The Bar Council’s revamped equality code is expected to come into effect this week after being finalised at the weekend council meeting, unless further refinements are to be made. Other major issues to be debated include controversial proposals for deferring call to the Bar until six months’ pupillage are completed. An announcement was expected on […]
Michael Simmons is partner at Finers and a consultant on professional practice problems. It is surprising how many firms of solicitors are prepared to leave the regulation of their own affairs to chance, or to the lottery of that ancient statute the Partnership Act 1890. Yet no self-respecting lawyer would advise their client to establish […]
There has been an explosion of interest in legal services in the last 12 months. Against this backdrop the CAB service has dealt with over half a million inquiries connected with legal aid, lawyers and the courts. Barriers to Justice, a report of CAB clients’ experience of the legal system, draws on evidence from over […]
I do not wish to open a Second Front by arguing with both The Lawyer and the Bar Council but Tulkinghorn is wrong in assuming last week that I confused the military strategies of Hitler and Stalin in the battle for Stalingrad. On 23 November 1942, General von Paulus, commander of the German Sixth Army, […]
Cyril Dixon reports LEWISHAM has joined the growing band of local authorities which are taking positive action to train solicitors from ethnic minority groups. The south-east London council has joined forces with a law centre in the borough to start a two-year training scheme for a black law graduate. About 400 people have enquired about […]
The furore surrounding Judge Anthony Thornton QC looked set to rumble on this week despite Lord Mackay giving him the all clear to resume judicial duties. Lord Mackay backed Thornton last week after meeting him to discuss newspaper allegations about his personal life. The Lord Chancellor accepted the judge’s denial that he had smoked illegal […]
Ian Muirhead is the managing director of legal financial services network Solicitors for Independent Financial Advice. Solicitors are prime targets for money launderers. Our whole ethos and apparatus lends itself perfectly to the purpose of those seeking to conceal the origin of criminal funds. Client accounts, offshore trusts, money transmissions, powers of attorney and client […]
The Law Society has received a “fair” response to the consultation paper to simplify the Solicitors’ Investment Business rules. Although the draft rules have few changes of substance, the SIB required the Law Society to consult with the profession and other interested parties, including consumer groups. The rules, which came into being in 1990, were […]
Legal activity around cash-strapped Eurotunnel is reaching a new level of intensity with Nicholson Graham & Jones taking a surprise lead in a £1 billion action against contractors. At the same time, big City firms are re-negotiating the company’s massive £8 billion bank debt. Speculation is rife about whether other law firms previously involved in […]
The Legal Aid Board has reinstated solicitor Hilda Amoo Gottfried to the south London duty solicitor scheme shortly after she won leave for judicial review of the LAB London area committee’s decision to deselect her. The LAB area and regional committees were overruled months ago by the LAB national committee which ordered her reinstatement and […]
The Lord Chancellor has invited applications for appointment as Queen’s Counsel. The applications are open to advocates who hold, or are entitled to exercise, full rights of audience in the High Court or Crown Court. Forms and Notes for Guidance, are available from David Stobie, Lord Chancellor’s Department, Room 6.33, Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London […]
FEWER custodial sentences and better treatment for asylum seekers have been highlighted by the Liberal Democrats as two key domestic reform proposals. Home affairs spokesman and deputy leader Alan Beith told the conference in Glasgow that putting more people in prison was not a solution to the country’s crime problem. He pointed out that 14 […]