Issues

Campaigners fighting to save the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme go to the Court of Appeal this week to try to overturn the High Court decision allowing its abolition. Eleven trade unions, represented by Andrew Dismore of Robin Thompson & Partners, are resisting Home Secretary Michael Howard’s plan to introduce a tariff system which will remove […]

The following are some of the more important changes which have been introduced by the 1993 Trustee Amendments Act in the British Virgin Islands: Settlors now have the option to create a fixed term perpetuity period not exceeding 100 years in lieu of the common law period of 21 years plus. Common law principles have […]

LONDON firm Davenport Lyons has set up an association for in-house media lawyers. The first meeting of Legato, held last week, attracted a range of lawyers from television, music publishing, film and cable companies. But speaker Ray Snoddy, Financial Times media correspondent, had a gloomy message when he said he was “enormously sceptical of the […]

Leeds-based Lupton Fawcett has announced the appointment of Kevin Emsley as its managing partner. Emsley takes over from John Norris, who led the firm for the past seven years. Norris will continue on the executive board and will concentrate on his new role as head of the specialist business services department. The firm has also […]

Mondial Assistance has taken on another in-house lawyer as part of the on-going expansion of its legal services. The department, which has grown from one to eight lawyers in two years, has recruited Nicole Clark from Southampton firm Woodford Ackroyd. Clark will take charge of Mondial’s uninsured loss recovery legal work. The legal department was […]

High-profile employemnt lawyer Denise Kingsmill has joined Denton Hall. Kingsmill returns to legal practice after working with Sir Patrick Sheehy as a member of his Rainbow consortium’s bid for the National Lottery. She aims to develop a centre of excellence in employment law at the City firm and to move the focus of its employment […]

The Association of First Division of Civil Servants (FDA) is to lobby politicians over the future of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following new fears that core services such as advocacy could be thrown open to market testing as a cost-cutting move. The Government is considering either privatising the CPS or turning it into a […]

In-house government law-yer Fred Croft has devised new guidelines for administrators, aimed at reducing the number of decisions challenged in court. Croft, deputy head of litigation, is behind the latest edition of ‘Judge over your shoulder’, a booklet aimed at highlighting the legal framework for decision-making. The guidelines were first published in 1987 but have […]

THE BRITISH legal system has got a “major problem” and the country needs a “radically different model for conducting civil justice than exists at present”, Lord Woolf said. Speaking at a press conference last Friday, Woolf, who is conducting a review of rules and procedure of civil courts in England and Wales, said a “fundamentally […]

Sales of Hansard, the official record of parliamentary debate, are plummeting because it is overpriced, says a report published last week. Acts of Parliament and parliamentary papers also cost too much, says the report What Price Hansard? by The Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government. The report, by Lord Lester QC, Lindsay Mackie and Michael Renshall, […]

THE BAR leadership elections have resulted in new faces appearing in the top three positions and the first employed lawyer admitted to the Bar’s senior management team. David Penry-Davey QC was elected as the next deputy chairman, beating current treasurer Martin Bowley QC in what finally became a two-horse race. Penry-Davey is a criminal and […]