What is claimed to be the first expert witness service specifically in the field of weather and meteorological forecasting has been set up. The service was founded by Norman Lynagh, a Met Office-trained meteorologist and weather forecaster, who worked for London marine consultant Noble Denton’s weather section for 20 years. The section was first approached […]
Chris Fogarty reports Oldham Borough Council’s appointment of a solicitor to tackle obnoxious council tenants is attracting interest from other local authorities. In a legal first for a council, solicitor Naseem Malik is dealing solely with nuisance neighbours and anti-social behaviour. Malik is working on a number of legal initiatives including a tough “plain English” […]
Calls came at the Law Society last week for heads to roll in the Solicitor’s Indemnity Fund over what former president Martin Mears described as a “mind-boggling blunder.” At the society’s council meeting on 17 October members had to decide not only how best to make up a £12.82 million shortfall resulting from an SIF […]
The Law Society spent £19,138 on sending representatives to a five-day Commonwealth Law Association conference in Vancouver during the summer. The sum was revealed after former Law Society president Martin Mears objected to the society paying to send to ex-members of staff, Hamish Adamson and Walter Merricks, abroad, and demanded to know the cost of […]
THE BAR Council has elected its first female leader – Heather Hallett QC. Hallett, the leader of the South Eastern Circuit, beat Douglas Day QC to the post of Bar Council vice-chair in the poll of Bar Council members announced on 17 October. The current vice-chair, Robert Owen QC, has been elected unopposed to the […]
International law firm Baker & McKenzie is to open a third German office in Munich early next year. Ninety-nine per cent of the firms partners voted for the new office at the annual partners meeting, held in London from 8 to 12 October. According to Nigel Carrington, Bakers’ managing partner in London, the decision was […]
High Court judges in Scotland have welcomed the development of a computer-based sentencing information system (SIS), according to a feasibility report carried out by Strathclyde University Law School. Sentencing information systems are designed to help judges by revealing sentencing patterns for cases involving similar offences and offender characteristics. The recently published report concludes that developing […]
Shoosmiths & Harrison has won a High Court apology from the consumer magazine Which? following a year-long libel battle over one of its surveys. The survey on the quality of legal advice, published in Oct ober last year, prompted both sides to launch libel actions against each other – Shoosmiths over the report, and Which? […]
Foreign lawyers practising in the Czech Republic have complained to the Chamber of Advocates in Prague about a new law requiring foreign lawyers to pass an exam. The Act on Legal Advocacy, which became law in July, rules that foreign lawyers cannot practise international law until they have passed written and oral exams on the […]
Cherie Booth is to give one of the November lectures by the London Young Solicitors’ Group. She will be giving an employment law update at The Lecture Theatre, Cameron Markby Hewitt, Sceptre Court, 40 Tower Hill, London EC3. The Lord Chancellor will be speaking on the future of the legal profession at the Law Society, […]
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon (right) addressed guests at a London region CBI lunch hosted by City firm SJ Berwin & Co last week. The meeting aimed to encourage greater dialogue between the Metropolitan Police and London’s business community. Guests included SJ Berwin partner Philip Goldenberg and Jane Calvert-Lee, director of the CBI’s London […]
Anthony Bogan has vowed to continue his campaign to split the Law Society’s functions after his defeat by 14,199 votes to 8,881 in the postal ballot last week. Bogan, who is chair of the Solicitors Association, told The Lawyer he was “delighted” with the 40 per cent of the vote he won in the ballot, […]