Last 3 months headlines – Page 1206
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Defendants and principles of fairness
I would like to share my recent experience of the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR) danced to the tune of Ministry of Justice training. Acting for a defendant who had no recollection of the incident, or what he had said in interview, I was faced with a single statement and a ...
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Defending strict liability for workplace safety
I write with reference to the government’s latest move in its overhaul of health and safety legislation. At the last minute, the proposal to remove strict liability in respect of duties imposed on employers under health and safety legislation has been slipped into the Enterprise Regulatory ...
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How the right words can slay European Convention myths
by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, president of the Law Society ‘Yes we can’ helped propel a rank outsider to the White House; Gerald Ratner wiped half a billion pounds from his company’s value after an unfortunate choice of words. Equally, we ...
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Privilege victory but lawyers need to be on their guard
A fire drill at Chancery Lane last week left shirt-sleeved Law Society staff hopping from foot to foot on the ice outside. Yet there was a roseate glow emanating from a goodly number, particularly in policy – and it wasn’t the cold. ‘Lawyers 5, accountants 2,’ offered one observer, having ...
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Costs and assessing unreasonable behaviour
The general principle on costs in civil litigation is clear: the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs of the successful party, albeit that the court has discretion to order otherwise (Civil Procedure Rule 44.3 (2)).
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My legal life: Mandy Rimmer
At school I remember wanting to be a music teacher, and then reading up in the careers library on the Diplomatic Service, and thinking that sounded better. I knew I could relate to people and wanted to do something worthwhile for them – and to be challenged. Law was the ...
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Not so great escapes
David Miller of Kidd Rapinet Solicitors has reminded me of the safe breaker Alfie Hinds’ escape from the Law Courts in June 1957, which must be one of a kind, writes James Morton.
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Changing the tenor
Readers will know that in Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, soldier Don José falls for the gypsy Carmen, leaving his sweetheart and the army, before losing Carmen to a toreador and killing her in a jealous rage. Obiter finds this ...
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A sense of history
The dapper fellow pictured is Jesse Gregson, who founded a firm of solicitors in 1788: the year when the First Fleet arrived in Australia, the American War of Independence was a recent memory, and George III was on the throne with his son yet to be appointed Regent.
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Tired of the law? Try toilet training
A touch of the January blues? Considering packing the profession in? Obiter has come across a website that offers inspiration and guidance just for that. Set up by brother and sister lawyers, leavinglaw.com suggests a wealth of alternative careers, starting with air traffic controller. Apparently ...
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Judicial review limits attacked
Government plans to limit the number of judicial reviews have been condemned by lawyers and campaign groups. A six-week consultation on the proposals, which the justice secretary says would stop ‘weak or ill-founded’ claims clogging the courts, ended last week apparently without a single response in favour. ...
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MoJ reveals £600m in court fines are unpaid
The government failed to make any significant impression on the £600m of outstanding debt from court fines during the latest financial year. Helen Grant, justice minister, told parliament this month that outstanding impositions stood at £1.8bn at the end of April 2012. A Ministry of ...
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Dubai legal links strengthened
Legal links between the courts of England, Wales and Dubai have been strengthened by the signing of a memorandum of guidance between Dubai’s International Centre (DIFC) Courts, the leading English-language commercial court in the Middle East, and the Commercial Court of England and Wales. The memorandum, designed to assist investors, ...
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Texas considers plan to open borders to foreigners
The US state of Texas is considering a plan to open its borders to foreign lawyers and compete with New York for the best international talent.
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Simplify complaints procedures, OFT tells profession
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has urged the legal profession to simplify its complaints procedures, following the publication of research showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on to make a formal complaint. Responding, the Legal Services Board (LSB) said it was making ...
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1,000 firms face Santander panel exit over CQS
Up to 1,000 firms risk being removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel at the end of March unless they obtain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation, the Society will warn this week. In September last year, the bank changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel ...
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Legal professional privilege fight goes on
The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ...
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Solicitors face sanction threat over COLP/COFA forms
Solicitors who failed to disclose relevant information about their past on compliance officer applications could have their licences removed, regulators have warned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to pursue hundreds of applicants who failed to declare facts such as criminal convictions or a previous ...
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China arbitration fight rocks foreign firms
Fears are growing that arbitration decisions made in two of China’s economic powerhouses may be impossible to enforce as a result of a feud between rival arbitration centres. The dispute began with the release of new arbitration rules by the Beijing-based China International Economic and ...
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SRA calms referral fee fears
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will try to appease firms worried about the lack of ‘safe harbour’ advice on coping with the ban on referral fees by publishing genuine case studies of acceptable business models. The regulator last week repeated it will not pre-approve models that ...