David Burgess, 47, is a partner in Winstanley Burgess and a specialist in refugee cases – he has acted for many asylum cases of the past 20 years, including Sri Lankan Viraj Mendis. He lives in London What was your first job? Pipe laying across the Yorkshire Dales. What was your first salary as a […]
A trainee evening aimed at women in the profession will be held by the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) at the Law Society at 6.30pm on Thursday this week. The meeting will be addressed by a panel of speakers including the College of Law’s director of professional development, Alex Le Clezio, and AWS chair Jane […]
ROGER Woolfe has been appointed senior partner at Collyer-Bristow to replace Alan Burdon-Cooper, who is stepping down after 10 years. The firm is also to take on two or three new partners to boost its private client and company commercial work. Burdon-Cooper’s term was an important period for the firm, which saw office expansion and […]
A GROWING number of referees could find themselves in the dock, sports lawyers at the second annual conference of the British Association for Sport and the Law were told. Two rugby referees are understood to be facing civil actions from players who allege that injuries sustained were due to match officials’ negligence. The cases have […]
The chair of the Law Commission called on the Bar to back a campaign to make law reform easier. Mr Justice Brooke said the need to improve the quality of laws must top the all-party political agenda. “I have not yet seen any evidence of parliamentary procedures which are robust enough to ensure that the […]
Carol Keenan has joined Avon Rubber as assistant group solicitor from London firm Rabin Leacock & Lipman. She joins three in-house lawyers headed by group solicitor Peter Fairbairn.
BERMANS managing partner Ian Short has left to start his own commercial firm. No replacement has yet been found for him and the firm is considering either a joint managing partnership or a rotating system involving several partners. Partner John Hall says: “We are very sorry to be losing Ian, but he felt that the […]
Medical negligence specialist Russell Levy has registered more than 200 women in the first round of claims against over 50 US manufacturers of silicone gel breast implants. Levy, partner at Leigh, Day & Co, says although the cut-off date for first-round claims from women with severe existing injuries was 16 September, those claimants are unlikely […]
THE BAR Council has welcomed new rules on standard fees in magistrates’ courts aimed at ending the pay disparity between barristers and freelance solicitor advocates. The changes to the remuneration structure will allow barristers to claim for travelling and waiting time costs in addition to the standard fee for advocacy. Previously, only solicitors could do […]
NATIONAL law firm Dibb Lupton Broomhead is believed to be considering changes to its management structure after a partners’ meeting at its London office last Thursday. Sources claim a range of proposals for change were put to partners, but no new moves had been unveiled to staff when The Lawyer went to press. Managing partner […]
Staff at Davies Arnold Cooper. Last week their boss, David McIntosh, told the Trainee Solicitors’ Group that professional success was not inevitably linked to a life of long hours. Assistants at the firm may wish to remind David of this should they ever decide they want to leave at 5.30pm on the dot. Hammond Suddards, […]
CASH compensation for the firms of Law Society office-holders may be halved following a call for the amounts to be fixed to legal aid rates. A postal ballot is to be held to decide the issue after an amendment to the new rules was proposed by solicitor Michael Ellman. Ellman wants compensation levels linked to […]