Last 3 months headlines – Page 1345
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Flexible protocol
I write regarding your article on the launch of the Flexible Working Protocol. You may be interested in knowing a few more details about our firm - a working example of how flexible working can be successful.
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Email ‘bugbear’
A recent Gazette drew attention to the writer’s ‘bugbear’ with emails - that many senders of them fail to quote his reference. I can’t say I agree. On the contrary, one delight with emails is precisely that you can send them straight to the correct ...
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Lawyers named in honours list
The Queen’s solicitor and the former terror laws watchdog were among the lawyers recognised in the New Year honours list. Mark Bridges, partner at London firm Farrer & Co, was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his work as personal solicitor to the Queen. ...
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Our mutual friend
Young people, eh? Just the other day Obiter heard about a new starter at a legal firm who, on his very first day at work, returned from an errand with a black eye after getting into a fight with some yob who’d remarked on his hat. The clerk’s name was ...
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Clearing the decks
Obiter is a huge fan of all the latest hot DJs on the hit parade: Tony Blackburn, DLT, Mike Reid (wasn’t he Frank Butcher? - Ed). So we’re obviously saddened to hear that Radio 1 stalwart Judge Jules is to swap the mixing for billing ...
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Walsall's bard
If Obiter were a poet laureate for any town, we’d choose a rhyme-friendly location such as Poole or Neath. So we don’t envy wordsmith Ian Henery, the solicitor who has been tasked with creating poems for his home town of Walsall. ‘It’s not too difficult to ...
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Fit santas
Ho ho ho… staff at Veale Wasbrough Vizards dressed up to take part in this year’s Santa Fun Run in aid of Help the Hospices. Colin Godfrey (third from left) finished fourth in the 5km race.
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Crims on rims?
Down under, there is currently a racing scandal to rank alongside the travails of four British jockeys who have, subject to any appeal, lost their licences.
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Lord Falconer slams assisted dying law
A thinktank led by former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer (pictured) has called the law on assisted dying ‘inadequate and incoherent’. In a report published today, the Commission on Assisted Dying concludes that the law can be reformed without endangering protections for vulnerable people. The report’s ...
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Leveson plea on ‘either way’ offences
The chairman of the Sentencing Council has called on magistrates to send fewer ‘either way’ offences to the Crown court. The number of such cases reaching the Crown court rose from 310,000 in 2007 to 353,000 in 2010. Lord Justice Leveson told the House of Commons ...
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Retention rate for trainees up
The number of trainees staying with their firms after qualifying recovered in 2011 after a two-year dip, according to a survey of more than 120 commercial firms. The Chambers Student Guide found that 1,813 of the 2,251 trainees who qualified in 2011 stayed on. That retention ...
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No to trial by television
At the risk of antagonising a good proportion of our readers, we begin 2012 by praising Kenneth Clarke. He has decided that plans to televise criminal trials will be limited to judges’ comments. The dispensation will not extend to filming juries, victims and witnesses ‘under any circumstances’ - nor to ...
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Large law firms 'not paying carbon tax'
Some of the country’s largest law firms do not pay any carbon tax, while smaller competitors are facing bills of £50,000 a year or more, according to new research. City firm Herbert Smith (pictured right), with 700 lawyers in London, pays no carbon tax, compared with ...
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New arrangements will provide a stronger platform
I am pleased to say that at the end of last year, the Law Society Council approved a package of changes to the arrangements for the governance of the relationship between the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Under the new arrangements agreed between the ...
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High street firms need to take a long hard look at themselves
Sadly my father recently passed away and the thoughts of my family turned to appointing a funeral director. It was a toss-up between a local family-run firm and the Co-operative Funeralcare. In the end we chose the family firm, but it was a close-run thing.
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Choosing death
A report on assisted dying, produced by a ‘commission’ formed by think tank Demos, makes big headlines today. The commission, whose year of hearings and evidence gathering was chaired by former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, has no official status. But, by its composition, the commission has done its best to ...
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Online PC renewals open
The online practising certificate (PC) and registration renewals process begins today for firms and individuals whose full name starts with the letters E to Z, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced. Renewals for names beginning with the letters A to D have already started. Alphabetical placing ...
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Cameron extends PI fees cap in attack on ‘albatross’ safety culture
David Cameron today announced plans to cap lawyers’ fees from personal injury claims at £25,000. Speaking to an audience of small companies, the prime minister launched an attack on the so-called compensation culture and blamed it for holding back the growth of UK businesses.
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Tesco law is no big bang, but change is still on the horizon
I’ve never quite understood the obsession with celebrating new year’s eve. There’s an enormous build-up, endless boring chat about the future and a few party poppers. Then it’s over, with just dark wintry evenings and uncertainty to look forward to.
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Taxation of trusts in france
The French tax authorities have always had a problem with the taxation of trusts because a trust does not exist in French law and it is very difficult to assimilate to a French vehicle. So in its own pragmatic way the French government decided to ignore the legal refinements of ...