STRUCK-OFF solicitor Graham Durnford Ford will defend himself against Serious Fraud Office charges of stealing u8.5 million from his clients – including the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association – in a trial due to start this week. The trial will be the culmination of a two and a half year investigation by Sussex police […]
South East firm Cripps Harries Hall has won the tender to act for the HM Customs and Excise (C&E) property portfolio in England and Wales. The firm will undertake mainly commercial property and related litigation work. The contract lasts until March 1998. The firm’s volume of work will increase in April 1996 as the C&E […]
Linda Tsang shoots a glance at those barristers leaving London to blaze the trail and open up the Western Circuit More and more barristers have been heading west out of London due to increasing competition from solicitor advocates, lack of work at the junior Bar and legal aid cut-backs to become Western Circuiteers. Many chambers […]
Clarke Willmott & Clarke, with long roots in deepest Somerset, no longer has conveyancing sections. It has CWC-HomeMover, a drop-in-anytime office that owes more to the supermarket than the traditional solicitor’s office. “Conveyancing is a retail product; don’t let anybody kid you it’s anything else,” declares Jonathan Stokes, the partner who is head of CWC’s […]
COURT clerks are not doing enough to make legal aid applicants provide evidence of their earnings, according to the National Audit Office. More than one third of applicants failed to submit documentary evidence on their means despite new rules introduced last year. The Comptroller and Auditor General Sir John Bourn has refused to grant the […]
TWO partners from the Scottish office of leading personal injury and trade union firm Robin Thompson & Partners were acquitted of fraud charges by the Edinburgh Sheriff’s court. Partners David Stevenson and Lawrence Lumsden had both denied accusations of overcharging other solicitors when recovering litigation costs after successful cases. The prosecution alleged they had overcharged […]
I write with reference to the letter from Miss Castle “Training cap is needed” in your edition of 14 February. The powers of the Law Society under the Solicitors Act relate to qualifications to be obtained by individuals. They are about standards to be achieved, not numbers who achieve those standards. If we were to […]
Nick Hilborne finds it’s sometimes difficult to stay on the right side of the law in investigations Information is power. The problem for the private investigation business is the means used to acquire that information. Illegal methods tend to be quicker and cheaper than legal ones. Imagine a jealous wife wants a 24-hour watch put […]
Civil rights group Liberty takes the case of Andrew Balfour to tribunal this week arguing that he was unfairly dismissed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Central to the case is the debate over Public Interest Immunity Certificates which were signed by the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary to prevent the disclosure of a number […]
At the second reading of the Family Homes and Domestic Violence Bill last week, the Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay said it was essential that domestic violence remedies were obtained swiftly in emergencies. He added that the bill widened the categories of people who could apply for orders and strengthened enforcement powers held by the courts.
CANADIAN firm Stikeman Elliott has taken over Hong Kong law firm Shum & Co following changes in Hong Kong’s rules permitting foreign firms to employ local lawyers. Shum & Co has adopted the Stikeman name and Stikeman partner Calin Rovinescu says it “has a similar philosophy which is entrepreneurial and with a view to building […]
Tuckers Solicitors has appointed Brian Craig as business manager. Craig, who joins the London and Manchester-based criminal practice this week, is the former south east group duty solicitor manager with the Legal Aid Board. Senior partner Franklin Sinclair says Craig’s appointment will ensure that a high quality service is maintained.