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A round-up of the week’s news
25 January
A two-month London trial intended to test assertions of intellectual property in the $800bn bitcoin digital currency seems set to go ahead despite a surprise public offer to settle. Australian-born computer scientist Dr Craig Wright, whose claim to be bitcoin’s inventor ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ is at the centre of the litigation, made a ‘non negotiable’ offer to settle on Wednesday. His principal opponent, a US-based open rights group, immediately rejected the offer.
24 January
The Access to Justice Foundation is hoping to boost the pipeline of social welfare lawyers by teaming up with City and legal aid lawyers to fund qualifying work experience for 20 trainees. The foundation is working with the Social Welfare Solicitors Qualification Fund – an initiative of the City of London Law Society, training provider BARBRI and Young Legal Aid Lawyers – to deliver a Supporting Social Justice Solicitors Programme.
The Law Society took 40 actions relating to 17 countries in 2023, according to an ‘intervention tracker’ published on the international Day of the Endangered Lawyer. Most were initiated by concerns relating to arbitrary arrest or detention (58%), followed by harassment, threats and violence (27%). The tracker, published since 2017, shows a handful of countries of particular concern. China has appeared every year; Turkey every year but one.
The Legal Services Board confirmed the scope of its review into the Axiom Ince affair. Executives at the Solicitors Regulation Authority are likely to be summoned to explain their actions before and after the costly collapse of the national firm.
23 January
The Solicitors Regulation Authority issued its biggest ever fine against a solicitor convicted of a drink-driving offence. Richard Lunn agreed to pay £13,836 – a fine 31 times higher than the financial penalty issued by the court. The SRA last year amended its approach to take account of income when issuing fines against firms and individuals.
Property law firms are handling an average of 41% fewer cases than during the ‘post-pandemic frenzy’ two years ago, according to data company Search Acumen’s latest conveyancing market tracker. The latest average of 62 cases per quarter marks a return to 2019 activity levels.
Zimbabwe failed in the English courts to set aside on state immunity grounds an order registering a $124m arbitration award over land in the African country. Mrs Justice Dias, in Border Timbers Ltd & Anor v Republic of Zimbabwe, said there was ‘no basis’ for Zimbabwe’s application and ‘state immunity is irrelevant’ to registration applications.
22 January
A Tesco delivery driver who staged a series of ‘crash for cash’ accidents was ordered to pay his former employer £18,000 in exemplary damages. Reyhan Safi was involved in four collisions in three months, in a case which unravelled a network of connected repair shops and storage sites in west London. HHJ Baucher, in Sayahi & Anor v Tesco Stores Ltd & Anor, said the case stood out due to the ‘wholesale nature of the fraud and the extent of the conspiracy’.
Allegations that intellectual property law firms earn millions of pounds a year in commissions secretly paid by patent renewal businesses are to be tested in a group claim. In Commission Recovery Ltd v Marks & Clerk LLP and Long Acre Renewals, the Court of Appeal ruled that a claim by Commission Recovery Ltd may go ahead as a representative action against IP specialist Marks & Clerk.
A new report from the Association of Prison Lawyers found that criminal lawyers face many barriers to meeting their incarcerated clients – which impedes access to justice.
19 January
Four in 10 civil legal aid providers intend to quit the fragile sector in the next five years, according to a provider survey commissioned for the government’s sustainability review.
A solicitor jailed for conducting an internet search during a trial in which she was a juror has been suspended for eight years by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Caroline Mitchell, who had a previously unblemished 25-year record as a solicitor, served four weeks in prison after admitting to disclosing information to other jury members in March 2021.
As in 2023, one solicitor appeared in the annual list of new silks: Hussein Haeri (pictured below), partner and co-head of Withers’ international arbitration and Middle East groups, and head of the public international law group. The independent King’s Counsel Selection Panel announced that 95 out of 283 applicants had made the grade, a 33.6% success rate. Barrister Sir Bob Neill MP, chair of the Commons justice committee, is among five honorary KCs.
