A FREELANCE police station adviser is taking out a private prosecution against the head of the firm where he used to work over an alleged assault. Robert Layton, sole partner at London firm Layton & Co, of Horn Lane, Acton, has pleaded not guilty to a section 39 assault on Joel Parkes. He is scheduled […]
When the right expert witness can make a case, it is not surprising the lengths to which solicitors will go to secure their evidence. Indeed, in April this year, during the hearing of evidence for the Creutzfeld-Jakob disease case, such was the eminence of Professor Brian Matthews, Professor Emeritus of clinical neurology at Oxford University, […]
A FORMER Richards Butler solicitor who campaigned for two prominent young solicitors’ groups has been imprisoned for 18 months and struck off the solicitors’ roll after he stole more than £160,000 of clients’ money to support his gambling addiction. David Edwards, who worked at committee level in the European Young Bar Association and Young London […]
Washington firm Rudnick & Wolfe has merged with franchise and litigation law firm Brownstein & Zeidman to create the largest franchise and distribution law practice in the US. The new 50-lawyer-strong firm will be known as Rudnick Wolfe Epstein & Zeidman. It will provide a range of franchise and distribution law, intellectual property law and […]
Chris Fogarty reports Council officers engaged in joint commercial ventures should take out directors’ insurance to protect themselves from any financial liability, says leading Nabarro Nathanson partner and local government expert Ray Ambrose. His warning comes after the High Court last month found two Waltham Forest council officers personally liable for over £1m in debts […]
Olswang has boosted its property department from four to six partners overnight by poaching almost half of Stones Porter’s property team. Two partners, two assistants and two secretaries are all going to Olswang. One of the two partners, Tim Westhead, had been at Stones Porter for 11 years; his colleague Martyn Needham joined in 1987 […]
Solicitors to the Queen Farrers & Co are being sued for negligence in a paternity case because they allegedly applied for a DNA test under the wrong Act. The mother concerned, who was seeking maintenance from the alleged father, a wealthy foreign businessman, has issued a High Court writ claiming Farrers acted negligently on her […]
Irish lawyers have welcomed a government decision to set up a new court service to take over the running of the courts from the much criticised Ministry of Justice. An independent agency, headed by a chief executive, will be up and running by the end of the year. It will be known as the Court […]
Eversheds has joined forces with a management consultancy group to set up a global franchising consultancy network which will refer its clients to the law firm. Howarth Franchise Consultancy Limited, a non-profit-making joint venture company, has been set up by Eversheds and the leisure/consultancy group Howarth International. The company will operate a franchising service, to […]
Back injury is now the number one occupational health hazard in nursing. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) currently has around 700 claims in the pipeline. While claims used to be largely confined to nurses handling patients in hospitals, recent changes have increased care in the community. This has led to a wider range of […]
“And now, Miss Cochrane, can you tell the court just exactly what an asset is?” “And what were the UK interest rates doing in 1988 around about the time the defendant was increasing his borrowing to £100 million?” “Can you tell the jury why the fat b****** who is the defendant should want to rip […]
Freshfields has entered into talks with German firm Deringer Tessin Herrman & Sedemund as part of a review of its German operation. The firm, which to date has developed through organic growth in Frankfurt, is reconsidering its strategy, according to chief executive Alan Peck. He said that Freshfields was “thinking about the future” in Germany […]