Last 3 months headlines – Page 1368
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PI firms inundated over banned implants
Personal injury firms say they are receiving hundreds of enquiries every week from women treated with now banned PIP breast implants. Up to 40,000 women in the UK have been fitted with implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese. The Department of Health has offered ...
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Law Society wary on shared parenting possibility
The Law Society’s family law committee has cautioned against introducing a legal presumption of shared parenting after divorce, following indications that the government may seek to change the law. Children’s minister Tim Loughton has said that the government is ‘looking closely at all the options ...
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Bottoms and broomsticks
Surveying the dismal content of Berezovsky v Abramovich, Obiter can’t help feeling a little nostalgic for great court cases of the past. Our favourite, of course, is the 1961 ‘Lady Chatterley trial’, R v Penguin Books Ltd. What’s not to like about a trial where ...
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Casting a net
Never let it be said that the Law Society is old-fashioned. Our leaders know there is more to social media than a coffee in the Chancery Lane Reading Room - indeed they’ve even noticed the existence of Twitter and Facebook. Last week the Society issued practice ...
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Habeas corpus
Jurisdiction - Prisoner of war - Claimant Pakistani national being captured by British forces in Iraq Rahmatullah v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and another: CA (Civ Div) (Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger, Lord Justices ...
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Bar chair counsels cooperation
An independent referral bar is in the public interest and has an ‘assured future’, despite increasing competition and changing working practices, according to its new chair. In an interview with Gazette Online, Michael Todd QC said solicitors see value in the continuation of the independent bar. ‘The bar doesn’t want ...
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No ‘hidden agenda’ in Irish legal reforms
Ireland’s government has denied the existence of any ‘hidden agenda’ behind sweeping reforms to the legal system imposed following the country’s bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The minister for justice, equality and defence, Alan Shatter (pictured), was responding to growing international concerns, first ...
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NewLaw makes ABS move
Cardiff-based firm NewLaw has confirmed it is among 44 organisations that have so far applied for alternative business structure status through the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The personal injury firm, established in 2004, submitted its application last week when the SRA became a licensing authority. ...
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Co-op Legal has ‘ambitious’ growth plan
Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has launched a recruitment drive as part of ‘ambitious plans’ to expand in the consumer legal services market. The move follows CLS’s submission, at the start of the year, of its application to become an alternative business structure. It is seeking ...
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2011 was a transformational year for regulation
In my column a year ago, I described the year ahead as pivotal for legal services. In the last 12 months we have introduced a radically new way of regulating legal services, including publication of a new Handbook. We prepared intensively for the licensing of alternative business structures (ABSs). And ...
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Matter of opinion
The City of London Law Society has issued a useful Guide to assist practitioners in providing English law opinion letters in financial transactions. The aim of the Guide (available at the website) is to save time and costs spent in discussing which law firm should provide an opinion letter, what ...
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SRA to consider dropping minimum wage for trainees
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to consult on whether to continue to set minimum pay rates for trainees. Current minimum salary levels for solicitors are £18,590 in central London and £16,650 outside, and have been frozen for the past two years. However the SRA board decided ...
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LSC blamed by Jewels for closure
A West Midlands family legal aid firm has blamed delays in payment by the Legal Services Commission for forcing it into administration. Jewels, founded in 1980 by sole director Mark Jewels (pictured), ceased trading on 28 December. The Lexcel-accredited firm, ...
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Immigration service users unaware of its closure
Clients of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) remain unaware that the not-for-profit provider went into administration six months ago and are still trying to gain access to its premises, the Gazette has learned. There is no guidance information on the locked doors of the central London ...
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Asbestos fund still on agenda, says government
The government has assured people suffering from asbestos-related disease that a ‘fund of last resort’ is still on the agenda, nearly two years after a report called for its creation. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister Lord Freud is understood to be in ...
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David Cameron cannot impose ‘industry-led’ solutions on disputes
The British public’s relationship with ‘health and safety’ is complex. Health and safety ‘culture’ is blamed for stifling economic growth and preventing volunteers from engaging in beneficial civic and community activities. Yet when things go wrong, in care homes, hospitals, banks, or fun fairs, the cry goes up: where was ...
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Commission's conclusions should return assisted dying debate to moral realms
by Eduardo Reyes, Gazette features editor The report on assisted dying, produced by a ‘commission’ formed by thinktank Demos, and part-funded by author and campaigner Terry Pratchett, made headlines last week for stating that there were practical ways that the existing law on suicide could be ...
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Referral fees in spotlight as MPs slam cost of whiplash claims
MPs today call for the bar to be raised if claimants are to receive compensation for whiplash injuries following motor accidents. A report by the Commons Transport Committee into the cost of motor insurance concludes that the rise in personal injury claims is the ‘main reason ...