Alison Laferla reports Ashurst Morris Crisp has set a precedent by investing over £1 million in a new practice management system. The firm has chosen to install a Keystone practice management system after putting the project out to tender last year. It will be the first UK practice to implement the system, developed by New […]
It was almost 10 years ago that the Government started to focus on the problem of increased longevity, when it introduced a new pensions regime as part of its efforts to encourage people to save for their old age. Life expectancy has lengthened and the Government wants to develop people’s awareness that pensions are not […]
CHINA is likely to shirk its duty to report on human rights in Hong Kong when it takes control of the colony next year, the worlds’ leading lawyers are warning. The warning comes in the wake of China’s refusal to allow eight Hong Kong protesters to enter the country to present a petition demanding safeguards […]
TWENTY partners at the London firm Baileys Shaw & Gillett are being sued for breach of contract by a former salaried partner. In a statement of claim lodged at the Central London County Court, Pauline Walker accused the firm of breaching the employment severance arrangements that she had been agreed with the partners. She is […]
Martin Lee Chu-Ming is a dangerous man – or so China would have us believe. In reality, his demure appearance is no fake and he makes no attempt to hide his passion for unified democracy under his tailor-made suits. In fact, Lee is one of the most respected barristers and politicians in Asia. He is […]
FIRMS are to be warned by the advertising watchdog against using the term “no win no fee” in advertisements. The Advertising Standards Authority is expected this week to tell firms they cannot use the popular term to promote conditional fees arrangements unless it is heavily qualified. The expected move has been welcomed by legal expenses […]
Denton Hall has poached international corporate partner Steven Goodman from Berwin Leighton where he has been for the past 12 years. Antony Grant, head of Dentons’ corporate group, said that Goodman’s expertise and experience in international joint ventures, multi-jurisdictional mergers and acquisitions, Japanese investment and projects in Central and Eastern Europe matched Dentons’ own strategies […]
Foreign lawyers in Poland have hired a PR firm to lobby the government to let them stay in business in the wake of a threat from local lawyers. The two branches of the Polish legal profession are proposing a law change which would effectively send foreign law firms home. In response to a request from […]
Lawyers have a duty to advise clients not only on strict legal issues, but also on matters that may impact on personal and business decisions. Last November, the Law Society’s competence regime came into effect. This prevents law practices from being involved in Discrete Investment Business (DIB) unless they have a suitably qualified member of […]
EUROPEAN law societies are lobbying MEPs to exempt solicitors from an EC directive which would legalise comparative advertising. The Law Society of England and Wales and the Law Society of Scotland currently do not allow solicitors to advertise by comparing themselves to other solicitors, but the directive legalises comparative advertising in any member state and […]
A Sussex solicitor who stole over £5 million of clients’ money had his sentence cut from 10 years to eight by the Criminal Appeal Court last week. Graham Maurice Durnford Ford, 53, from Battle in East Sussex, was sentenced to 10 years last December on 10 sample counts of theft. Hastings firm Durnford Ford collapsed […]
The Media enjoys lampooning judges as old fashioned and out of touch and many of the legal profession’s top names have had cause to fume over the exaggerated reporting of cases they presided over. This is especially true of Winchester Crown Court’s Judge Griffiths. However, unlike some of his colleagues, Griffiths struck back. He launched […]