WELSH solicitors will gain an insight into Europe next week when they visit Brussels to celebrate St David’s Day. Thirty lawyers will meet officials from the European Parliament and Commission and will see at first hand how the system works. The event has been staged by the Law Society and the Law Society of Scotland […]
LAWYERS are being warned of “expensive imitations” as the Law Society launches a package of products to underpin the radical no-win, no-fee system. The society’s conditional fees insurance scheme, described as “the key to a major new legal services package”, is one of several initiatives to help get the new system off the ground. But […]
FRAUDULENT solicitor David Duff, whose activities have cost the Law Society Compensation Fund approximately u1.88 million has been struck off. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal held that Duff, who ran his own practice as Phelps & Lawrence in Swindon, and who was given a two-year sentence at Winchester Crown Court in July 1993 for four offences […]
TREASURY penny-pinchers looking to keep costs under control will be awarding gold stars to the Legal Aid Board. Nothing gets passed the ruthlessly efficient quango which has wrapped the knuckles of leading legal aid firm TV Edwards for over-billing …by 3p. The London firm has an annual turnover of about u2 million in legal aid […]
THE VERY latest in “self-service” justice was paraded before lawyers at the Legal Action Group conference. An electronic kiosk which fills in divorce forms, explains to tenants how to deal with an eviction notice and generally leads litigants through the legal system was put through its paces by delegates. The American invention is currently deployed […]
THE 10,000-member American Corporate Counsel Association is holding its first conference aimed at in-house lawyers working in Europe. The association, which opened its first European office in Brussels in April, will stage the conference in Paris this week. Seminar topics will include the organisation and development of in-house legal departments, the changing legal environment for […]
Nabarro Nathanson is to open an office in the City to house its new shipping team. The firm’s shipping litigation unit, set up following the recruitment of four lawyers from Norton Rose, will be based initially in Nabarros’ West End offices, but a City presence will be established in the New Year – probably in […]
A former Army captain who was forced to leave the armed forces after becoming pregnant is claiming a record u500,000 sex discrimination payout from the Ministry of Defence. The claim, made by former Royal Army Education Corps captain Abigail Kirkby-Harris, includes compensation for lost earnings, allowances and pension entitlements. It is the largest claim of […]
A High Court jury will be asked to decide next January whether Egyptair was guilty of breach of contract, malicious conduct and/or wrongful imprisonment, as a result of an incident which took place in March 1992. Two attempts by Egyptair to have the proceedings, in which Akintola Johnson seeks aggravated and exemplary damages, struck out […]
IDA MARY WAKELAM, 42, admitted 1977, practised in partnership as Rudlings & Wakelam, Bury St Edmunds, fined u5,000 and ordered to pay u1,527 costs. Allegations substantiated she wilfully destroyed a mortgage deed and failed to disclose promptly its prior existence to party entitled to benefit of said mortgage. The incident arose following the death of […]
I read with great interest the report in which Christopher Heaps (of Jaques & Lewis) claimed that the press conference at London’s Waldorf Hotel was held there because of the Solicitors Complaints Bureau’s separate identity from The Law Society. Is it now planned that the adjudication and appeals committee of which he is chairman will […]
The Law Society is staging a series of conferences to update criminal practitioners on developments in their field. The seminars are aimed at maximising the profitability of criminal work for solicitors while meeting clients’ needs. Issues under discussion include the right to silence, legal aid franchising, extended rights of audience, standard fees and information technology.