Last 3 months headlines – Page 1296
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Keep dreaming
Parallels between Lord Falconer and Kevin Costner (pictured) are scarce, Obiter has to admit. But the former lord chancellor evoked the spirit of the body-guarding Prince of Thieves last week at the grandly-titled SRA Regulation Symposium. In keeping with the theme of the day, Tony Blair’s former flatmate was asked ...
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'Interesting' insight
It’s getting on for two years since the government launched its crackdown on local authority newspapers. Communities secretary Eric Pickles declared war on what he famously described as ‘town hall Pravdas’ wasting taxpayers’ money and time.Lately, however, ministers have stopped beating that drum - hardly surprising when Whitehall departments continue ...
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Competition
European Union - Rules on competition - European Commission finding defendant companies entering into cartel regarding provision of heavy electrical equipment used in power grids National Grid Electricity Transmission Plc v ABB Ltd and other companies: ChD (Mr ...
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Judicial review
Specialist services - Applicant hospital trust providing paediatric and congenital cardiac services - Trust challenging consultation process R (on the application of Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust) v Joint Committee of Primary Care ...
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We must adapt to LASPO
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act received royal assent last week. The consequence of this will be that, in some very important areas such as housing and welfare benefits law, vulnerable members of society will find legal advice and representation in the courts, funded by legal ...
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Justice chief to step down after 11 years
Roger Smith, the director of human rights group Justice, has announced that he is to stand down at the end of October after 11 years in the job. Smith, a solicitor and Gazette columnist, said he intends to do more journalism and work on a book ...
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Regulators agree to share data on ABSs
A cross-profession agreement should ensure that alternative business structures have to deal with only one regulator. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed this week by regulators from the legal, accountancy, financial and property sectors will enable more information to be shared, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) ...
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Singapore move for College of Law
The College of Law (CoL) has formed a strategic collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Legal Education with a view to establishing a permanent presence in the state. The move is expected to be the first of many such projects made possible by the college’s new ownership structure. ...
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Disclosure
Confidential information - Injunction against disclosure of information - Interim injunction BUQ v HRE: Queen's Bench Division (Mr Justice Tugendhat): 29 March 2012 The Queen's Bench Division allowed the defendant's ...
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Employment
Discrimination - Sex discrimination Hawkins v Atex Group Ltd and others: Employment Appeal Tribunal (Mr Justice Underhill): 13 March 2012 The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed the employee's appeal against the ...
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We need to make Ombudsman scheme fairer
Five years on from the arrival of the 2007 Legal Services Act we are still waiting for the ‘Big Bang’. What has come into existence seems less an entirely new universe, with a primordial cloud of traditional legal service providers accelerating away, transforming into clusters of one-stop-shop commercial enterprise (as ...
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Marriage Foundation motives are laudable
Was Mr Justice Coleridge wise to arrange such a very public launch for his Marriage Foundation this week? Whether or not you support its aims - and I do, for reasons I will explain - you may well wonder whether a serving family judge should campaign for one kind of ...
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Hot property?
Last week brought the gloomy news that the country has slid back into recession. The much feared double dip was to a large extent blamed on the contraction in the construction sector. It would seem that tricky times are ahead for real estate lawyers, but far from tightening their belts, ...
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Law firms remain cautious despite profit growth
Law firms continue to rebuild profitability while keeping a tight rein on overheads, according to a respected annual bellwether of the sector’s financial health. Practices are also relatively bullish about future fees, with most expecting a 3% rise in 2012.
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Female partner boost at magic circle
The number of women promoted to partnership at magic circle firms has risen by 50% - but they still make up just a quarter of all the promotions. A total of 95 solicitors were this week elected to partnership at the leading five firms. Of these, 24 were women - ...
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Italian firm applies to become an ABS
A leading Italian law firm has joined the race to become an alternative business structure as the number of advanced applications approaches 100. Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati, which has an annual turnover of €100m (£82m), could become one of the first non-UK law firms to ...
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SRA reprieve for financial advice law firms
Some 70 firms set to lose their dual authorisation to give combined legal and financial advice later this year may have been granted a reprieve. The Solicitors Regulation Authority had told the affected firms that when they became alternative business structures they would lose their ...