Last 3 months headlines – Page 1257
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Employment
Jurisdiction - Unfair dismissal Ravat v Halliburton Manufacturing and Services Ltd: Supreme Court (Lords Hope, Brown, Mance and Kerr, Lady Hale): 8 February 2012 The Supreme Court held, in dismissing ...
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Sometimes we need Europe-wide answers
This is a report from the European frontline. I read the same newspapers as you do and see the hysterical coverage about imminent EU collapse. But I also work in a European organisation - the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) - where we have members from ...
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Mental health
Mental capacity - Local authority - Supported accommodation - Family life K v A Local Authority and others: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Thorpe, Davis, Lady Justice Black): 8 February 2012 ...
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Courts martial
Royal Forces - Conduct to prejudice of good order and discipline - Mens rea - Judge holding no case to answer R v Armstrong: Courts Martial Appeal Court (Sir Anthony May (president), Griffith Williams, Mr Justice Coulson): 1 February ...
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‘Control’ of documents
In the recent case of North Shore Ventures Limited v Anstead Holdings Inc [2012] EWCA Civ 11 the Court of Appeal considered the concept of 'control' of documents under Civil Procedure Rules 71.2 and 31. The rules ...
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Politicians appreciate the value of investigative journalism
What future does investigative journalism have in an age when reporters face arrest and courts develop privacy laws? That was the question raised in a report published last week by the House of Lords communications committee. The select committee’s starting point was that ‘responsible investigative journalism ...
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Millions spent on empty court buildings
The government is spending £2.5m a year maintaining dozens of redundant courts across England and Wales, the Gazette can reveal. A reply to a freedom of information request shows 69 former court buildings remain vacant, with no imminent chance of them being sold. Justice minister Jonathan ...
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Troika bid to cut judicial holidays
The time-honoured tradition of two-month summer breaks for senior judges has become an unexpected frontline issue in international efforts to rescue troubled European economies, the Gazette has learned. The so-called troika, comprising the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission, has set fiscal and ...
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‘Cordial’ talks on HSBC panel
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has met senior representatives of HSBC a month after the bank caused consternation by announcing a conveyancing panel containing only 39 solicitor firms. Despite a ‘cordial’ meeting, Hudson described the outcomes as ‘disappointing’ and said he did not expect ‘any voluntary change of approach ...
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New capping regime must not cost the earth
Lord Justice Jackson’s suggestion of a fixed-cost regime is an improvement on the government’s proposals, but falls short of providing ‘copper-bottomed’ compliance with the Aarhus Convention.
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Jordan’s rule of law
I write in response to the Rights & Wrongs column. It seems that some imaginary and mischievous allegations are being made that give the impression that there is use of torture in Jordan, not only against Abu Qatada but others as well. As a former minister ...
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System failure
I write regarding the recent announcement by the Ministry of Justice to increase the financial limit in the small-claims track from the present £5,000 limit to £10,000, diverting some 80,000 cases each year from the fast-track claims route to the small-track claims route. This is ...
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Money talks
Last week I spoke at length to a friend, a commercial HSBC manager who manages the accounts of several local solicitors’ firms, about HSBC’s decision to introduce a UK panel of 43 law firms. For HSBC clients in my rural area this means a choice between the additional cost of ...
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Captured market
In Today’s Conveyancer a Mr Pete Dockar, head of mortgages at HSBC, purports to deal with some questions about the new panel arrangements. As might be expected, the response is bland to the point of being useless, making vague and unsupported assertions about fraud. No doubt the answers given were ...
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Blame game
The letter from Peter Connolly hits home with this firm of solicitors, which has achieved admission to the Conveyancing Quality Scheme. We have already applied to the licensed conveyancers to join the HSBC panel, only to be told that there were no vacancies in our area.
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MoJ to consult on PI discount rate
The Ministry of Justice is to re-examine the discount rate used to calculate the amount deducted from an injured person’s compensation to account for income received from investing the damages, the Gazette has learned. The personal injury discount rate of 2.5% has not changed since 2001. ...
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Government backs single EU patent court
The government has backed controversial plans to set up a single patent court for Europe. Lady Wilcox, minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told a Lords committee this week that, even after 40 years of failed negotiations, the way forward for business efficiency in Europe remains a ...
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Over 50 law firms join breast implant action
A group action on behalf of the estimated 40,000 UK women who received cosmetic breast implants made by a now-defunct French company has signed up more than 50 law firms, in what could be the final group action of its kind. One of the lawyers ...
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APIL ‘defeatist’
The rights of innocent victims have had shockingly little bearing on the shape of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which has been driven by a mythical compensation culture as part of a surreptitious government cost-cutting agenda. Sadly, those same victims appear to have been given equally ...