Last 3 months headlines – Page 1205
-
News
Final consultation launched on advocacy accreditation
A fourth - and ‘final’ - consultation on the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) published today contains a number of ‘significant’ changes that solicitors’ representative groups have welcomed.
-
News
Age concern
Bad news for the nation’s senior judges last week, with confirmation that the mandatory retirement age of 70 will continue to stand. Justice secretary Ken Clarke (pictured) told the House of Commons that relaxing the compulsory age would mean judges of all kinds might enjoy a job for life. ‘If ...
-
News
Intellectual property
EU - Trademarks - Infringement - Defendant company importing claimant’s goods into UK without consent Oracle America Inc (formerly Sun Microsystems Inc) v M-Tech Data Ltd: SC (Justices of the Supreme Court, Lords Walker, Clarke, Sumption, Reed, Carnwath): ...
-
News
Industrial relations
Injunction - Interlocutory - Acts done in contemplation or furtherance of trade dispute Metroline Travel Ltd and others v Unite: QBD (Mr Justice Supperstone): 27 June 2012 The instant proceedings ...
-
News
Hit and myth
Years ago a north London solicitor told me a story which I have come to believe could be classified as a legal urban myth.
-
News
Don’t cut corners, LeO warns firms
Competition from new market entrants is forcing law firms to offer services and prices they cannot hope to deliver, according to the Legal Ombudsman. In his second annual report, Adam Sampson (pictured) raises concerns that under-pressure firms are cutting corners and making unrealistic promises. He ...
-
News
ABS pioneer condemns ‘over-qualification’ in firms
Law firms have for too long relied upon 'closed clubs of equity partners' to keep fees artificially high, a speaker from one of the first wave of alternative business structures told the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) Symposium in Manchester today.
-
News
LSC improvements fail to satisfy auditor
The National Audit Office has qualified the Legal Services Commission’s accounts for the fourth year running due to overpayments made to providers. The LSC’s annual report, published today, revealed a substantial drop in expenditure in 2011-12, in large part reflecting the fact it funded almost a ...
-
News
World Pride 2012
Photo gallery - New Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff was among the marchers at World Pride 2012 in London last weekend. The event saw the legal sector continue its tradition of marching together for equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around ...
-
News
Djanogly: QOCS applies to all
Qualified one-way costs-shifting (QOCS) will apply to all personal injury claimants no matter what their financial means, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed. In a written ministerial statement today, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) said there would be no financial test to determine eligibility. The new ...
-
News
Bar-solicitor divisions ‘music to government’s ears’
Two leading criminal lawyers have called for solicitors and barristers to stop arguing among themselves and unite, to promote their clients' interests and the justice system. President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association Jim Meyer said both branches of the profession are struggling due to ...
-
News
IRA interviews judgment - history is the loser
This week a US appeal court was asked to choose between the value of law and justice on the one hand, and the value of political stability and academic history on the other. In ordering Boston College to hand over interviews conducted for an oral history project with a convicted ...
-
News
Mix and match
First let me say how pleased I am the Law Society backs the idea of a standard professional indemnity insurance proposal form. The process of getting quotes for indemnity insurance is made much more time-consuming by having to fill out a form for each broker or insurance company. I would ...
-
News
Cuts opponents fuelled by self-interest, says Clarke
The lord chancellor has accepted that not enough progress has been made to increase judicial diversity - and labelled the profession’s lobbying over the legal cuts ‘predictable’ and not client-centred. Talking to Justice director Roger Smith last night in an event hosted by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, ...
-
News
Patents - it’s not over after all
Those of you who are following the twists and turns of the European patent saga should know that the fat lady has not yet sung. The Gazette wisely said in their recent article that the saga ‘appears to have been settled’. But appearances are known to be deceptive, and the ...
-
News
SRA eases insurers’ disclosure rules
Professional indemnity insurers will not be required to tell solicitors if their credit rating changes during the year of cover, regulators have decided. Following lobbying from the insurance industry, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has eased rules regarding insurers’ disclosure. Under the Qualifying Insurer’s Agreement approved earlier ...
-
News
Are GCs prevented from forcing down fees?
I heard a depressing tale last week that will be familiar to many lawyers working in the in-house sector. A general counsel was dealing with a substantial piece of litigation. He had chosen to give the job to a good silver circle firm, and was very ...
-
News
Claims managers get the blame for PI spike
The legal profession has rounded on claims management companies after a sharp spike in personal injury claims following road accidents. Figures from the Institute of Actuaries released this week show the proportion of accidents involving bodily injury rose by 18% last year. This was at a ...
-
News
Freshfields and Linklaters dampen magic circle celebrations
Magic circle rivals Linklaters and Freshfields have recorded modest financial results to end a week of announcements by the UK’s biggest firms.
-
News
Intellectual property
Patent - Infringement - Validity of patent - Novelty Molnlycke Health Care AB v Brightwake Ltd (trading as Advancis Medical): Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justices Ward, Etherton and Lewison): 24 April 2012 ...