman of the Bar Standards Board are among the eight honorary QCs appointed today in recognition of their contribution to the law outside courtrooms. Eileen Carroll, founder and deputy chief executive of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR); equal pay champion Stefan Cross and Edward ...

  • News

    Motoring metaphors break down

    25 February 2013

    To BT’s plush auditorium in Newgate Street to hear Damian ‘two desks’ Green, one of our justice ministers, lecture on ‘Criminal justice reform – from justice delayed to justice delivered’. The event was hosted by thinktank Reform, best known for enthusing about private prisons, but ...