A number of factors are propelling firms to reconsider the question of financial services within practices, whether or not they are involved. There is certainly an upsurge in interest, not least stimulated by the debate on conveyancing. Within the next year, firms thinking about taking the plunge into discrete investment business, and those already involved, […]
THE POLISH joint venture between City firm Theodore Goddard and US firm Dewey Ballantine will create the first foreign law firm based in Krakow. The office is opening in association with a local group of lawyers under Professor Tomasz Studnicki. Theodore Goddard partner Stephen Jones, who manages Dewey Ballantine Theodore Goddard in Warsaw, says: “We […]
Nicole Maley reports DONNE Mileham & Haddock partner Geoff Johnson has left private practice to return to his local authority roots as assistant solicitor to Chichester District Council. Johnson, who took up the post last month, was employed from 1990 as a salaried partner with the firm which has a strong reputation for local authority […]
The $425 million price on the buy-out at BP’s nutrition business made this the biggest UK buy-out since Gardner Merchant. But other statistics also made this deal huge: the business sold to the buy-out vehicle (now renamed Nutreco) included over 150 legal entities, in 19 jurisdictions, operating from over 250 main sites, and with a […]
JUDGES are to receive extra cash on top of their pay rises to bring salaries up to levels recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body. Top-up levels have been set at 1.57 per cent for High Court judges, 0.63 per cent for senior circuit judges, with higher increases of 2.48 for the Lord Chief Justice […]
The fight to keep one of the country’s biggest Sunday markets open is to continue in the courts. Leave has been given by the Appeal Court to challenge a High Court ruling upholding stop notices aimed at closing the Sunday market run by private operators, Wendy Fair, at Brooklands race track in Surrey. The market […]
* Northumberland County Council’s head of legal services Henry Warne will move over to Newcastle-upon-Tyne City Council later this year. Warne, who has been with Northumberland since 1986, has headed the legal department for the past two years. He will join Newcastle on 5 December as head of its new administration department.
The Taxing Master of the Irish High Court has gone against the country’s Finance Minister by approving a £6m legal fees bill for a tribunal that lasted more than 200 days. The bill will be met by the taxpayer. The tribunal was set up to investigate allegations of fraud, tax evasion and misuse of EU […]
The Institute of Legal Executives (Ilex) is calling for the establishment of a central wills registry. No safeguards are in place to ensure that a will is the last one drawn up by the deceased and Ilex is aiming to set up a way of checking the validity of wills. Ilex says the registry should […]
A TEAM of Russian legal academics has returned from a fact-finding visit to Newcastle under Lyme firm Knight & Sons. The visitors, from Russian juridical firm LEX, were particularly interested in how property development is carried out in the UK. Steve Elder, European partner at Knight & Sons, says the two Russian law professors and […]
LOCAL authorities will continue to be held liable for compensation awarded as a result of maladministration, regardless of whether the pay-out relates to work which has been contracted out, the Commission for Local Administration has warned. Commission solicitor, John Bash, says to avoid footing the bill for poor services provided by the private sector, council […]
THE SOLICITORS’ Association of Higher Court Advocates is understood to be pressing the Law Society to take legal action against the Lord Chancellor for his refusal to allow solicitor advocates to apply for silk. The association is taking counsel’s advice on its chances of taking action, probably in the form of judicial review. The association’s […]