A FOUNDER member of the Sole Practitioners Group is considering resigning from the committee because he claims it has been hijacked by the Law Society. Leslie Dubow says the SPG, which has been beset with internal squabbles, has no future as an effective forum for small firms. In a separate development vice-chair Naomi Turl is […]
Barristers practising in the field of family Law may be forgiven for thinking they have become insufficiently appreciated over the last year, wondering if the family Bar might go the way of the defended divorce. For over two decades, the family Bar has flourished. The scarcely justifiable clockwork routine work of undefendeds at £12.50 for […]
Tim Miller reports TWO North East authorities are ringing in the changes at the top as they prepare for competitive tendering. Peter Watts has taken over as head of legal at Northumberland following Henry Warne’s switch to Newcastle. The combined legal and administration department at Newcastle has been split in two with Valerie Dodds heading […]
Lincoln’s Inn firm Trowers & Hamlins is spending u250,000 on its computer system upgrade, including hardware and software from Norwel. The hardware includes a Data General Aviion 8500 and Clariion disk array, providing mass storage for the 43-partner firm.
THE EX-CHAIR of the Eversheds National Intellectual Property Group, Philip Woods, has set up as a sole practitioner specialising in intellectual property. Woods, who left Eversheds Alexander Tatham at the end of last year, cannot practise in Manchester for a year because of a restrictive covenant. As a result, he has set up in Stockport. […]
Patrick Elias QC has earned the highest ever praise from solicitors in three years of The Lawyer’s specialist Bar features. Matheu Swallow finds out why. It might seem strange for one of England’s most prestigious employment barristers to be so outspoken on such a delicate issue. But Patrick Elias QC is adamant. “Hoddle must go,” […]
* The House of Lords is considering an application by Murex Diagnostics to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling made last October in a patent infringement action relating to kits designed for the treatment of hepatitis. Murex in defence has argued that the Chiron Corporation abused its dominant market position and charged unfairly high prices, […]
Hull-based Philip Hamer & Co has installed two video-conferencing units and plans to buy more. Senior partner Philip Hamer, who has been watching the area develop for 12 years, says: “Teleconferencing has at last come of age.” He attributes this to the fall in equipment prices. The Intel computer cards cost about u2,000 and the […]
The Lord Chancellor is to sell the old Knightsbridge Crown Court complex located at 1 Hans Crescent. The court has been sitting in Southwark since the closure of the Knightsbridge building last year.
THE AUDITOR investigating complaints about Wandsworth council’s housing policy has told counsel their advice was wrong. James Goudie QC and Nigel Giffin, of 11 King’s Bench Walk, advised that the borough’s policy of selling off empty council homes was “in principle capable of being lawful”. But the Wandsworth auditor, in line with the view taken […]
The Lawyer is pleased to announce the 1995 Legal National Five-a-Side football tournament in conjunction with Arsenal Football Club. The competition is open to all members of the legal profession and those associated with it. So law firms, barristers’ chambers, in-house legal departments and courthouse staff are invited to field teams. The event will kick […]
In an extraordinary move, all 27 tenants at 3 Paper Buildings, Samuel Parrish’s chambers, have applied to join Plowden Buildings. A decision will be taken this Saturday. The expanded set will be one of the largest sets in Temple with between 55 and 60 barristers. Paul Hurst, senior clerk at Plowden Buildings, said: ‘If a […]