LAW firms are to be offered easier access to copyrighted material under plans being developed by the Law Society. Officials are negotiating with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) for an agreement which would allow firms to copy material more freely. In a separate move, Eversheds has become the first major law firm to gain a […]
The Business Section of the IBA has raised £250,000 to mark its 25th anniversary. It set up an anniversary fund which will be used to support initiatives around the world to further the rule of law, the establishment of an independent legal profession and the practice of business law in emerging democracies. The fund backs […]
THE RIGHT-WING Freedom Association has been accused of petty behaviour over its “expose” of inaccurate figures on the percentage of ethnic minority lawyers. A factsheet published by the Commission of Racial Equality (CRE) had to be withdrawn after the pressure group complained that it was misleading. Association director Gerald Hartup pointed out that the sheet […]
Ashurst Morris Crisp advised Westminster Health Care Holdings in its one for four rights issue to raise £33.7 million net of expenses. Baring Brothers Ltd were the underwriters
Northampton firm Shoosmiths & Harrison is launching a medico-legal society to improve understanding between the professions. Personal injury solicitor Amanda Nicoll said over 500 invitations to the 25 October launch had been sent to lawyers and health care workers in the region and district judge Roger Goodman had been invited to become the group’s first […]
Clifford Chance broke new legal ground when it advised on the UK’s first-ever credit card-backed securitisation. A team headed by finance partner Chris Field acted for MBNA International Bank, the second-biggest credit card issue in the US, in a £207.5 million securitisation of credit card cash flow (receivables). “It was a highly challenging transaction in […]
THE DIFFERENCES in world laws are a “barrier to justice” and practitioners should work towards unifying legislation across the globe, Bar chair Peter Goldsmith QC says. Goldsmith last week called for the establishment of an international standing committee to monitor, co-ordinate and promote legal unification and said lawyers should set up a “legal superhighway” to […]
TRADE unions are taking a more “sophisticated” approach to industrial action, turning away from all-out strikes and opting for discontinuous action, a new report says. Produced by Dibb Lupton Broomhead, the annual industrial relations survey shows employees are now seeking alternative methods of action to resolve industrial disputes including one-day stoppages and overtime bans. The […]
Bosnian advocates Ekrem Galijatovic and Mladen Sutej slowly count off their dead colleagues’ names, making sure to remember each and every one. In Sarajevo, their home and virtual prison for almost four years of siege, at least 20 lawyers have died. Some were killed by shell or bullet, with others dying through sickness and starvation. […]
Clifford Chance intellectual property specialist Cerys Wyn Davies has quit the City for the Birmingham office of Pinsent Curtis. Wyn Davies, who joins as a partner, qualified in 1985 and later developed an IP team within Clifford Chance’s commercial department. She handled all non-litigious aspects of IP and IT work and provided advice on the […]
THE LORD Chancellor’s Department is considering the future of David Cocks QC as a recorder following complaints made to the Bar Council about his role in the Roger Levitt fraud trial. The complaint centres on allegations that Cocks, prosecution counsel for the Serious Fraud Office on Levitt and head of chambers at 5 King’s Bench […]
London firm Bircham & Co is to host a regional conference for the Association of Solicitor Investment Managers (Asim) next month. According to the firm’s head of financial services, Christopher Jones-Warner, issues for discussion include Trade Point, the alternative stock exchange currently being set up. Asim is also hosting a conference on 2 October in […]