David Bickford, a former legal adviser to MI5 and MI6, has called on the Government to end the “shield of sovereignty and offshore bank secrecy” behind which money launderers hide. Bickford, who drafted Commonwealth anti-money laundering legislation and currently runs his own legal consultancy, was speaking at a workshop on combating financial crime which was […]
Thompsons has won the bulk of outside legal work from the UK’s largest union, under a recent agreement with Unison. Partner Tom Jones revealed that Unison, the public service union, has agreed to refer all its legal business outside London to Thompsons – London work will be referred to OH Parsons & Partners. The agreement […]
An unmarried mother’s bid to prevent her seven-year-old son being put up for adoption is being considered by the Law Lords. They are considering whether to give the mother, who has already failed before a county court and the Court of Appeal in attempts to prevent the child being adopted, leave to appeal to them.
The senior partner of Newcastle law firm Watson Burton is to step down in January and will stand for election as President of Newcastle Law Society. David Foster (left), senior partner of the firm for 16 years, will be succeeded by 37-year-old Andrew Hoyle (right). Foster will continue as a partner with the firm.
Criminal lawyers have hit back at a recent report criticising the treatment of child witnesses, describing it as inaccurate and out of date. The report, Going to Court: child witnesses in their own words, published last week by the charity Childline, claimed the criminal justice system was stacked against child witnesses and in need of […]
A newly-elected Bar Council member is calling for the creation of a bar defence association to help barristers deal with complaints against them. Marc Beaumont, head of Harrow on the Hill Chambers, has accused the Bar Council of failing to support barristers in their times of greatest need. As a result, he said, barristers who […]
Dennis Bambridge, senior litigation partner at Roythorne & Co, has been elected President of Lincolnshire Law Society for the second year in succession.
City solicitors, Hobson Audley Hopkins & Wood, have further strengthened their IT department with the appointment of Iain Stansfield from Halliwell Landau. Stansfield will be involved in issues from negotiating software agreements to the largely unchartered territory of the Internet. His appointment, which brings the IT team to three, follows the recent arrival of Alan […]
Lord Woolf is to give Bristol University’s fourth Campaign for Resource lecture on 13 December. The lecture, “Proportionate Justice”, will take place in the Reception Room of the Wills Memorial Building at 11.15am, and will be attended by members of the university’s governing body and the legal profession.
The American Bar Association opened a law museum in the lobby of its expensive Lake Shore Drive headquarters in Chicago last week. The Museum of Law is reputedly the only museum dedicated to the trials and tribulations of US lawyers. ABA executive director Robert Stein hopes the exhibition will grow into one of Chicago’s major […]
The Long-serving director of law and administration at Hertfordshire County Council, Bill Church, has moved on to a higher calling – the Church of England. Church, who has been with Hertfordshire since 1979 and a local government solicitor for 29 years, left his position last month to train for ordination. He retains some contact with […]
Chris Fogarty reports The attempt by London’s Wandsworth Borough Council to have the licensing laws changed so that nightclubs linked with illegal activity are quickly closed, has failed to win the support of other London councils. Wandsworth assistant borough solicitor Sally Novell said clubs where illegal activities were occurring remained open while protracted legal action […]