BERRYMANS, the 19-partner London insurance litigation firm, has taken on commercial partner Peter Bohm from niche commercial practice Courts & Co. Bohm will head the firm’s developing company and commercial department. Bohm brings extensive experience in acquisitions, joint ventures and disposal work to the firm. He was with five-partner Courts & Co for 10 years […]
A former partner of London law firm Calow Easton has been jailed for a year. Simon Easton was convicted of three charges of false accounting at Southwark Crown Court. Judge Robin Laurie said that Easton senselessly threw away an “enormously successful” career to help a greedy client pay a divorce bill. The Solicitors Complaints Bureau […]
Essex practice Attwater & Liell has installed an AIM evolution practice management system from AIM Professional. The firm’s system is an upgrade of AIM’s MicroCharter system for smaller practices.
Roger Pearson looks at a case which may affect legal aid eligibility for enforcement proceedings Legal Aid policies for the funding of challenges to enforcement proceedings will come under the High Court spotlight early next year. Upper class fraudster Darius Guppy has won leave to seek judicial review of refusal of legal aid for him […]
CAMPAIGNING law reform group Justice, which has won an important battle in its fight for juvenile justice, is considering taking new legal steps to keep politics out of the courts. The Home Secretary’s intervention in fixing mandatory life terms could be the next target of Justice following its recent first-round victory in Europe. The European […]
Hammond Suddards’ Mike Shepherd is leaving the firm’s Leeds office to develop the commercial litigation service for clients in Manchester. Shepherd, who heads the firm’s environmental law unit, has been a partner for 20 years. Liam Buckley, head of the property department in Manchester, has been made a partner. The appointment follows an upturn in […]
The Inland Revenue will have increased powers to gain access to tax advisers’ confidential files, following the Government inquiry led by Law Society ex-president Philip Ely. Accountants Pannell Kerr Forster says it is concerned that this may represent a “serious invasion of privacy”. The firm says that safeguards called for by Ely have not been […]
The end of 1994 saw the first glimmers of hope that a decline in training contracts could be weakening. Contrary to expectations, the number of admitted solicitors has grown and so have the number of training contracts. While for many would-be trainees the chances of securing a training contract seem as slim as a win […]
Manchester-based law firm Colemans has appointed Robert Meaton as partner in charge of commercial property and liquor licensing. Meaton has acted as a specialist in licensing law for major hotels and breweries.
THE LAW Society is planning to embark on an in-depth study of the way complaints are handled by different professions. The initiative has been prompted by more general research which reveals that solicitors and barristers are facing the same problems as accountants, dentists, architects and engineers. Secretary-General of the Law Society John Hayes says: “One […]
A SCOTTISH media lawyer is claiming that the legal aid system pays out too much to “evil little bastards” who commit crime. Alistair Bonnington, solicitor to BBC Scotland, says a major overhaul of the system is needed and that scarce resources should be diverted from the criminal fund to the civil fund. Writing in the […]
CITY practice Travers Smith Braithwaite has appointed the head of its tax department Alasdair Douglas as managing partner. Douglas took over from Robert Harman on 1 January. He will retain his title as head of tax in addition to his managerial duties. Harman, now heading the property department, was one of the City’s longest-serving managing […]