Memory lane 18 February 2022

Gazette, 16 February 2012

Telecoms giant seeks ABS status

Telecoms giant BT is planning a major incursion into the legal services market after applying to become an alternative business structure. BT Claims, a wholly owned subsidiary, applied last week to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

21 February 2002

Government plan to byte into delays

The government this week launched a £2.4 million pilot scheme to use the internet and mobile phone text messaging to reduce Crown court delays and witness waiting times.

19 February 1992

Summer deadline set for fixed fees

A supremely confident lord chancellor faced a 2,000-strong throng of seething solicitors last week to deliver the message that fixed fees would be introduced to the magistrates’ courts by the summer. Lord Mackay went on to sour the atmosphere further by saying he regarded his 3% pay offer for legal aid overall as ‘entirely reasonable’.

17 February 1982

Social security and marital bliss

One feature of the social security system which frequently attracts criticism is its attitude to couples who are cohabiting (or, to use the racier, liberated words of the modern statutes ‘living together’) as husband and wife. The existence of such cohabitation is a question which has long been essential in the determination of entitlement to widow’s benefit and supplementary benefit.

February 1962

Cherchez la jeune fille

It is an interesting reflection upon our profession that the solicitor, whose calling imposes upon him the duty to be firm and resolute in many crises, can be reduced to a state of utter helplessness in the selection and supervision of female staff. The cinema of the thirties is not without blame for, of those who sat spellbound before magnified images of the Dietrichs, Shearers and Temples, was born a generation of young ladies named Marlene, Norma and Shirley.