Last 3 months headlines – Page 1202

  • News

    Tax

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Capital allowance - Taxpayer company converting existing buildings into large public houses J D Wetherspoon plc v Revene and Customs Commissioners: Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (Mr Justice Michael Briggs and Judge Howard Nowlan): 31 January 2012 ...

  • News

    MPs slam Cameron’s shared parenting plan

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    The chair of the commons Justice Select Committee has written to the prime minister expressing ‘great concern’ over plans to change the Children Act to promote shared parenting. In a robust letter Sir Alan Beith sets out the cross-party committee’s opposition to the government’s proposal ...

  • News

    Wheeldon should get the Buckles treatment

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Just as respectable physicists once believed in the luminiferous ether, the mainstream commentariat has long been bewitched by the notion that public services are better and more efficiently run by organisations energised by the profit motive. A neoliberal article of faith for both main parties in recent years, it was ...

  • News

    Intellectual property

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Infringement - Use of similar trademark - ‘Budweiser’ Budejovicky Budvar Narodni Podnik v Anheuser-Busch Inc: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justice Ward, Mr Justice Warren, Sir Robin Jacob): 3 July 2012 ...

  • News

    EU

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Commission - Decision - Applicant software company found to have abused dominant position in PC operating system market Microsoft Corporation v European Commission: General Court of the European Union (Second Chamber) (Judges Forwood (rapporteur) (president), Dehousse, Schwarcz): 27 June ...

  • News

    EU

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Reference to European Court - Request for preliminary ruling concerning interpretation of EU law NS v Secretary of State for the Home Department and other cases: Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber): Judges Skouris (president), Tizzano, ...

  • News

    Evidence

    2012-07-19T00:00:00Z

    Foreign tribunal - Evidence for purpose of criminal proceedings - Disclosure and inspection of documents R (on the application of Omar and others) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: QBD (Admin) (Sir Anthony May ­(president), ...

  • News

    Legal framework for immigration ‘collapses’

    2012-07-18T00:00:00Z

    The legal framework for UK immigration policy is in disarray following today’s Supreme Court ruling that UK Border Agency (UKBA) policies on corporate immigration are unlawful. The court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that much of the UKBA’s practice and policies for corporate immigration are unlawful ...

  • News

    Let Rome burn - we’re off on holiday!

    2012-07-18T00:00:00Z

    That noise you can hear is MPs stampeding for the exits. Yes, today is the first day of their summer recess/holiday, just 36 days after their last (three-week) break.

  • News

    MPs to probe interpreter deal

    2012-07-18T00:00:00Z

    A high-profile parliamentary committee has launched an inquiry into the controversial deal between the Ministry of Justice and the private company contracted to provide court interpreters. The Justice Select Committee today launched a call for written evidence to examine the service provided by Applied Language Solutions ...

  • News

    Why can’t lawyers get costs information right?

    2012-07-18T00:00:00Z

    It’s over 20 years since the first guidance about costs - the Written Professional Standards - appeared, followed closely by Rule 15 and the Solicitors’ Costs Information and Client Care Code, yet complaints about costs, and the related information provided to clients, remain one of the highest causes for complaint.

  • News

    Society agrees PII deal with Aon as AmTrust enters market

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has signed up PII broker Aon to provide professional indemnity insurance to members of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme and Lexcel quality marks. The broker has an exclusive arrangement with two of the largest A-rated qualifying insurers, QBE and XL, for one-to-10 partner ...

  • News

    Gloria occasion

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    If the epicentre of London’s legal world, where Obiter spends long days, was better served by branches of Matalan, we would have been straight down there for some Union Flag-themed cagoules to mark our patriotism in this Jubilee ‘n’ Olympics year.

  • News

    Expert report warns government to hold off RTA portal extension

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    Government plans to extend the RTA portal from next year were today dealt a blow by one of its own advisers.

  • News

    Friends and family 'favourite source of legal advice'

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    Most consumers do not turn to a solicitor when first confronting a legal need, according to new research published by the Legal Services Board. The report says satisfaction with solicitors is high, with those using solicitors likely to get a better result than those who sought advice from other providers. ...

  • News

    Clarke presses on with judges’ pension cut

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    The lord chancellor has confirmed government plans to cut judges’ pensions to bring them in line with other public sector workers. In a written ministerial statement yesterday Kenneth Clarke said that the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne had confirmed to the House that the government ...

  • News

    ‘Cut partner bonuses for diversity failures’

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    Law firm partners who fail to take ‘robust measures’ to meet diversity targets should be financially penalised, according to a leading pro-diversity group. A report from the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks argues that the profession remains ‘stuck culturally in the mid-20th century’. ...

  • News

    City firm overturns TUPE ruling in Jarvis case

    2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

    Employment contracts of solicitors made redundant when their employers go into administration should not automatically transfer to law firms acting for the administrators, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled yesterday. The ruling on transfer of undertakings, protection of employment (TUPE) regulations, will free administrators to instruct their own legal advisers. ...

  • News

    Should everything in the EU be divisible by 27?

    2012-07-16T00:00:00Z

    I see it as my role to give the positive side of the European project - of which there is much to say - and to berate the UK press, which abuses the EU thoughtlessly day after day. But I am sorry to report that I shall have to continue ...

  • News

    Honorary degree for Rozenberg

    2012-07-16T00:00:00Z

    Legal commentator and Gazette columnist Joshua Rozenberg has been awarded an honorary degree by Nottingham Law School. Later this week he will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the law school, which is part of Nottingham Trent University. The law school acclaimed Rozenberg as ...