Last 3 months headlines – Page 1399
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MoJ to extend Freedom of Information Act
More public bodies are to be opened up to public scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), the Ministry of Justice announced today. The MoJ said it will extend the scope of the FOI to make it easier for people to find and use information ...
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Profession under stress, helpline reveals
A charity that provides support to solicitors has identified high levels of stress among the profession. Telephone helpline LawCare recorded the second busiest year in its 13-year history. The advice line opened 517 new case files in 2010, down from the ...
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What mystery shoppers can tell us
The Legal Services Board has commissioned a mystery shopping exercise into the will-writing market to explore the experience of consumers getting wills from different channels and test the quality of wills. The study will recruit 100 consumers who are looking to obtain a will – ...
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Legal advice
Access to justice – Disability equality duty – Mental health – Tender process Public Interest Lawyers v Legal Services Commission: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice Cranston): 13 December 2010 The claimant ...
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Human rights
Detention – Drug trafficking – Right to life – Death of drug smuggler Ayesha Al Hassan-Daniel (in her own right and as representative of the estate of Anthony Daniel, deceased) & Anor (appellants) v Revenue & Customs Commissioners (respondent) ...
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Human rights
Local government – Penology and criminology – Declarations of incompatibility Peter Chester v (1) Secretary of State for Justice (2) Wakefield Metropolitan District Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger (MR), Lords Justices Laws, Carnwath): 17 December 2010 ...
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Gotta lotta bottle
Obiter has always suspected that the legal profession is partial to a tipple (indeed, see Memory Lane’s report of the Solicitors Wine Society annual banquet). The phenomenal response to our Christmas competition, with more than 100 entries, rather seemed to prove the point.
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Facing the sack
Christmas cards – of the paper variety, not the pert and pointless email attachments that fill up mailboxes and nobody ever clicks on – have long been a civilised method of sending seasonal good wishes. But one pressure group, Justice for All, has spotted the opportunity they represent for making ...
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Family law
Administration of justice – Human rights – Jurisprudence – Children’s hearings Principal reporter v K: SC (Lords Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Kerr, Dyson, Lady Hale): 15 December 2010 The appellant ...
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Keep your wig on
There is nothing the papers love more than an eccentric judge, so there was plenty of coverage of Beatrice Bolton’s outburst when she was found guilty of breaching the Dangerous Dogs Act at Carlisle Crown Court last month. London newspaper Metro reported that the 57-year-old judge (pictured), who was told ...
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Localism Bill – running the rule over council powers
The Localism Bill, published on 13 December, is a substantial and important piece of legislation. It has 207 clauses in eight parts and 24 schedules in 406 pages.
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The ins and outs of obtaining information relating to debtors
It is a well-known scriptural principle that ‘unto every one that hath shall be given… but from him that hath not shall be taken away’. Extracting assets from the hath-nots, however, is not always easy, as the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Broomleigh Housing Association Ltd v ...
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Solicitors must stand together to face daunting challenges ahead
During the first six months of my presidency of the Law Society I have travelled overseas and across England and Wales to speak to lawyers from sectors such as the City, small high street practitioners, sole practitioners, in-house solicitors, private practice and solicitors working in publicly funded roles. This includes ...
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Remembering Lord Goddard
I have always enjoyed articles in the Gazette by James Morton, including a recent item about judges. I first saw Lord Goddard in the late 50s, while an articled clerk in London. I often dropped in to the Royal Courts of Justice for a bit ...
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Providing right for acccess to justice for all - 1970s solution
During the early 1970s, conveyancing work was the lifeblood of most high street firms. The litigation solicitor was the ‘poor relation’ of the practice. It was commonplace to hear the comment that the litigators were heavily subsidised by the conveyancers. This situation even survived for many years after the abolition ...
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Deciding who gets a training contract
In her letter of 18 November, Judy Solomon suggested that there should be a restriction on those entering the LPC, relating to A-level grades, to ensure that ‘only the best are allowed to practise as solicitors’.
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Supporting the Law Society to fight for access to justice
Your lead letter of 16 December was misleading to those who are unaware of current discussions in the Law Society Council, of which the writer is a member, to develop policy on the government green paper affecting access to justice.
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Older partners - deciding when it's time to go
James Davies makes a number of good points in his discussion of retirement ages for partners. Certainly firms should consider the implications carefully before either retaining or abolishing a retirement age, not least because of the messages it sends out about the firm. As we have seen in other areas ...
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Corporate governance proposals ‘will dilute UK rules’, warns GC100 chair
A torrent of EU initiatives aimed at tightening up corporate governance risks ‘diluting’ robust UK rules and will be a major concern for senior in-house lawyers in 2011, the head of an influential group of general counsel has told the Gazette. John Davidson (pictured), chair of ...