Law Society Gazette 17 March 2014

SRA cleared of racism

Black and minority ethnic solicitors are disproportionately represented among practitioners investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and receive harsher sanctions when convicted – but the regulator is not institutionally racist, an independent study has found.

11 March 2004

Clementi kicks off regulatory overhaul

Sir David Clementi signalled a wholesale shake-up of regulation in the legal sector this week with the publication of his long-awaited consultation paper. The most radical proposal would see regulatory functions taken from professional bodies such as the Law Society and the Bar Council and handed to a single regulator called the Legal Services Authority.

16 March 1994

Russia embraces jury trial system

A programme to reintroduce trial by jury in Russia is making steady progress according to senior Russian lawyers who have been in London for the last two weeks studying the English jury system. Jury trials existed in the country between 1864 and 1917.

14 March 1984

Sale of the century

The flotation of British Telecom, which is estimated to yield more than £4bn, is coming to be termed the ‘sale of the century’. Application forms for shares are expected to be sent to all 17m individual telephone subscribers in Britain. The House of Lords has approved a clause in the Telecommunications Bill authorising the issue of application forms without a prospectus, as normally required by law.

13 March 1974

The lord chancellor

In a by no means universally enthusiastic and in some instances downright unfavourable judgement on the ministerial appointments to the new [Labour] government, a Times leader nevertheless singled out the appointment of Sir Elwyn Jones as lord chancellor as giving ‘widespread pleasure’. Certainly that is a view that will be endorsed in legal circles.

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