Issues

An ongoing battle between the Law Society and the Taxing Master has resulted in the society going to the courts to challenge a number of taxation decisions by Christopher Napier. The society is claiming in its paper ‘The Hourly Rate’ by John Meehan of Meehan, Murphy & Co that the Master does not, in principle, […]

CARDIFF-BASED solicitor Keith James has been named as the successor to Eversheds chair Victor Semmens. James, currently the firm’s vice-chair, takes over on 1 June as the practice switches from its regional titles to a single national name. His appointment is announced this week following a recent vote by the Eversheds board. Currently the chair […]

The advice given to creditors generally is that once their own procedures have failed to produce the money owed, the matter should then be passed to the specialists for collection. Solicitors are often considered one of the specialists for debt recovery, provided that the action taken is efficient and objective. Belfast firm White McMillan & […]

Irish solicitors are reporting a growth in business as the economy shows signs of a significant upturn. Increasing numbers of European companies have set up operations in Ireland in the past year, particularly in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre, where the EU extended the deadline for the licensing of new companies from last December to […]

LONDON firm Nabarro Nathanson has moved to larger premises in the Polish capital of Warsaw, further expanding its presence in the country. The firm, which opened in Poland more than four years ago, recently relocated to offices in the centre of Warsaw, upgrading from 500 to 670 sq metres of office space. Practice head Michael […]

The NSPCC is calling on the Government to introduce pre-trial hearings to allow children to give evidence and be cross examined on video shortly after an offence is alleged to have been committed. The call follows the release of Leicester University research which shows evidence given by children on videotape or by live link does […]

DENTON Hall corporate lawyer Ian Tully has moved to Milan to join Pirelli’s in-house legal team. Tully, who joined Denton Hall as a trainee in 1990, took advantage of the firm’s international connections, spending time in Brussels and Prague, where he worked with the team setting up a capital markets structure. He believes the international […]

A SOLICITOR who was insulted by Legal Aid Board head Steve Orchard at a conference has questioned the chief executive’s ability to run the board. Orchard claimed that what Roy Douglas said at the Legal Action Group conference last week “came out of an orifice and it wasn’t between his ears”. But he was forced […]

Experts on environmental law have published a guide to steer lawyers through the maze of terminology used by specialists. ‘The Concise Lexicon of Environmental Terms’ has been compiled by the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association and City firm McKenna & Co. Richard Hawkins, a barrister and founder-member of UKELA, and Professor Malcolm Grant, of Cambridge […]

Barrister Sir Peter Millett QC, a Lord Justice of Appeal, has been named as the new president of the Mining and Mineral Law Group. Millett, who took silk in 1973, was frequently involved in mining law issues following his appointment to the High Court in 1986. Founded last year, the group has a 60-strong membership […]

MORE than 350 law firms face losing work from the AA following the motoring organisation’s decision to drop free legal advice for members accused of driving offences. They will have to win more clients independently rather than having them referred by the AA’s in-house lawyers. Peter Newman, head of the AA’s legal services department, says […]