Barclays Bank is seeking damages from Smith Vincent and Co of Upton Newark, Nottinghamshire, for damages for breach of contract and negligence over inspection of land sites in Norfolk and Suffolk in October 1990. Barclays’ writ says that, relying on the report received from Smith Vincent, it lent Minns Aggregate (Carbrook) £300,000 and increased its […]
All solicitors will be familiar with the chambers brochure. Often produced at great expense, the best have a page for each member with a photo, the type of work undertaken and some of the member’s leading cases. At the other end of the scale is the pocket version, with a general description of the type […]
Shakespeare SpeechWriter has launched a new product – Shakespeare ProSpeak. The company says it allows the user to control the entire Windows environment and operate any Windows application by speech alone. The user can also control the direction and speed of the mouse and activate single or double clicks by speech. Shakespeare SpeechWriter has also […]
Leading public sector private finance initiative (PFI) expert Chris Jarman (pictured right) has given up his partnership with Sharpe Pritchard in London to join Bristol-based Bevan Ashford as an associate. He said family reasons were the overriding factor behind the “wrenching move”. Jarman added that leaving the firm, which he joined as an articled clerk […]
A SOLICITOR advocate has become the first person from outside the Bar to be presented with a coveted “red bag” by a senior counsel in recognition of his outstanding advocacy skills. John Davis was presented with the embroidered bag by Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC, who led him in a recent international fraud case. Until now, red […]
PERSONAL injury specialist Russell Jones & Walker is being sued by a former client who won £1,050 compensation for an injury which subsequently deteriorated, forcing him to take early retirement. According to law firm Bolt Burdon, which is acting for former policeman William Saul, compensation for the injury should have been substantially more than the […]
Hensman v Goodsall – QBD 21 January 1997 Claimant: Michael Stuart Hensman, 2Incident: Road traffic accident Injuries: Claimant involved in accident with defendant’s car while riding his motorcycle. Suffered fractured pelvis and severe leg injuries necessitating amputation of right leg below knee. He was 22 at the time of the accident and worked as a […]
Ian Mason is a solicitor in the litigation department of Travers Smith Braithwaite. The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the UK government had violated Ernest Saunders’ right not to incriminate himself has been portrayed, at least by the media, as the latest in a series of failures in the prosecution of […]
The final text of draft legislation which may impose crippling restrictions on foreign lawyers in Poland is still uncertain after weeks of lobbying by various bodies. The Polish parliament had been expected to vote on the finalised draft on 22 January, but instead it handed it back to the parliamentary commission which was initially responsible […]
A former junior clerk at 2 Grays Inn Square chambers has accused the set of firing him after he complained that he was receiving less pay than he was originally promised. But the set insists Kennedy Chulu was dismissed because he was incompetent, not because of the salary dispute. When Chulu was taken on by […]
Fountain Court Chambers is to appoint a chambers director to replace its departing senior clerk, Barry Down. Down’s departure, revealed last month by The Lawyer, was prompted by administrative reorganisation at the chambers. It is understood he was unhappy at the direction the set was taking, although Fountain Court says he will act as a […]
Alison Laferla reports An Exeter law firm rose “like a phoenix from the ashes” to scoop this year’s Society for Computers & Law IT award last week. The four-partner firm, Rundle Walker, was set up by solicitors who had been made redundant in the recession. None of the partners had used a computer before, but […]