JACK GEORGE TRUST-HAM, 64, admitted 1969 and CHRISTOPHER JOHN GREY, 50, admitted 1971, practising at material time as Wigram & Co, London W1, fined £3,500 each and ordered to pay £4,224 costs. Allegations substantiated they wrongly drew client money, failed to pay client money into client account and failed to comply with terms of professional […]
THREE major players in the family law arena have quit their practices to form a multidisciplinary matrimonial service offering legal advice, mediation and counselling. Brecher & Co’s Gillian Bishop, David Hodson, of Frere Cholmeley Bischoff, and The Simkins Partnership’s Sara Robinson – all heads of family law departments – have set up niche firm, Hodson […]
CRIMINAL lawyers in Northern Ireland have reported a sharp surge in drug-related work and an equivalent downturn in Diplock court cases as the IRA ceasefire reshapes the pattern of their legal work. Solicitors say drug dealers have moved onto the estates of Belfast as the paramilitaries have discontinued “punishment” of criminals. The number of hearings […]
It is clearly too early to predict the eventual effects of CCT, but from the outside looking in, it seems unlikely that it will lead to the demise of the in-house legal department in local government. We certainly hope not. Preparations for competition will have caused disruption for staff and increased the administrative burden of […]
John Quarrell, leading pensions lawyer and Nabarro Nathanson’s “school of life” philosopher, has won a top pensions accolade. Quarrell was named top pensions lawyer and his team the strongest pensions practice in Pensions Management magazine, after a survey of partners at 43 leading firms. A lawyer friend said of him: “A great achiever, an Ernest […]
SLAUGHTER and May is closing the doors on its Tokyo office and sending local partner Mark Keeler to Singapore to start a new practice. The move is the second international closure for the partnership this year, following the April shutdown of its presence in Frankfurt. The future of Tokyo office head Peter Grindrod has not […]
The race is well and truly on for the legal services work of the metropolitan and London borough councils which have to subject a proportion of such work to tender under the CCT regime. By law, these contracts have to commence on 1 April 1996. So what is the current state of play in the […]
Humberside County Council is being taken to the High Court in a compensation claim over damage allegedly caused to a house by tree roots. John and Katherine Whitfield say they suffered loss, damage, expense and inconvenience as a result of movement, cracking and distortion of the house which they blame on roots of trees by […]
You rightly say that “it is time for the conveyancers to give the public what they want” (‘Get real or get out’ The Lawyer 22 August). All the evidence suggests that the majority of the public want a proper quality service and are not greatly concerned about the level of fees. The public also want […]
In The Lawyer of 23 May 1995 (‘Paying the Piper’), I suggested that an expert witness having a financial interest in the outcome of a case in which they give evidence, clearly falls the wrong side of the line separating acceptable from unacceptable practice. That view is not universally held (for example, Daniel Silver’s letter […]
Out of the predicted 100 law firms tendering for local authority work, most are bidding for more than one contract. According to Graham Smith, partner at Lees Lloyd Whitley in Liverpool, his firm has currently tendered for 20 contracts. He says: “Lees, like many of the firms applying for similar contracts, is already heavily involved […]
One year on and the ceasefire in Northern Ireland is still intact. Criminal solicitors are adapting their practices to take account of the changes. However, the courage and bravery of Northern Irish solicitors in dealing professionally with their difficult caseload in the past 25 years is seldom acknowledged. The President of the Law Society of […]