Issues

THE European Commission is working to improve access to justice for its citizens with a survey into the spread of community law. It is trying to ensure that laws passed by the European Parliament are enforced in member states. The survey has been welcomed by Patrick Oliver of the Law Society’s Brussels office, who says: […]

More than 80 per cent of students who undertook the first year of the Law Society’s new legal practice course have passed. Figures released by the society last week show 17 per cent of students received distinctions while a further 44 per cent were commended. The course, taught by 16 institutions in England and Wales, […]

Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC), which dominates domestic house sales in the Edinburgh area, has opened its fifth office as part of a growing fight back by Scottish solicitors against estate agency chains. The Sterling office, opened last month, adds to the Dunfermline, Falkirk and Kirkcaldy offices of ESPC which operate alongside its main branch […]

LAW Society Council new-comer Martin Mears has stirred up a hornet’s nest at his first meeting by proposing a controversial motion. The Norfolk solicitor broke with years of tradition with a hard-hitting maiden speech, calling on the council to take a closer look at criticisms levelled by the honorary auditor in the society’s annual report. […]

THE CHILD Support Agency has failed to help the most vulnerable people in society and should be completely overhauled, according to the Society of Labour Lawyers (SLL). A complete review of the CSA, both to make children the main priority and to take into account the complex circumstances of the most vulnerable and impoverished, was […]

The attorney-general, Sir Nicholas Lyell, told Bar conference delegates the Government had an “open mind” about televised courtrooms. Speaking at the international workshop, he said “certainly photographs and possibly television” could be allowed in courts. “I really don’t see why there should not be still photographs, but photographers would then have to remove themselves. “There […]

Norwich law firm Birkett Westhorp & Long has recruited the managing director of the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society’s stockbroking arm to head a new investment division. Richard Larner joins the firm on 1 November as director of investment. Four other appointments are planned to complete the new team. Larner will directly manage private client […]

Anne McGrath says insolvency law reform is still high up on the Government’s agenda. The Queen’s Speech has come and gone with n’er a royal whisper of the proposed reform of insolvency law, which Secretary of State for Trade and Peter Mandleson have been strongly pushing for. But the DTI has confirmed that it is […]

The consultation paper on conveyancing, ‘Adapting for the future’, is to be fully debated by the Law Society council in November. Speaking at last week’s council meeting, Richard Hegarty, of Peterborough firm Hegarty & Co, told council members there had been about 450 responses. There had also been 66 submissions from local law societies. The […]

In-house lawyers have used the Bar conference platform to issue a stark message to barristers in private practice: “If you want work from us you’ll need to get your act together.” A panel of employed lawyers criticised what it called the Bar’s old-fashioned attitudes and the failure by some to understand the needs of business. […]