City firm Denton Hall has appointed Lesley Kay as its public relations manager. Kay, formerly of the Finance & Leasing Association, will be responsible for raising the firm’s media profile and getting public relations initiatives off the ground.
LORD Woolf’s draft proposals for reform of the civil justice system are “superficially attractive” but do not go far enough to cure the underlying problems of under-funding and inefficiency, say clients surveyed by City firm Simmons & Simmons. Based on the views of its corporate clients, the firm is calling on Lord Woolf to professionalise […]
THE CIVIL & Public Services Association is to set up an in-house legal department. The union, which has 125,000 members, is in the process of hiring a lawyer to oversee its legal work. According to union treasurer Keith Mills, two reasons dictated the move. “You get a shorter line of contact if the person is […]
PARLIAMENTARY Counsel may soon be out of a job and their role of drafting Government legislation handed over to private practice lawyers, if Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke has his way. Clarke made known his support for privatising their role when delivering a recent lecture for the cross-party think-tank European Policy Forum (EPF). The […]
Allen & Overy is investigating allegations of fraud involving its corporate client, engineering and aerospace company TI Group. The claims arose in the US and appear to be backed by the US Government. Litigation partner Tim House and two assistants from the firm are being instructed by TI Group legal director Stephen Clarke to look […]
Shipping disputes concerning charter-parties and bills of lading are the main types of work of the court but it also deals with disputes in insurance and reinsurance, banking and international sales of goods. More general commercial disputes such as agency and distributorship contracts and joint trading ventures also fall within the Court’s ambit as does […]
LONDON solicitor David Greene is at the centre of a legal campaign by English and German creditors to secure over DM600 million (u240 million) from disgraced German investment adviser and alleged fraudster Jurgen Harksen. Greene, partner of London firm Edwin Coe, worked with South African lawyers in Cape Town to secure a rare Mareva injunction […]
SJ Berwin & Co is acting for an action group of bondholders who are considering legal action to recover money lost through the collapse of Barings Plc, the shell holding company of the merchant banking businesses bought by Dutch group ING. David Harrel, senior partner and head of litigation, is heading a four-lawyer team with […]
FEES for students on this year’s Bar School course are to rocket by 30 per cent. Around 1,200 students offered conditional places at the Bar School this autumn face a hike in fees to u5,200 from last year’s figure of u3,980. Council of Legal Education secretary John Taylor puts the rise down to a substantial […]
TOP divorce lawyer Paul Butner and society magazine Harpers and Queen have settled a libel action over an article which said he had been dropped as Princess Diana’s legal adviser on matrimonial affairs because he “lacked the necessary competence and skills”. In the High Court last week, Mr Justice Drake was told that Butner, partner […]
LANCASHIRE law firm Bermans has recruited licensing specialist Nigel Copeland to head up its new North West licensing and leisure department alongside existing partner David Gledhill. Copeland, previously with Copeland Lyons, is an established specialist in the licensing field. Anthony Lyons, senior partner at Copeland Lyons, will continue to operate the firm in the licensing […]
Solicitors taking the exams to become insolvency practitioners have done better than ever before by achieving a near-50 per cent pass rate and performing better than the accountants. Thirteen solicitors sat the Joint Insolvency Examination Board, out of 350 candidates, who were mainly accountants. Six of the solicitors passed, two were referred in only one […]