Last 3 months headlines – Page 1284
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Insolvency
Compulsory winding-up order - Liquidator - Appointment Re Business Dream Ltd: ChD (Judge Behrens sitting as a judge of the High Court): 8 November 2011 BD Ltd (the company) traded ...
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Deferring a minor’s entitlement to capital beyond 18
In Wright v Gater [2011] EWHC 2881 (Ch), Mr Justice Norris made some very helpful comments on the court’s approach to applications under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958 (VTA) which seek to defer a minor’s entitlement to capital beyond 18. This application was made on ...
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Immigration
Right of appeal - Claim for asylum - Notice of refusal of leave to enter AS (Somalia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; CW (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; SD (Zimbabwe) v Secretary ...
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Local authority
Public library - Duty of library authority - Defendant local authorities making changes to library services R (on the application of Green) v Gloucestershire County Council; R (on the application of Rowe and another) v Somerset County Council: QBD ...
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Sir Scott Baker made a fundamental mistake in his extradition review
It must be gratifying for Sir Scott Baker that in Joshua Rozenberg he has at least one champion for his review of the UK’s extradition laws. But Mr Rozenberg’s seems to be very much the minority view on matters of forum and our treaty with the US.
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Aid imbroglio
I was recently telephoned by Bridgend Magistrates’ Court to be told that a client of mine had been arrested on warrant in respect of breaching a suspended sentence order. I arrived at court and saw my client in the cells. He informed me he was working; I completed the CDS14 ...
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Inefficient emails
Emails are now at the point where they are overtaking letters as the preferred form of communication. Emails, traditionally, are more informal and ‘matey’ as well as being far more (though not completely) instantaneous. My pet bugbear is that, with their informality, many senders fail ...
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Troika’s liberalisation drive ‘threatens profession’
European governments are under pressure from the so-called ‘troika’ to rush through reforms that will erode the independence of the legal profession, the Gazette has been told. The reforms include the appointment by governments of non-lawyers to supervise and regulate the profession, with the authority to set fee levels and ...
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Law firms urged to set pro bono hours target
The time has come for a debate on whether firms should set ‘aspirational’ targets for the number of pro bono hours worked by their lawyers and staff, the attorney general’s pro bono envoy has suggested. Michael Napier QC, who is also senior partner at national ...
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ABS ‘threat’ to in-house legal teams
In-house legal teams will be vulnerable to replacement by services run by outsourcing businesses, such as Capita and Serco, once the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is able to license alternative business structures (ABSs).
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'Sea change’ for county court claims
All claims to county courts are to be processed through a central facility in a ‘massive sea change’ designed to slash costs and processing times, the Gazette can reveal. From March, solicitors will no longer need to mail claims with a cheque to individual courts, ...
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Peers target third-party capture
Peers debating civil litigation reform have called for a crackdown on the so-called ‘third-party capture’ practice of insurers approaching claimants directly. Four members of the House of Lords tabled amendments on the subject last week during the second reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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Ministers back virtual courts
Justice ministers have made personal appearances to give their backing to virtual courts and ‘live link’ communications between police stations and magistrates’ courts. Nick Herbert (pictured) and Jonathan Djanogly visited a police station in North Kent and a court in Chester last week to see the video technology in use. ...
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'Serious’ privacy breaches over prisoners' letters
Legally privileged correspondence sent to prisoners is being compromised by solicitors failing to comply with procedures for addressing mail. The National Offender Management Service says there have been ‘many instances where correspondence from legal practitioners addressed or marked incorrectly has led to serious breaches of privacy’.
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News focus: Vince Cable’s employment law ‘bonfire’
Business secretary Vince Cable’s speech announcing ‘radical reform to the employment law system’ reads oddly. It contains contradictions of the sort that do not usually make it into the final draft of a minister’s speech.
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Colombia 'anarchy' is risking lawyers’ lives
The ‘black hand’ of drug smuggling, violence and political corruption has penetrated every level of Colombian society and now wields greater influence than the state itself, according to one of the country’s leading human rights lawyers.
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Offshore law firms are reinventing themselves
No man is an island - as we all know from the poet, John Donne; which is why global offshore financial centres such as those in Bermuda and the Channel Islands have felt the effects of the recession as much, if not more, than their onshore counterparts. But it is ...
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The coalition has a clear agenda
Contained in the raft of announcements by business secretary Vince Cable last week was the news that the Ministry of Justice will consult on the introduction of tribunal fees for employees who wish to bring a claim. Critics have argued that this will affect access to justice.
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Strike action disrupts courts nationwide
Courts across England and Wales suffered disruption today as the public sector endured the biggest walkout for a generation. The Ministry of Justice said key services such as family courts and custody proceedings were prioritised following action by the PCS union. Picket lines appeared at ...