Recent High Court action by head teacher Marie Younie, who claims she was wrongly sacked, is being heralded by employment lawyers as a warning to disciplinary bodies that they must play by the rules. Governors of an Essex school were threatened with moves to jail them and the school board now faces a five-figure bill […]
Winton Woods wants to run a “boot camp” in Tucson, Arizona, to teach judges and lawyers how to become part of the courtroom of the future. “I want to bring those guys in and say ‘Hey, you can do this’. We’ll give them the confidence that they are not going to be embarrassed.” Woods, a […]
This month the Law Society of Scotland’s full training and competence regulations came into force and it is one of the first law societies to implement such a regime. Consequently, every firm that offers investment advice will have to have at least one principal qualified or exempt, by qualification and experience in terms of the […]
A BRISTOL lawyer whose client seeks compensation for the murder of her relatives at Auschwitz is looking for help. Jane Macdonald, of Bobbetts Mackan, has agreed to take on the client whose father’s family was wiped out by the Nazis. But she is unsure whether she has a sustainable claim against the German government. “I […]
THE USE of mediation leads to the immediate settlement of 90 per cent of disputes in which it is used, a conference of senior litigation lawyers was told last week. Professor Karl Mackie, chief executive of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, claimed many of the remaining 10 per cent were resolved soon after mediation ended. […]
The Bar Council’s disciplinary tribunal has dropped its charges of professional misconduct against the leading defence counsel in the Roger Levitt fraud trial nearly two years after they were made. The charges related to Jonathan Goldberg QC’s opening speech in the trial, which senior prosecuting counsel David Cocks QC maintained had misled the jury. The […]
INTERNATIONAL firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue has established a presence in India only months after lawyers in the country launched legal action aimed at banishing foreign practitioners. But the firm, which will work through an associated office of its partner Jai Pathak, is unlikely to face such fierce opposition from protectionist local lawyers, averting […]
TENANTS fighting disrepair cases should be exempted from January’s increase in the small claims limit to £3,000, says the Law Society. The Lord Chancellor’s decision to increase the limit in line with Lord Woolf’s Access to Justice report has met with lukewarm response from Chancery Lane. Suzanne Burn, secretary of the civil litigation committee, said […]
‘Business and the Bar: working together’ is the title of a seminar on 20 November organised by the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance & Industry. The seminar will examine ways in which the Bar and in-house lawyers can work together and will be chaired by Sir Sydney Lipworth QC, deputy chair of National Westminster Bank. […]
The Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) has given the go-ahead to solicitors to be full or sponsored members of Crest. Members of Asim who are preparing for the introduction of Crest’s electronic share settlement system in late 1996, recently approached the Law Society and – through it – the SIF to ask whether the SIF will […]
It was inevitable that the publicity over Will Carling, his wife Julia and the Princess of Wales would generate some form of litigation. But the trail to the High Court in this particular case has taken an unusual course. TV presenter Julia Carling is suing Associated Newspapers not over the allegations involving her, her husband […]
Helen Sage reports An employment law CD-ROM, combining statutes, court judgments and expert commentary is the latest legal database to be launched by Tolley Publishing and Income Data Services. Employment Law Link comprises 2,700 case reports with commentary and the full text of UK and EC employment law legislation, regulations and codes of practice. The […]