Lord Woolf has issued a consultation paper on merging the County Court and the High Court rule committees in a bid to simplify procedures. Proposals include: giving the unified committee a statutory duty to simplify procedure; dispensing with formal transfer provisions between High Court and county court; and appointing three lay members, such as academics, […]
Helen Sage reports The licensing of sex shops and the legal implications of the Westminster ‘homes for votes’ scandals are among subjects included in the Law Society’s latest programme of courses for local government lawyers. The training unit of the local government group, which spearheaded training for local authorities on how to win CCT, has […]
The British Council has opened a legal and management centre in Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial capital. A council spokesman said: “In a country where one management text book can cost a month’s salary for a middle-ranking civil servant, the centre aims to provide easy access to up-to-date British materials, in order to improve the quality of […]
NAUTA Dutilh, the largest law firm in the Netherlands, has become the third Dutch firm to open a London office since 1990. The office, in the City, will be staffed by partner Diederik van Wassenaer and two associates. Van Wassenaer said there were three reasons the firm had opened shop in London. “First, quite a […]
Leeds firm Hammond Suddards has recruited Helena Twist from Nabarro Nathanson to fill its recently-formed post of director of legal development. The firm wanted someone to handle legal and management training of lawyers, development of library services and strategic planning of the progress of the firm’s legal services which was previously part of the development […]
Denton Hall and Manches & Co have each tied the knot on a deal in the retail market, where there is evidence that the elusive feel-good factor is persuading consumers to spend more money in the high street. Tony Grant led the Dentons team which advised wholesaler Bemrose Corporation in its acquisition of Charles Letts […]
The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) has welcomed the greater autonomy and independence recently granted to it by the Lord Chancellor. The board, formerly an integral part of the Lord Chancellor’s Department (LCD), will now operate as an independent unit with control of its own budget. Its members will set its own priorities and decide what […]
SCOTTISH lawyers have stolen a march on their English and Welsh rivals by producing a glossy brochure designed to drum up work from foreign businesses at the American Bar Association Conference, which will be held next month. The Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland joined forces to publish the 12-page brochure, called […]
The growth of international law firms in Hong Kong has been astounding – in the last five years their number has almost doubled. This increase is mainly represented by US firms, which followed their major US investment banking clients to Hong Kong between 1990 and 1992, only to follow them back again in 1993 and […]
Clifford Chance is caught up in a row over accusations that senior partner Keith Clark has tried to persuade the firm’s lawyers to take sides in the Law Society elections. Contender Anthony Bogan has complained to Clark about a memo he circulated to staff urging them to vote in the poll and in which Clark […]
Two rival Cambridge regional firms are to close their Newmarket offices following internal shake-ups in which one firm will lose three of its long-standing partners. The Taylor Vinters branch office, best known for its bloodstock department headed by Jeremy Richardson, will close in October. Hewitson Becke + Shaw is pulling out of the town later […]
Tony Henman, senior partner at Oxford firm Henmans, appeared before a different court last week when he watched his son Tim do England proud at Wimbledon. Henman, a personal injury lawyer and keen sportsman, took time off with his wife Jane to watch all his son’s Wimbledon matches. Staff in the firm also followed Tim’s […]