Last 3 months headlines – Page 1378
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Local authority surveillance
In January, the Home Office published its long-awaited review of counter-terrorism and security powers. Amid all the headlines and controversy about control orders for suspected terrorists, it is easy to miss the proposed changes to local authorities’ powers to carry out surveillance under the Regulation of ...
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Wise words
Those (such as Obiter) who follow speeches by the master of the rolls will have noticed that the reputation of judges and lawyers, particularly in times gone by, is a common theme. At a lecture last week in honour of utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham (who had a famously low opinion ...
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Reinventing intellectual property litigation
The Patents County Court has undergone a major makeover, to make it the venue of choice for small-to-medium-sized intellectual property disputes. Intellectual property is generally seen as being a good thing, both for businesses or the individuals that own it, and for society at large. Patents ...
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Counsel of woe
Establishment stalwart Obiter is, of course, deeply reluctant to take the michael out of esteemed government departments. But sometimes it simply cannot be resisted. Last week’s Ministry of Justice announcement of 120 new QC appointments raised an eyebrow at Obiter Towers, and not because there were only a measly two ...
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Long and winding road
Obiter’s Memory Lane slot often features correspondence to the Gazette’s editor. But rarely are we contacted by the original author across the intervening decades: Dear Sir,What a surprise to see a letter ...
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Compact Disken
There must be plenty of lawyers out there who dream of escaping the daily grind to become a singer-songwriter. So all credit to Teresa Disken (pictured), with her ‘Cherokee blood and Irish soul’, who left a commercial law job at City Hall to record Venus and the Director, and promptly ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, March/April, 1971 Letter to the editor – advertisingNo one has yet considered the connection between advertising and the present urgent need of the solicitor ...
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Radical shakeup of social housing is potentially damaging
The Law Society has been coordinating responses from members of its relevant committees (planning, conveyancing and housing) to large parts of the Localism Bill. This is the bill that proposes to bring in far-reaching plans to devolve power to the local community to build on the government’s idea of the ...
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How the law can be used to fight cuts to services for disabled people
Disabled children and disabled adults need significant support from public bodies to help them lead ordinary lives. These groups require both specialist and targeted services and flexible universal services which can be adapted to their needs. The past decade has seen services for disabled children ...
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Law firms develop new strategies to stand out from the crowd
In Kingdom, a TV drama, Stephen Fry plays Peter Kingdom, a local solicitor with a natural human and personal touch, going out of his way to help the locals in a small town in Norfolk. This idealised portrayal of life as a solicitor could not be further from the world ...
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Why the SRA should be allowed to regulate ABSs
Profoundly important decisions are about to be taken that will determine the types of law firm that will be allowed to operate from October 2011 and how the profession will be regulated.
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Web redefines relationship between journalism and the law
Write an article for publication these days and the chances are that it will attract ill-informed comments. No longer content with sending in a letter to the editor and waiting to see if it is printed, readers now demand an instant right of reply on the publisher’s website. ...
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Government words are hard to stomach
I read with interest your excellent feature 'War of the words'. For some time, I have been criticising the manner in which government departments and regulators use language that is intended to mislead.
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‘Glass windows’ are not for everyone
I doff my cap to Tania Jeffery and Kellie-Jayne Cox, who have recently opened a new practice in Hampshire. It is particularly noble in these difficult days. I think, however, that the ‘glass window’ policy may be questionable, and a grumpy old gaffer like me would ...
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Strength in numbers?
Does it really take the nine senior judges of the Supreme Court to decide an issue of housing law, albeit an important one (Manchester City Council v Pinnock (No.2). In the same issue of the Gazette, Lord Phillips is reported as berating the government over the ...
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Who says mediation is a panacea?
I have got a lot of time for Christina Blacklaws and agree with much of what she has to say about the lack of joined-up thinking in government family law policy. However, I was disappointed with the article’s headline, ‘No panacea for family problems’.
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Tell the litigant if he is likely to win
Stephen Trahair is a tad unfair to Lord Justice Jackson and his attempt to deal with the costs issue. Two factors are in play: 1. Reconstructing events and arguing over them with indemnity-insured trained legal representation costs money;2. All any solicitor should want is to be ...
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Pay up or stay behind bars
I refer to your Opinion ‘The unanswered question of fines’ . Like everybody else, apart from those who prefer not to pay, I am appalled at the sum unpaid.
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LSC debt collection tactics criticised
Delays in granting legal aid by the Legal Services Commission and ‘aggressive’ enforcement by its debt collectors of legal aid contributions are causing anxiety for clients and have driven some to attempt suicide, the Gazette has learned.