Doing away with the demand-led legal aid system would be riven with practical problems, according to Law Society President Charles Elly in a speech. He warned that the need for legal advice did not fit a predictable pattern, as concern grows that the Lord Chancellor’s imminent green paper on legal aid might seek to cap […]
A DIRECTORY of ethnic minority lawyers was launched last week by the Society of Black Lawyers. The publication aims to bring attention to minority lawyers but also to highlight their scarcity in City firms. SBL Chair Makbool Javaid says the directory is a result of research carried out by Bristol University, which found that “ethnic […]
London law firm Barnett Alexandra Chart is adding its voice to the stress-at-work debate with a seminar this week. Speaking at the event are Dr Elaine Gadd, consultant psychiatrist at the Department of Health, Dr Graham Lucas, consultant psychiatrist and adviser to the Health and Safety Executive, and the firm’s employment law specialist, Ruth Harvey.
Badgerline Group was advised by Burges Salmon in connection with the replacement of its existing debt and guaranteed loan note facilities by a new composite u25.7m facility from Hill Samuel Bank
Janet Gaymer advises prevention rather than cure as far as Health & Safety at Work legislation is concerned Employment law is rather like the film ‘Jaws’. Just when you think that it is safe to give advice, another shark of a statute or case appears on the horizon. Risk management is therefore a crucial aspect […]
LAW firms ambitious to get a foothold in to Stock Exchange flotation work could soon follow the lead set by Taylor Joynson Garrett last week. And joint venture arrangements with stockbrokers or merchant banks could be one of the ways law firms might achieve it. So far, Birmingham-based Martineau Johnson and London firms Gouldens and […]
AT THE first annual conference of the European Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association in Versailles, its members predicted there would be a rise in litigation in Europe. The association, which was established in 1982 to represent lawyers in industry, has over 10,000 members. Its new European section boasts in-house lawyers with experience in […]
Away from London, there has been a build-up of large, modern multi-site practices. Usually competing with City players in terms of skills, they have a clear cost and convenience advantage. During the early 1980s, attracted by lower rents and good communications, many large companies moved to Reading, followed by the major accountants. These exploited the […]
The environmental risk which needs to be managed in a company is primarily the risk of being prosecuted in a criminal court. This happens in two ways. Either the company is prosecuted or the individual officers or directors end up in court. The second concern must be the risk of being sued in a civil […]
SOCIETY is facing “huge dangers of fragmentation” over ethnic minority issues, according to lawyer and leading race relations campaigner Baroness Flather. Delivering the 1994 Kapila Lecture on the theme of ‘diversity within unity’, hosted last week by the Council of Legal Education, Flather outlined her personal assessment of being British and of the British stereotype. […]
CITY firm Gouldens has scored a major taxation appeal victory, securing what is believed to be the highest level of hourly rate awarded for legal work in any County Court. The firm recovered a rate of u217 per hour, including uplift, after an appeal hearing in the Central London County Court for litigation conducted by […]
FORMER Consumers’ Association director of legal affairs, David Tench, is leading the lobbying revolution at City firm Lovell White & Durrant. Lovells partner Michael Hutchings, who specialises in competition regulation, recruited Tench at the end of October in preparation for the firm’s launch of its political lobbying service last week. Hutchings had experienced lobbying first-hand […]