MULTI-PARTY actions need an entirely new court procedure and method of financing, possibly from a special central government fund, according to radical proposals from the Scottish Law Commission. The commission, in a report requested by Scotland’s Lord Advocate, says the current systems are inadequate for dealing with such cases. Commission lawyer Roger Bland says: “It […]
The Lord Chancellor is expected to announce plans this week to introduce a bill to establish a fast-track system of handling minor libel claims outside of court. The bill will be designed to settle claims quickly and cheaply by enabling judges to fix damages in small cases.
THE FIRST exhibition of expert witnesses has been hailed as a success by its organisers. ‘The Expert witness event’ was held last week at the City’s Barbican centre. It attracted over 1,800 visitors in two days. Of these “a high proportion” were from the legal world, says organisers Truemist. Keith Searby, of Truemist, says: “We […]
I was not seriously misquoted, but it could be taken from your article (The Lawyer 15 November) that Michael Cohen and I are in conflict on this matter. This is not so. The Academy of Experts has a firm rule that contingent or conditional fees for experts are out of order and this is the […]
City firm DJ Freeman has won an award for its part in a business in the community initiative. The London partnership category for the Lord Mayor’s 1994 Dragon Awards went to The Brix at St Matthews – a community facility in Brixton. DJ Freeman is one of 10 London practices providing pro bono legal services […]
Barrister David Pannick QC and employment secretary Michael Portillo will be among the speakers at the Association of Metropolitan Authorities’ second conference on the implications of Europe on UK employment law. The conference, ‘Brussels Sprouting – Part 2’, will be held on 16 January next year. Leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament, […]
VOLUNTARY Service Overseas has launched a drive to find lawyers willing to work in the Pacific and the Caribbean. There are vacancies in the Solomon Islands for a solicitor in the Public Solicitor’s Office to handle land and logging cases, a customary land registrar, and a legal adviser for the provincial government. A vacancy in […]
TO RESIGN over one embarrassment may be regarded as a misfortune. To resign twice looks like carelessness. So Wilde might have counselled Patrick Nicholls, solicitor MP for Teignbridge and until last week a Conservative party vice-chairman, whose maladroit observations of the French and Germans meant, he would again be ‘spending more time with his family.’ […]
London firm Memery Crystal, the solicitors to creditors of the collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), is formulating a battle-plan for possible litigation against the BCCI majority shareholders in Abu Dhabi. This long-term strategy is being devised despite the revised agreement with Abu Dhabi that would provide an improved offer to creditors of […]
A picture's worth a thousand words, believes Hugh Oxbarrow
You could be forgiven for thinking that the outlook for most law firms was bleak. However, research by Lambda Consultancy, involving 112 law firms and 320 clients, suggests there is plenty of opportunity for the enterprising law firm. Almost 90 per cent of solicitors’ clients interviewed said their solicitors did not market their firms’ services […]
Nicole Maley reports BARNSLEY Council’s deputy borough secretary, John Emms, has resigned to take up a promotion as solicitor to the council at Kirklees. Emms, who has worked with the council since 1975, takes over from Michael Vause on 28 November. In a return to full-time legal duties he will control a solicitor’s department staffed […]