Martin Mears has announced that he may withdraw from this summer’s Law Society presidential race following the move by his former comrade-in-arms, Robert Sayer, to join forces with Phillip Sycamore, the current vice-president. Mears, who announced last month that he would stand for the presidency again this year, is now weighing up his options in […]
Southwark Council’s legal department has been censured for its part in failing to evict a mentally disturbed man who harassed and threatened a terrified neighbour for more than 10 years. A damning report by local government ombudsman, Edward Osmotherly, accuses the London borough’s legal department of delay and inefficiency over its handling of the flat […]
Birmingham-based Edge & Ellison has closed its two fee earner matrimonial department in Birmingham. One associate, Kathy Turner, has moved to Birmingham family specialist Blair Allison & Co, while legal executive Lisa Daymond-King is taking time off before looking for an alternative position.
Cameron Markby Hewitt and McKenna & Co have chosen a six-strong partnership council to run the newly-merged Cameron McKenna from its launch on 1 May. Each firm has three seats on the council, which will sit alongside senior partner Bill Shelford and managing partner Robert Derry-Evans. McKennas chose members of its existing board – Christopher […]
Students from London law colleges will begin representing social security claimants for free this year, if a scheme being devised by law student Kit Johnson gets the necessary resources. Johnson, who finishes his LPC at the London College of Law in June, has a year off before he starts his training contract at Clifford Chance […]
Law firms in France with links to the Big Six accountancy firms may seek compensation from the French government if they are forced to change their names, according to one lawyer embroiled in the debate. The battle centres around the conflicting provisions of a law passed in 1992, which has only just come into force. […]
The Bar Council has received a record number of complaints from barristers whose fees have not been paid by solicitors. In February, there were 82 complaints – the highest ever for that time period and one of the highest monthly figures since records began more than 10 years ago. Bar Council officials are at a […]
The one-year old Solicitors Association has merged with the 30-year-old British Legal Association. Members from both groups, who were due to meet and formally amalgamate over the weekend – after The Lawyer went to press – are vowing to continue campaigning for a split in the representative and regulatory functions of the Law Society. Surrey […]
A conference held in Dorking today will map out how to establish and run a Solicitors Property Centre. Jointly organised by the Surrey Law Society and the Solicitors’ Property Group, it will mark the latest in a series of attempts by the country’s beleaguered conveyancing lawyers to boost profits. But SPCs are just one road […]
The weight of evidence could stretch the Carl Bridgewater appeal hearing, due to begin at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, to four weeks. The court will hear 60 grounds of appeal for James Robinson alone, said his solicitor, Jim Nichol, of Taylor Nichol. The key defence evidence is the forged confession that induced Patrick […]
In the news story in The Lawyer (7 October) concerning the closure of Clifford Chance’s office in Bahrain (“Clifford Chance to centralise in Dubai”), you state that “…Norton Rose is the only other UK firm in Bahrain”. I would like to point out that Palmer Cowen (of Mayfair) continues to operate an office in Bahrain […]
Liverpool-based insurance giant Hill Dickinson is on the expansion trail – taking over two-partner Stockport intellectual property practice Philip Woods & Co to give it an IP facility in the Manchester area. In less than a year the firm has grown from 40 partners to 60 and added Manchester, Stockport and Chester offices to its […]