Issues

YORKSHIRE lawyer Philip Hamer has unveiled plans to open a new limited legal company in the burgeoning northern law centre of Sheffield. Hamer, managing partner of Hull-based practice Philip Hamer & Co, will head the company as managing director after its opening next month. A separate entity to the Hull firm, the company, Philip Hamer […]

LAWYERS acting in the Polly Peck administration abroad are becoming caught up in the escalating violence facing British professionals on the case. Joint administrators Coopers & Lybrand, Turkish authorities and the British embassy in Istanbul are to step up security after a Coopers employee was shot earlier this month. A partner at the accountancy firm […]

City firm Withers has recruited a corporate financier to its corporate department. Hugh Devlin qualified as a solicitor in Scotland before joining British Linen Bank in 1989. While there he was in the team advising the Government on privatisation of the two Scottish electricity companies. He also advised on transactions for both public and private […]

Leathes Prior of Norwich has appointed a partnership director for the first time. A former finance director with AT&T Istel, Philip Day left Booth & Co in Leeds, where he was director of finance and administration, to take up the post. Leathes Prior, Norwich’s third largest firm, says the appointment was made to help the […]

The growth in cross-border trading activity, particularly since 1992, has meant the problem of late payment has emerged on a new stage. Statistics show that debts are paid more quickly by debtors in northern Europe than in southern Europe. Indeed, many UK companies find northern European customers pay up more quickly than those in the […]

UK and US lawyers found themselves on opposite sides of the fence in a controversial ABA debate on trial by television. The argument was triggered by the OJ Simpson trial. Simpson was seen on national television driving at top speed away from chasing police cars before being apprehended. The public has been well-informed on the […]

LAWYERS are working on a model contract which could form the basis of a sports arbitration service for sponsorship disputes. The Institute of Sports Sponsorship (ISS) is putting together a framework for an arbitration system to cut down on the cost of contractual disputes. The idea is to build up an effective system of case […]

VETERAN Hong Kong lawyer John Bellhouse is returning to London to work for US firm White & Case after 25 years with McKenna & Co. As senior resident partner in Hong Kong, Bellhouse was instrumental to the Port and Airport Development Scheme, representing the Hong Kong government. In London, McKennas’ managing partner Robert Derry-Evans is […]

The Bar Association of Commerce Finance and Industry (Bacfi) held a workshop in conjunction with Baker & McKenzie on alternative dispute resolution. About 20 Bacfi members took part in the practical sessions, designed to give lawyers an insight into the mediation process.

“Everyone in the City has had a problem with void space,” says City property expert Peter Thursfield of agents Savills. Void space is where a tenant cannot get rid of existing property and it arises in various ways: business shrinkage caused by recessionary and staff cutbacks or over-optimistic planning. Mergers or moves to new addresses […]

The LAW Society ‘bookbus’ will leave the UK this week on a teaching tour of Romania. The trip, organised by the society and the Trainee Solicitors’ Group (TSG), will include presentations on English language legal terminology and discussions on related matters of law. The 12 participants, including TSG chair Fiona Boyle and Young Solicitors’ Group […]