I have been informed that the Association of Chief Police Officers is looking at ways of “copyrighting” the police force in order to protect its image from any imitators, such as private security firms who may try to pass themselves off as the genuine article in police-style uniforms. No doubt any persons apprehended by an […]
The logic in Mr Mark Curron’s letter is flawed (The Lawyer 31 October). I understand the distinction between the duties of president and secretary general. But why cannot the two roles be combined? It seems to work well in the US. While I feel that presidents should serve a five-year term, they will be elected […]
PictureTel, the video conferencing system used by the Bar Council and employed in several pilot schemes run by the prison service, is to be marketed worldwide by IBM. Under a new agreement IBM and PictureTel will provide communications network services with PictureTel video conferencing systems.
THE MAN behind the massive grass roots campaign to put a stop to cut-price conveyancing fees is the subject of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. John Edge entered into the IVA with his creditors earlier this year. But the campaigning solicitor from Bournemouth, who shot to national prominence in the summer at the head of a […]
Tony Twemlow is a partner at Cuff Roberts and president of the Liverpool Law Society. Tony Twemlow thinks that divisive Law Society politics serve no one’s interests David Thomas (The Lawyer 23 October ‘Time is ripe for constructive debate’) asked Martin Mears to stop fighting the Law Society Council and start building bridges. I may […]
The Law Society has issued guidelines to solicitors stressing the need for comprehensive legal advice for older people considering giving their homes to relatives or friends. Many older people seek to transfer property to avoid paying the cost of residential or nursing home care in the future. However, the society warns there are a number […]
LAWYERS and accountants are to climb into the ring to wrestle over a major issue dividing the two professions. The issue this time is a technical, rather than cultural, one. It focuses on a tiny but hugely significant accounting rule which accountants and lawyers interpret differently. The rule, put out by the Accounting Standards Board […]
A BIRMINGHAM Post interview which reports former Solicitors Complaints Bureau head Veronica Lowe attacking Martin Mears has brought her pay-off back under question. There is speculation that the interview, in which Lowe is reported to have claimed Mears had “little familiarity” with the bureau, may have breached a confidentiality agreement in her £90,000 severance package. […]
Solicitors have been accused of favouring masonic barristers and conspiring with clients and police officers to unfairly influence cases. It is alleged that there are masonic law firms to which freemason-solicitors gravitate. Sir John Welch, a freemason since the mid-1950s, is a property partner with Covent Garden law firm Wedlake Bell. Twenty years ago, he […]
The Law Society’s former deputy head of communications Jonathan Goldsmith has succeeded Hamish Adamson as international director. Adamson, who retired on 1 November, had worked with the Law Society for over 30 years. His role as information officer to the UK delegation to the Council of Bar and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) […]
REBEL silk Ronald Thwaites will call on the Bar Council to abandon its proposed new complaints system and to stop further attacks on the Bar from “sniping” critics. In a paper the council has agreed to circulate this week, he opposes plans for compensating “distressed” clients or lay involvement in the system. The paper sets […]
THIRTY-TWO serving or retired judges were named as freemasons last week in a study of the latest handbook produced by the organisation’s leaders. They were identified in an analysis of the 1995 Masonic Year Book carried out by the Labour Research trade unionists’ group. The research was published as leading members of the legal profession […]