PROPERTY partners Peter Welburn and Paul Springall are joining Howard Kennedy from Holman Fenwick & Willan. Welburn, who heads the department at London-based Holman Fenwick, and Springall will join Howard Kennedy’s property team at the start of next year. The department comprises about 17 fee earners. Howard Kennedy’s managing partner, Trevor Newey, says the moves […]
THE CROWN Prosecution Service (CPS) suspension of Neil Addison, a senior Crown prosecutor and employed Bar representative on the Bar Council, could jeopardise its hopes for higher court advocacy rights. One CPS lawyer says: “This is a very serious turn of events. Colleagues are outraged and there have been calls from lawyers around the country […]
Surrey-based tax specialist Nicholas Acomb has helped launch a Scottish Amicable insurance policy designed to help parents pass on assets to children while providing for the growing need for expensive nursing home care. Acomb, partner with Guildford and Farnham-based firm Stevens & Bolton, says people are increasingly hesitant to transfer assets to children because of […]
THE bulk of National Health Service trusts have a budget for legal services, according to a new survey by The Lawyer. The study of 100 NHS trusts reveals that 78 per cent have a legal budget, with almost all opting to use private firms rather than in-house lawyers. The Government’s controversial changes to the NHS […]
HIGH Street firms fed up with the Law Society’s “complacent and defeatist” attitude on conveyancing are forming their own pressure group. The new forum is being set up as the society’s council this week begins the debate on the controversial consultation paper ‘Adapting for the future’. The Solicitors’ Property Group (SPG), a loose network of […]
Robert Higginbotham reports
THE BAR Council has set a cap on barristers’ conditional fees at 10 per cent even though the Lord Chancellor will allow a maximum of 100 per cent. The cap was set as part of the Bar’s draft terms of engagement for counsel. To protect the public, the Bar is also likely to propose that […]
THE SENSITIVE issue of working relationships between stipendiary and lay magistrates – including a possible new title for stipes – is being reviewed by the Lord Chancellor. The review is being carried out by a working party set up to consider recommendations by the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, which could lead to structural changes […]
PAUL IAN ANDREWS, 41, admitted 1977, practised as Symons, Croydon, Surrey, fined u2,000 and ordered to pay u650 costs. Allegations substantiated he used client money for own purposes, failed to deliver accountants reports on time, failed to comply with solicitors investment business (SIB) rules. Andrews in his submissions to tribunal accepted he had acted “extremely […]
CITY firm Sinclair Roche & Temperley has appointed a new head of its pioneering Far Eastern operations. Finance and banking partner Ian Gaunt, who moves from London to Hong Kong, will co-ordinate the firm’s offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Hanoi – where Sinclair Roche & Temperley was the first UK firm to open […]
A memorial service for Denton Hall partner Andrew Nitch-Smith will be held at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street at midday on Wednesday 16 November. Nitch-Smith, one of the firm’s leading litigation partners, died on 30 April this year aged 41.
Michael Kavanagh While most law firms are still contemplating taking their first step in providing financial services, Thanet firm Walmsley & Barnes is starting its next five-year plan. Ewan Cameron, compliance manager at the firm, is into his sixth year developing a financial services operation for the six-partner firm, which he says adds to the […]