City firm Paisner & Co has played host to a Euro football challenge between its clients. The Brockbank Group, representing England, defeated SCOR(UK), representing France, in a penalty shoot-out in the final of the Paisner Euro Challenge on 19 June. The host team was eliminated from group one and so failed to make it to […]
The rights of law-breakers to use their ill-gotten gains to take advantage of government right-to-buy legislation are being put to the Appeal Court. In one of his first cases since taking over as Master of the Rolls, Lord Woolf heard an appeal by Bristol City Council against a ruling that it must transfer a house […]
The advice sector is shattered by the news that legal aid will not be extended to tribunal representation. Addressing the conference, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay, said he was committed to extending the role of non-solicitor advice agencies. But, in an answer to a question from the floor, he confirmed that legal aid would not […]
City firms Freshfields and Richards Butler have been granted permission to set up offices in China in the first batch of approvals from the Chinese government for over two years. Thomas Jones, Freshfields partner resident in Beijing, said the firm planned to base around four lawyers in the capital and also hoped to open branch […]
Baker & McKenzie has advised on a deal which saw the first Western European company listed on an Eastern European stock exchange. It represented ING Barings and Creditanstaldt Investment Bank as underwriters of a $83 million international offering of shares in Cofinec, a French packaging group. Following the shares sale, Cofinec was admitted to the […]
Alison Laferla reports Stephen Taylor Parker has been appointed managing director of Aim Law Data, the supplier of arrears management technology. Taylor Parker joined the company as director in January 1995 and oversaw the launch of Debtco Progression in February this year. He succeeds David Hewitt who has become sales and marketing director of print […]
Last month, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association applied for judicial review of the new rules over immigration applicants. The move prompted the Home Office to undertake its current review of the relevant rules and forms. The reason for the association’s application lies in the history of the rule changes. On 2 April 1996, the Home […]
Lord Woolf’s report Access to Justice envisages the pre-trial review (PTR) as an integral part of case management: it provides “an opportunity to set a programme, timetable and budget for the trial”. Currently, the Lord Chief Justice’s practice direction (Civil Litigation: Case Management) of 24 January 1995 says a PTR should be applied for in […]
Hazel Vidler If lawyers are to succeed in an IT-dominated market they must become “legal information engineers” rather than legal advisers, according to Richard Susskind, technology consultant for Lord Woolf’s access to justice inquiry. Speaking at the launch of his book, The Future of Law, earlier this month, Susskind claimed the legal profession was on […]
Look no further than Macfarlanes if you want evidence that the City deals bubble is far from bursting. The firm has struck seven transactions in the last three weeks. Recent triumphs include advising Candover Investments, which backed managers who bought two collieries from the administrators of mining group Coal Investments. Banking partner Mark Furman said: […]
A delegation from the All China Lawyers Association visited the UK last week to see how England, Wales and Scotland trained its lawyers. A law passed on 15 May allows China’s lawyers, previously regarded as state employees, to apply for business licences to set up in practice. It also set the structure for the All […]
A David and Goliath court case will open this month when a lone East Anglian fisherman mounts a legal challenge against the Department of the Environment. King’s Lynn boat skipper David Bryant claims the shrimp population in the Wash is being severely reduced by government-sanctioned dredging operations which threaten his livelihood. Norfolk firm Hawkins is […]