DJ Freeman has a new partner in its property services department. Retail property lawyer Monica Blake is closing her Milton Keynes practice, Monica Blake & Co, to rejoin the firm. She established the practice last year after leaving the Milton Keynes office of Denton Hall, where she was managing partner.
Expert evidence is a critical part of environmental litigation and the problems of expense, delay and complexity in civil litigation, which Lord Woolf’s Access to Justice report identified, can be exacerbated in such cases. Experts can reasonably differ not only over factual information, such as how much of a contaminant is present and how it […]
Lord Woolf has found inspiration for his reforms in the legal innovations on the other side of the Atlantic. The Legal Action Group (LAG) took a leaf out of his book and visited the US and Canada. US judges have pioneered the ideas of ‘managed justice’ extolled by Lord Woolf. The message appears to be […]
Surrey firms Coleman Tilley and Tarrant Sutton merged at the start of this month in a drive to create a broad-based practice. Coleman Tilley deals with road traffic, personal injury and motor accidents. Tarrant Sutton specialises in debt recovery and property law. Partner Tony Sutton said: “The intention is to create a broad-based practice whilst […]
City firm Frere Cholmeley Bischoff has appointed Alan Jenkins,43, as managing partner. Jenkins will succeed Steven Sugar in the autumn. Jenkins joined the firm as an articled clerk in 1975 and became a partner in 1983. He specialises in international commercial litigation, fraud, professional negligence and insurance. He has been involved in the Guinness, Maxwell […]
An article in the 7 May edition of The Lawyer, concerning a scheme by law firm Schilling & Lom, accountants Baker Tilly and pop artist agent Dick Sommer to form New Deal Management, incorrectly stated that Sommer managed Rod Stewart and Yes.
Academics are locked in battle over proposals for a new legal training system advocated by the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (Aclec). The report, unveiled last month, has been attacked by Nigel Savage, chief executive designate of the College of Law, but welcomed by Professor Hepple of the University of Cambridge […]
A controversial network of law firms involved in multi-party personal injury claims has established its first campaign to actively cultivate business. The Allied Lawyers Response Team (Alert) has set up a hotline for whistle-blowers to reveal breaches of safety regulations that may be causing asthma. It plans to use the information to determine whether to […]
Growing numbers of Canadian lawyers in Ontario are only earning what they generate for their firms, as part of a tough approach to partnerships designed to weather lean economic times. Harvin Pitch, of Toronto firm Teplitsky Colson, said there was a growing trend in the state towards firms operating as “profit centres”, despite obvious ramifications […]
Stewart Harper, managing partner of Manchester firm Lace Mawer, is joining one of the city’s major commercial law firms. The senior litigation partner, pictured on the left, will join Halliwells insurance litigation department as a partner later this year. Halliwells senior partner Roger Lancaster, pictured right, said there was fierce competition for Harper from other […]
No one involved in the litigation process can dispute the catalogue of ills Lord Woolf lists in his interim Access to justice report which has brought attention to the problems of delay and expense he is trying to address. His prescription is, of course, a greater measure of judicial and court control. But my concern […]
A High Court judge last week threw out a £1 million claim for negligence brought against Clifford Chance and former partner David Bowyer for failing to implement the final wishes of the late property millionaire Eric Hopton. Bowyer is currently with City firm Withers. The action was brought by Hopton’s great nephew, Old Etonian Dominic […]