Some barristers have carved out a particular niche for themselves in a particular discipline in the area of professional negligence. In the Lloyd’s litigation, for example, when an instructing firm is looking for “more intellectually rigorous counsel” rather than counsel for a ‘knockabout’ insurance broker’s case”, Bernard Eder QC at Gordon Pollock QC’s set at […]
The public seems generally to be unaware of the small claims procedure, the National Audit Office says in a report. NAO head Sir John Bourn told Parliament last week that the county courts provided an accessible, speedy and cost-effective service. The NAO examination included a survey of litigants involved in 3,000 small claims cases and […]
LAST summer a group of solicitors in Burnley got together to thrash out a set of guideline conveyancing fees. They are now being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading for alleged fee fixing, although Burnley and Pendle Law Society is confident it has done nothing wrong. It was, after all, following the Law Society’s […]
Although a number of practitioners commented that they doubted whether there was a “formal professional negligence Bar as such”, with recommendations spanning commercial, chancery and even family counsel, the names are very much horses for courses. What leading practitioners are looking for is a realistic assessment at an early stage, and whether it ties in […]
A CPS hidden agenda to use law clerks as magistrates court prosecutors to save money and secure greater staff loyalty has been claimed by a former crown prosecutor. Barrister Neil Addison claims he was shown internal CPS documents which complain the requirement for all prosecutors to be lawyers is “unnecessarily expensive”. According to Addison, the […]
Uncertainty about the agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference may decrease public support for the EU, says Rose D’Sa Secrecy is a common, perhaps indispensable, phenomenon of inter-governmental negotiations. Yet the lack of a clear, published agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Turin is particularly odd when viewed in the context of one of its […]
THE LAW Society should consider washing its hands of complaints handling and allowing an independent body to take over, according to one of its leaders. Vice-president Robert Sayer has moved to reopen the complaints handling debate just days after the Law Society Council settled on a new-look complaints-handling body. At its council meeting earlier this […]
News Group Newspapers and News of the World columnist Michael Winner are being sued for libel damages by Dixons Group. Dixons has issued a High Court writ over a story in Winner’s 5 February column in the newspaper, headed: “Have rule that bites”. Writ issued by Linklaters & Paines, London EC2. D10 Veteran peace campaigner […]
Glasgow firm McClure Naismith Anderson & Gardiner is riding high after clinching Scotland’s biggest privatisation deal. Partners Dr Kenneth Chrystie and George Frier (centre and right) advised on the sale of BR’s infrastructure services division. MD of the division Tony Smith bought it for around £27.5 million and has renamed it First Engineering. Dr Chrystie […]
UK lawyers may find it more difficult to practise in Hong Kong following a review by the Hong Kong law society’s standing committee on standards and development. The law society’s director of standards and development, Margaret Hill, said overseas lawyers generally had to sit a series of examinations before being able to practise Hong Kong […]
Birmingham firm Gateley Wareing has appointed a non-executive director as part of its continuing expansion. Frank Graves, a chartered surveyor and former president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will join Gateley Wareing as a consultant. The appointment is unusual for a professional practice but is more common in limited companies. Pictured are […]
The arrival of March brings with it the annual renewal season for barristers’ professional indemnity insurance. The General Council of the Bar of England and Wales requires every practising barrister to purchase insurance against claims made in respect of civil liability arising out of their practice. A minimum limit of £250,000 must be obtained by […]