THE GOVERNMENT claims to have addressed complaints that many Tory councils have failed to embrace the spirit of competitive tendering. Environment minister Sir Paul Beresford made the claim as his department published new draft guidance on private sector initiatives. He warned that authorities had to take clear responsibility to ensure that their tendering process did […]
NEARLY half the people currently seeking divorce would feel uncomfortable going through mediation and almost nine out of every 10 want to be represented by a solicitor, a comprehensive survey revealed this week. The Solicitors’ Family Law Association research is believed to be the first to test clients’ response to the Government’s White Paper proposals. […]
THE CONSUMERS’ Association has issued a libel writ against a firm which accused it of botching up the damning Which? survey on the quality of legal advice. The writ against Shoosmiths & Harrison follows the Northampton firm’s own writ against the association. The firm claimed the association wrongly said in its Which? survey that the […]
TRADES unions are accusing the Lord Chancellor’s Department of secrecy over plans to close between 13-15 of its probate offices. The unions say the LCD will reveal its “hit list” as late as possible “to diffuse expected opposition from the public and MPs”. Ear-marked for closure are the sub-probate registry offices which cover remote areas […]
Five national conferences will examine ways of cutting delays in the criminal justice system. They will be organised as part of an action plan published by the Criminal Justice Consultative Council last week. The proposals for the coming year aim to improve communication, co-operation and co-ordination among agencies working in the system.
Training and recruitment are among the main topics to be discussed at the national conference of the African, Caribbean and Asian Lawyers’ group this week. The event at the Law Society headquarters on Saturday will be introduced by ACA chair Audrey Dorival. Speakers include Keith Vaz MP, Jerry Garvey of the Law Society, and a […]
The Law Society has spoken out against a bill proposed by left-wing Labour MPs to fund a “nationalised” legal service. MPs Austin Mitchell and Tony Benn are campaigning for a “National Legal Service” with a set of radical proposals indicating a potential Labour split over its legal policy. The proposals include a complete scrapping of […]
The School of Law at China’s Wuhan University is offering a distance learning course in Chinese commercial law for people living outside the republic. The course, prepared in both English and Chinese, covers aspects of law regulating business activities in China. Supervision for the course, suitable for those specialising or wanting a grounding in Chinese […]
WITH less than three months to go until the doors slam shut on yet another US law firm, the New York legal market has again become flush with attorneys looking for new professional homes. In the weeks surrounding its 2 October dissolution decision 126-year-old Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon released almost 200 lawyers onto […]
SOLICITORS Complaints Bureau head Veronica Lowe will still have some influence over the bureau’s future despite her decision to resign at the end of the month. Lowe will be working under secretary general John Hayes until she leaves the Law Society at the end of the year. In a message to staff she revealed she […]
Should prison visiting play any part in the training of a judge? How many of the judges pictured outside Westminster Abbey at the start of this legal year have ever been inside a jail? Should they be more aware of what goes on day after day behind the prison’s walls? I have just spent two […]
Addleshaw Sons & Latham advised ECI Ventures in its further £1 million investment in the Devonshire Pub Company