Fire brigades not liable if they fail to turn up at fire (1) Capital and Counties v Hampshire County Council & ors (2) Digital Equipment Co v Hampshire County Council & ors (3) The Church of Latter Day Saints (Great Britain) v West Yorkshire Fire and Civil Defence Authority (4) John Munroe (Acrylics) v London […]
There are many circumstances in which an SPV may provide a convenient legal structure for a financing arrangement. Favourable tax treatment may be achieved by SPVs being incorporated in and managed from some offshore jurisdictions. Limited liabilities companies are frequently incorporated in Jersey as SPVs for purposes such as raising money by issuing debt securities, […]
Lovell White Durrant is gearing up for a court battle with the Massachusetts’ insurance regulator next month following her proposals to settle multi-million-dollar environmental claims between General Electric (GE) and its captive insurer Emlico. Lovells, representing some of the 400 reinsurers who may have to stump up the money, said the regulator, Linda Ruthardt, had […]
Tulkinghorn (The Lawyer, 11 March 1997) implies that those attending the recent conference at the Richmond Hill Hotel were the wealthy owners of upmarket cars. As, regrettably, the owner of the BMW in question, I should point out that the poor old thing has its 10th birthday in April, 124,500 miles on its clock, a […]
Robert Webb QC was born in Kent on 4 October 1948. He is now head of chambers at 5 Bell Yard. What was your first job? Working on a milk round on a cart drawn by a horse called Dolly. What was your first ever salary as a lawyer? £872 in year one (1972). What […]
Law Society Services Ltd (LSS), an arm’s-length Law Society company responsible for developing the society’s commercial services, is to be disbanded, just two years after it was set up. The U-turn follows concerns that the company, which was responsible for running the Law Society’s Gazette and the society’s new business centre, was too independent from […]
A time limit on oral arguments, major limits on the automatic right to appeal and fixed recoverable costs are among reforms being considered for the civil division of the Court of Appeal. The proposals, published last week in a consultation paper, were prepared by the review body charged with finding ways of improving efficiency in […]
I read with interest the letter from David McIntosh in your issue of 25 February. There is a world of difference between accepting certain basic principles on the one hand and, on the other, apparently deliberately making attempts, in a public forum, to lay stress on practices, whether they are common or not, which are […]
Since when have lawyers based their advice on perception rather than evidence? Even the most junior articled clerk would not be expected to work on the basis of public perception, so why should such senior solicitors as the chair of the Courts and Legal Services Committee and the chair of the Criminal Law Committee base […]
I wondered if any of your London-based readers could help with a documentary LWT is producing about traffic congestion in the capital. We are trying to identify the worst stretches of road in London for commuters and are looking for people to record their journey times for a week. If you can help or have […]
How will a change of government affect the legal profession? If the results of a survey gauging the impact of a Labour Party victory on the property industry is anything to go by, lawyers will almost certainly be among the major beneficiaries as the industry comes to terms with a spate of new legislation. The […]
The growth of the independent pro bono group run by law firms continues apace. Now the group is preparing to hire a full-time director to get the venture off the ground. It is excellent to see solicitors taking such matters into their own hands independently from the Law Society, which has been unable to get […]