LONDON law firm Hill Taylor Dickinson has split with Hong Kong associated firm Hampton, Winter and Glynn after a five-year link. The London firm is now setting up a separate office in the colony with the Hong Kong firm’s four-lawyer shipping department. The split came when Hampton, Winter reviewed its business strategy, according to Hill […]
Coudert Brothers has hired an ex-Lovell White Durrant partner to head its funds practice. Alasdair Gordon has not got partnership status at the firm but, says Steven Beharrell, head of the London practice, he will be considered for partnership at a later date. A Lovells spokeswoman says Gordon left the firm in December “by mutual […]
CLIFFORD Chance is to open an office in Prague next month, bolstering its presence in Central Europe. Resident partner Andrew Matthews will head the office, which will be fully operational from 3 April. Matthews joined the firm on 1 February from McKenna & Co. While at McKennas, he helped establish a Prague and Moscow office […]
LEGAL aid lawyers are furious at Lord Mackay’s decision to introduce a two-tier criminal legal aid system while continuing to freeze civil legal aid. Law Society president Charles Elly joins the Legal Aid Practioners’ Group in denouncing the new rates for April which reward franchised over non-franchised firms. They condemn the decision to only increase […]
Vizards, the Holborn-based London insurance and commercial firm, is opening a City office for the first time in its 200 year history. The move follows demand from its institutional clients and Lloyd’s syndicates who want the firm’s insurance lawyers to be closer to hand in a self-sufficient City team. The new City office opens with […]
ENTERTAINMENT law specialist Stanley Munson has joined Tarlo Lyons following the merger of his old firm with Davenport Lyons. Munson was a partner in the Wright Webb Syrett company commercial department which did not follow the litigation team to Davenport Lyons in the merger earlier this month. At the time, Davenport Lyons said it had […]
Sleaze inquiry chair Lord Nolan attended the Lovell White Durrant/Guardian International Awards for Students prize-giving ceremony at the Savoy Hotel on Friday 10 March. Winner of the u5,000 first prize for her essay on parliamentary lobbying was London University law student Anne Outram-Halstead. Commenting on his inquiry into standards in public life, Lord Nolan said […]
Training and career consultants Lawyers in Mind is putting together a major survey on the attitudes of solicitors in private practice. It will ask lawyers about their feelings about their work, towards clients and what affects their morale and motivation. Anyone wishing to complete the survey can contact Stella Abrahams on 0171 583 0283.
THE COURTS must only be used in the last resort if a looming crisis in the judicial system is to be averted, says Lord Alexander of Weedon QC. Speaking at a Council of Legal Education lecture in Gray’s Inn, the chair of NatWest Group and a former Bar Council chairman, said alternative dispute resolution (ADR) […]
THE GOVERNMENT is to review the law surrounding the status of ‘living wills’, under an initiative announced by the Lord Chancellor last week. The Lord Chancellor’s Department will lead an intergovernmental working group which will include the Department of Health, Department of Social Security, Home Office, Treasury and Welsh Office. The British Medical Association, which […]
Eversheds Jaques & Lewis uses employment barristers more than it used to. Says partner Helga Breen: “We do not use them for getting a second opinion. We tend to use them as a cheap alternative to solicitors or when we’re incredibly busy.” Employment law barristers “need a thorough grasp of the law as well as […]
Conditional fee regulations are due to be put before Parliament by Lord Mackay imminently, according to the Lord Chancellor’s Department. The Law Society is also gearing up for the arrival of the long awaited “no win no fee” rules and is putting the final touches to a model agreement for solicitors and clients which it […]