Last 3 months headlines – Page 1251
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City and in-house summit calls for gender targets
Gender targets and embedding flexible working practices in corporate culture are among recommendations by over 130 senior City partners and in-house counsel to increase the number of women partners. The proposals, outlined in a report published today, follow an international summit attended by delegates from top ...
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No clarity over PI reform as D-day fast approaches
by Karl Tonks, the president of APIL ‘D-day’ for personal injury lawyers and claimants is now less than four months away and yet many issues relating to the major forthcoming changes to the personal injury system still remain outstanding.
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2012 ‘record year for mergers’
More than a quarter of top-100 firms were involved in a merger in 2012, in what has been described as a record year for deals. Research by Jomati Consultants has found that 26 deals were announced by top-100 firms during the past 12 months. ...
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Managing the risks posed by tablets
In the run-up to Christmas 2012, British shoppers reportedly bought a tablet computer every second. This means that many of your staff are likely to have a new, shiny device that they may want to use in work, as well as at home. Bring your own ...
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Plea over fixed costs for mesothelioma cases
Asbestos campaigners have warned the government it would be a mistake to introduce blanket fixed costs for all mesothelioma cases. Justice minister Helen Grant confirmed last month that a consultation will start in the spring on reform of mesothelioma cases. Proposals will ...
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Council defers defamation move
A local authority has decided to defer acting on lawyers’ advice that recent changes in policy allow it to sue critics for defamation. Rutland county council said today that following a council meeting last night ‘the option of taking legal action for defamation is not being pursued at this time’. ...
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Office banter is not black and white
We all like a good chuckle – even the high-minded hacks on the Gazette have been known to engage in badinage. But when does good-natured banter cross the line to become grounds for a discrimination or harassment claim? When does a joke stop being funny?
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Judiciary publishes guide for litigants in person
The judicial office has today published a self-help guide for litigants in person presenting cases to the interim applications court. The 16-page guide, penned by High Court judge Mr Justice Foskett, takes litigants through each stage of the process, from giving notice and presenting documents to ...
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Grayling falls for great insurance con trick
Chris Grayling must be an easy man to play at Call my Bluff. It sometimes appears as if you can tell the justice secretary any tall tale and he’ll suck it in – safe in the knowledge that he’s doing the right thing because someone has ...
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QASA start delayed
The introduction of the controversial quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA) has been delayed. The Joint Advocacy Group (JAG), made up of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and Ilex Professional Standards (IPS) issued a statement today following consideration of the responses ...
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AWS to join Law Society’s Women Lawyers Division
The Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) has voted to join the Law Society’s new Women Lawyers Division (WLD) in order to give women solicitors a ‘stronger, louder and unified voice’, it emerged this week. The vote, held on Monday evening at Chancery Lane, followed two years ...
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Interpreter contract failings revealed
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has exposed the full failings of the Ministry of Justice’s contract for court interpreters, branding it ‘an object lesson in how not to contract out a public service’. A report published today details the flaws in the procurement process and operation ...
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Real employee rights or fantasy?
If you like pantomime it is always best to choose a classic. For some it is Mother Goose, for others Cinderella. For me there is only one – Jack and the Beanstalk – and it is wonderful to see that the government appears to agree. In fact, the government likes ...
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Clash of the titans
The Court of Appeal decision in Petrodel Resources Ltd and others v Prest and Others [2012] EWCA Civ 1395, [2012] All ER (D) 293 (Oct) (as Prest v Prest) marks a collision between chancery and family. Family lost. The decisions of the heroes of the Family Division of the High ...
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Employment tribunal
Procedure – Adjournment Iqbal v Metropolitan Police Service and another: Employment Appeal Tribunal (Judge Richardson, Dr K Mohanty and Miss S Wilson): 7 September 2012 The employee withdrew his ...
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Innovators not worried by negligence threat to cancer care
It has been mooted that ‘current law is a barrier to progress in curing cancer’. I disagree. Lord Saatchi feels that ‘fear of litigation for medical negligence is a deterrent to innovation in cancer treatment’.
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Don’t slash personal injury jobs
The Law Society Research Unit informs me that 14% of all solicitors practising in England and Wales undertake personal injury work. In the north-west, it rises to 34% and in Merseyside to 40%. The unanimous view of Ministry of Justice proposals to slash fees for dealing with injury claims is ...
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The long and short of it
Unusually, there have been two pronouncements on judgment writing from high judicial officers in the UK recently (news, 23 November). The long and short of it is a win for the sensible call that judgments need to be clearer and shorter, but that there is also room for improvement by ...
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Clearing up judgments
With regard to your Gazette item on calls for judges to make their judgments more readable, I would suggest that judges go back to read the judgments of the late Lord Denning MR; they are models of conciseness and are also entertaining in a serious way. He used short sentences ...