Past president of the Law Society Tony Holland has accused the society of “fiddling while Rome burned” (The Lawyer 19 March). He says it has failed to respond to the challenge posed by accountants undertaking legal work. Unless steps are taken soon, he adds, firms who have “diversified into commercial work…[will] see their hard effort […]
Expert evidence is an important part of litigation and cases can be won or lost on the performance of an expert in court. Selecting a suitable expert for a particular case is not easy, but the consideration of a number of practical matters at the outset can help to avoid a disappointing performance. Expertise Counsel […]
Two City firms, Field Fisher Waterhouse and Denton Hall, are appointing new partners to bolster their information technology and telecomms departments. Field Fisher has recruited Michael Chissick to plug the gap left by February’s defection of IT specialist Ranald Robertson to Taylor Joynson Garret. Chissick, a lawyer specialising in IT and telecommunications, has been running […]
A ONE-day strike by CPS lawyers appears more likely following Attorney General Sir Nicholas Lyell QC’s refusal to hold talks over the future of the service. The CPS section of the Association of First Division Civil Servants will meet this week to discuss its response after Lyell turned down a request for talks. A ballot […]
ALL Law Society support for Lord Mackay’s troubled Family Law Bill looks likely to be withdrawn. Sources indicate that the Law Society can no longer endorse the Bill, which is already coming under sustained attack from Labour. The society complains that the measures Mackay proposes will increase the costs and prolong the length of divorce. […]
The decision of Law Society president Martin Mears to drop his working party on entry to the profession has largely gone unnoticed. Mears invited me to join the working party because I had acted for the Council of Legal Education when it ran into difficulties introducing a selection system to reduce numbers seeking entry to […]
The financial figures supplied by Wansbroughs Willey Hargrave were omitted from the turnover increase table in the 14 May issue of The Lawyer. The firm’s annual turnover has increased by 27 per cent in the past financial year with the income amount at £22.4 million. This places the firm in the top position in terms […]
Multi-disciplinary partnerships have been the subject of debate for a number of years. And they are now beginning to appear in the UK, the largest market for professional services in Europe. There has been a gradual blurring between the professions over the last few years and the major accountancy firms, which employ lawyers, property surveyors, […]
Paul Grindley was born in 1963 and is an employment lawyer with Hammond Suddards in Leeds. What was your first job? Canvassing for lawn mower repairs. What was your first ever salary as a lawyer? £7,500 per annum. What would you have done if you hadn’t become a lawyer? Aerobics instructor. Which law could you […]
STARKLY opposing views on the leadership of Law Society president Martin Mears divide the two by-election candidates battling for a seat on the society’s council. Andrew Holroyd, a former president of the Liverpool law society, has sent a letter to all members of the Merseyside constituency slating rival candidate John Callaghan. The letter says Callaghan […]
A conference to discuss compensation for ex-service personnel suffering from asbestos-related disease takes place at the House of Commons on Tuesday this week. The event will focus on the inequality between service personnel and their civilian counterparts over the right to compensation. It is claimed hundreds of thousands of service personnel were exposed to asbestos […]
An appeal by Biogen in its battle with Medeva over genetic engineering patents involving treatment for Hepatitis B virus is now in the list of pending cases before the Lords. Questions of inventiveness, disclosure and the extent to which a patent needs to be looked at as a whole will be considered.