Euthanasia litigation is set to return to the courts. It is established that courts will grant declarations for health authorities to end life support for victims in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). Now leave has been given for judicial review to be sought over a decision not to treat or resuscitate a 23-year-old cerebral palsy […]
Helen Sage reports YMIJS computer systems, maker of R/KYV document management system widely used by lawyers, is to move into the US market. It has appointed David Douglas as head of its US operation in San Francisco. The R/KYV product is a PC text and image retrieval system which operates in the Windows environment. Douglas […]
A ‘HIGH FLYER’ in his thirties has landed the newly-created, £74,000 a year, borough solicitor’s job at Lambeth Council. Gerard Curran, 36, will leave Waltham Forest District Council to join Lambeth’s new team of executive directors. Curran’s role will be to steer the council’s legal affairs as well as inject strategic management skills into the […]
Ask a Scottish lawyer about chancery, and they might think it is the noun equivalent for ‘chancing’ as in ‘chancing your arm’. All disputes in Scotland which involve ‘chancery’ matters go to the Court of Session, with no distinction between what in England is the Chancery Division and the Queen’s Bench Division. It is the […]
John Malpas reports A chambers widely regarded as the leading tax set in the country has just celebrated its 30th anniversary. Gray’s Inn Chambers held a reception at the British Museum earlier this month to mark what has been a highly successful first 30 years for the set. Gray’s Inn Chambers boasts four silks out […]
Bayes v Kirby – QBD 30 January 1996 Claimant: Kathleen Bayes, 43, suing on behalf of herself and her 12-year-old son after death of her husband, Frederick Bayes, 41 Incident: Bayes, a self-employed insulation engineer died of complications three weeks after contracting chicken-pox; claimed his GP failed to diagnose condition and refer him to hospital […]
OFFICIALS at the Bar Council of Ireland have joined forces with Victim Support to introduce proposals ensuring that victims of crime are treated more sensitively during criminal trials. Representatives of the Bar Council and Irish branch of the victim’s lobby group are due to meet on Tuesday this week to discuss plans for what the […]
Members of Parliament are gearing up to give the Lord Chancellor’s Department a roasting over the administration of legal aid. The powerful House of Commons public accounts committee is to hold hearings on the operation of the merits test in both the criminal and civil field. The hearing on criminal aid will be held against […]
Robert Walker QC’s elevation to the bench was a loss, but an inevitable one, as he was well-respected and admired as a silk. Chancery practice, although drier, is one of the more cerebral, academic and fascinating areas of the law. It tends to attract a particular talent and demands a different approach. The barristers in […]
An accident victim whose short-term memory has been reduced to less than one minute as a result of head injuries he suffered is suing the Post Office. Richard Frost, 23, suffered the injuries after he was hit by a concrete bus stop which had been hit by a Post Office van. He lost his job […]
EMPLOYED commercial barristers are gearing up for a campaign against the Bar Council’s plans to defer call to the Bar for six months after training. The Bar Association for Commerce and Industry (Bacfi) has highlighted the threat to the employed Bar posed by the deferral plan which was approved in principle by the Bar Council […]
A test case to be heard in April in the Chancery Division will turn on whether the Inland Revenue has taken the correct view on Inheritance Tax (IHT) legislation cases where appointments are made within three months of the testator’s death. Beneficiaries under wills can group together and rearrange the dispositions made in the will. […]