Media reaction to the decision of Mr Justice Buckley has been depressingly familiar to those concerned with Maxwell’s defence over the past five years. “Maxwell gets off – Official” cried the Evening Standard. Contrast that with the headline in the same paper eight months earlier, following the jury’s unanimous verdict of not guilty: “Maxwell’s Cleared”. […]
Lawyers discussed current European Commission proposals to establish a unified system of liability for environmental damage at the Law Society’s Solicitors European Group on Thursday. Stephen Tromans, partner and head of environment law at Simmons & Simmons, spoke about the 1993 green paper and David Perchard, a partner at Perchards in St Albans, reviewed development […]
The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to take no action against Geoffrey Beccle, the former London solicitor who was arrested in January 1995 on suspicion of property frauds totalling more than £1m. Beccle was investigated for a series of alleged swindles involving former clients and four leading mortgage lenders. His activities remain the subject of […]
Clifford Chance partner and Law Society deputy vice-president Michael Mathews has sent a memo to all his firm’s London lawyers saying he hopes people will vote against splitting the functions of the society. A copy of the memo, explaining why Mathews thought splitting the society was a bad idea, was leaked to The Lawyer with […]
FOUNTAIN Court chambers has lost one of its most experienced tenants to the High Court. Tim Walker QC was appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division earlier this month. He is a specialist in aviation, arbitration, commercial law, professional negligence, insurance and re-insurance.
Red Rooster Film and Television Entertainment is suing HTV Group over the television series Wycliffe. Red Rooster has issued a High Court writ claiming damages for lost commission arising out of HTV’s alleged unlawful and repudiatory termination of a written agreement, dated 6 February last year, for the distribution of existing and future series of […]
Improvements in the rights of residential long leaseholders are made by the Housing Act 1996, which received Royal Assent on 24 July. Freeholders can no longer be be heavy-handed when lessees dispute a service charge. Since 24 September a freeholder cannot forfeit for non-payment of a service charge unless the charge is agreed by the […]
Alison Laferla reports Microsoft has set up a web page aimed at preventing illegal use of software. It contains information on copyright law, consumer rights and the definition of legal software. “Microsoft’s new site ensures that anyone who wants to understand licensing issues can go to a single place to get questions answered,” said Sharon […]
Commercial, property and litigation specialist Rosling King has installed the information package OfficeTalk. The London-based firm was looking for a system to organise employees’ time and let them communicate effectively, and it says the package has increased productivity. IT manager Joyce Campbell said: “We needed a system which enabled people to coordinate activities in a […]
I enjoyed The Lawyer’s front page article on the commercial court working party suggestions on the use of witnesses (6 August). Doing away with witnesses in commercial cases is not fanciful. The function of a witness is to earn money for lawyers. Copying documents, drafting proofs of evidence, late working, interminable meetings – all rack […]
The pending case we highlighted on August 30 in which the Vat man was scheduled to face a big challenge over his refusal to refund Vat overpayments took a surprising turn at the Vat tribunal doors. Customs and Excise were faced with a claim by the Nottingham-based Faculty of Building for repayment of more than […]
A firm that provided aircraft equipment for an episode of the Thames TV series Call Red, saw red when its equipment was returned damaged. Now it is taking Thames to the High Court with a claim for nearly £50,000 compensation. The case will centre on an episode dealing with an air crash. To add reality, […]