Bournemouth has a new law firm after the partnership, premises and staff of Colin Bell & Co were subject to a buyout. Bell, who established the firm 35 years ago, has retired. Mark Taylor and Lindsey Watkins have taken over and renamed the firm Ashton Taylor Bell.
In-house lawyer Susie Flook has moved from US-owned food producer CPC, where she was group legal counsel and company secretary at its UK subsidiary, to Guinness as intellectual property lawyer reporting to the company’s group legal director Kenneth Mildwaters. Australian-qualified Flook spent seven years at CPC and five years before that at Coca Cola. She […]
Chris Fogarty reports Proving the worth of local government solicitors is a priority for John Rees, who has been appointed Local Government Association (LGA) assistant director, legal and member services. Rees, who since 1984 has been legal and parliamentary secretary for the Association of District Councils, will take up his new role when the three […]
It’s official – the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is now firmly established as the route of public sector funding which is supported by both the major political parties. And, as local authority lawyers in private practice acknowledge, for an initiative formally created in November 1992, it has become established as an area of practice in […]
Speculation is rife that the Polish government has backtracked on hard-won amendments to draft legislation which threatens to place severe restrictions on foreign lawyers hoping to practise in Poland. The initial draft would have forced shares in overseas legal companies – foreign lawyers operating in Poland are established as companies – into the hands of […]
Claire Shaw is a solicitor at Magrath & Co. The lacuna in the law of dishonesty left by the House of Lords’ controversial decision in Preddy & ors (1996) 3 WLR 258 in July 1996 has already been rectified by legislation which received the Royal Assent on 18 December 1996. Following the decision, and after […]
Liverpool and Birmingham-based insurance litigation specialist Weightmans has hired Professor Martin Read as its first chief executive. Management specialist Read, formerly a managing partner at Leeds firm Read Hind Stewart, joined Weightmans from Central Law Training where he was chief executive to the management division. The 33-partner firm, which has experienced rapid growth, wanted to […]
Poetry has to be one of the least likely subjects for litigation. While different areas of the arts have at times been catapulted into the legal arena, those engaged in the rarefied world of producing verse have tended to be the exception. Which is why a case that created considerable ripples in literary circles but […]
Home Income Plans are to come under the scrutiny of the House of Lords in an action between the Investors Compensation Scheme (ICS) and West Bromwich Building Society. Leave has been granted for ICS to appeal against decisions of the Chancery Division and the Court of Appeal in which it was held in respect of […]
The Bar Council is appealing for someone to take over a loss-making court listing service, to eliminate the threat of one supplier dominating the market. The Bar is concerned that Court New Service (CNS) – one of four suppliers contracted by the Court Service last year to provide an online court listing service – is […]
Overwork and inflexible work practices can leave a partner in his 40s feeling jaded at the prospect of at least another 10 years of the same. The maverick appeal of smaller niche practices or independent consultancy can suddenly become attractive, even to the most staid of “company men”. Dale Langley left his position as head […]
Pictures are set to become an increasingly important weapon in the armoury of the courtroom advocate, according to an American legal expert. Deanne Siemer, chair of the US National Institute for Trail Advocacy trustees board, said that a range of visual tools such as video and computer generated images were set to gain greater prominence […]