Two West Country practices which both date back to the mid-eighteenth century are to merge. Battens, which is the larger of the two firms, will join forces with Poole & Co on 1 January. The new 26-partner-strong operation will be called Battens. The merged practice will work out of two offices in Yeovil and Crewkerne […]
The Law Society wants to hear from solicitors who have faced restrictions on providing their services outside the European Union. The move to collate information on rights of establishment follows the recent launch by the European Commission of an initiative to draw up a database of the barriers facing professionals who want to provide legal […]
The specialist London-based employment firm, Langley & Co, has recruited Nick Ralph from Ashurst Morris Crisp. The firm says Ralph is joining as a senior associate with a view to moving up into partnership next year. Langleys now has eight fee earners, who all concentrate on employment law.
Elizabeth Davidson reports A MAJOR review of the Court of Appeal’s civil division has called for all of its judgments to be made available on the World Wide Web. The report, written by a panel of six authors and chaired by former Price Waterhouse senior partner Sir Jeffery Bowman, was commissioned before the election by […]
Fran Orford, the creator of The Lawyer’s popular cartoon The Sharp End, is putting the original drawings up for sale with the proceeds going to a children’s charity. For more details telephone: 01422 845359.
THE TORY leader, William Hague, maintained the pressure on the Government to back down over its legal aid reform plans last week when he harangued the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for withdrawing legal aid from personal injury claims. Hague spoke out against the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine ‘s reform plans during Prime Minister’s Questions in […]
A SERIES of confidential meetings is being held between the Internet industry, the police and governmental bodies in a bid to clarify the law on computer crime. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) held the first meeting on 7 November at the Department of Trade and Industry’s Victoria Street offices, with the next meeting […]
Cases now fixed and pending in the Queens Bench Division include: Staniland v Mansfield (1 December 1997); Katz v Virgin Radio (1 December 1997); Williamson v Metropolitan Police (not before 1 December 1997); Hurley v MGN (2 December 1997); Crosdale v Metropolitan Police (8 December 1997).
A man is suing the DTI for damages, claiming that its attempts to extradite him from the US were unlawful, reports Roger Pearson. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is to be put in the dock in the New Year accused of acting unlawfully in its attempt to extradite a man from the US […]
Write to: The Editor, The Lawyer, 50 Poland Street, London W1V 4AX, fax 0171 734 0534, e-mail lawyer.edit@chiron.co.uk, DX44700 Soho Square I was interested to see your recent article in which a City lawyer was suggesting that firms with claims should be thrown out of SIF. I can assure you that there are many unfortunate […]
Gary Summers was born in Plymouth in 1958. He recently left 3 Gray’s Inn Square to join Magrath & Co as head of its criminal department. What was your first job? Assistant storeboy at Travellers Fare Catering Stores in Plymouth Station. What was your first ever salary as a lawyer? £4,500. What would you have […]
Risk management is a concept which does not sit easily with the legal profession. But lawyers are soon to have a rude awakening on this front when Lord Irvine’s reforms begin to take shape. The idea is that, since they make money out of cases, they should be willing to fork out money to support […]