Last 3 months headlines – Page 1348

  • News

    Bar aiming to bypass ‘superfluous’ solicitors

    2011-12-02T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors are dismissed as ‘superfluous intermediaries’ in a new bar consultation paper which recommends making it easier for the public to bypass them and instruct barristers directly. The Bar Standards Board is examining whether barristers should be able to accept direct instructions from clients eligible ...

  • News

    It’s madness to relax health and safety rules

    2011-12-02T00:00:00Z

    If you haven’t heard of Stewart Lee, then search for him on YouTube and cancel all appointments for the next few hours. If you’re not laughing within 10 minutes, check you still have a pulse. My favourite routine of his surrounds his nan’s tale of her trip to the hairdresser’s. ...

  • News

    Pinch point

    2011-12-02T00:00:00Z

    The stark comparison between new legal service providers and traditional firms’ approach to clients’ contact shows a way forward for all firms. In many solicitors offices there is a pinch point that restricts the ability of a firm to grow, the traditional solicitors’ receptionist and switchboard operator.

  • News

    Privacy case numbers soar

    2011-12-02T00:00:00Z

    The number of public figures using privacy arguments has more than doubled over the past year as the controversy over the use of injunctions has grown, according to research from legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell. The firm’s data shows a rise from nine to 24 in ...

  • News

    Damages

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Trespass to land - Quantum - First defendant company guilty of trespass to claimant company's airspace Stadium Capital Holdings (No.2) Ltd v St Marylebone Property Company plc and another company: Chancery Division (Mr Justice Vos): 8 November 2011 ...

  • News

    Estoppel

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Promissory estoppel - Reliance on representation - Claimant bank entering into facility agreements with group of companies Standard Bank Plc v Bin Issa Al Jaber: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Burton): 8 November 2011 ...

  • News

    Contract

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Construction - Indemnity clause Stornoway 2011 Ltd v SIV Portfolio plc: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Burton): 14 November 2011 The High Court, Queen's Bench Division, in finding ...

  • News

    Jurisdiction

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Conflict of laws - Challenge to jurisdiction - Parties entering into licence agreement Seven Licensing Company Sarl and another company v FFG-Platinum SA and other companies: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Gloster): 16 November 2011 ...

  • News

    Ombudsman can also exonerate

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    There has been a lot of discussion about the Legal Ombudsman’s recent announcement on publishing the names of lawyers who have given poor service to their clients. The LeO was keen to emphasise that this applies to only a small proportion of lawyers. Inevitably some ...

  • News

    On guard

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Obiter once saw a robot prison guard demonstrated in the US. The Dalek-like contraption was deployed in earnest only once, to get CCTV footage of a prison riot. Not surprisingly, it was a one-way mission.

  • News

    Field of dreams

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    It’s well known that even the dullest and dustiest desk-bound male lawyer has the occasional Walter Mitty fantasy. Here’s a perfect Christmas present for him, from the pen of media lawyer Roger Field.

  • News

    Bare necessity

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Gyles Brandreth is not a man well versed in the art of restraint. So who better to lecture a group of solicitors about the art of communication than the former MP and One Show contributor? Brandreth, invited by DBG Communications, had plenty of tips last week ...

  • News

    All present and correct

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Santa’s grotto opened for business early at a Walsall firm, when QualitySolicitors CMHT offered its support to Operation Christmas Child. Staff from all three branches wrapped and filled shoe boxes with small gifts they had donated to send to the world’s neediest children. Val Cox, ...

  • News

    Lawyer, heal thyself

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    I see that John Osborne’s 1964 play Inadmissible Evidence has been revived to its usual ecstatic reviews. The Daily Telegraph’s critic said he had little doubt that the character was ‘ripped straight from the dramatist’s own mind and heart and set down on paper’.

  • News

    Insolvency

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Deferring a minor’s ­entitlement to capital beyond 18

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Immigration

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Local authority

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Privilege

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Legal professional privilege - Solicitor and client - Communications between legal adviser and client JSC BTA Bank v Shalabayev and another: CD (Mr Justice Henderson): 10 November 2011 As part ...

  • News

    Sir Scott Baker made a fundamental mistake in his extradition review

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    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.