English barrister John Cooper has been trying to effect the release of Louise Woodward, using UK precedents on the adverse effect of pre-trial publicity. Cooper, of 7 Stone Buildings, has been working pro bono for the Justice for Louise Woodward Campaign. Last week he sent relevant British precedents, which he says have persuasive authority in […]
In a sign that English and Welsh solicitors are coming around to accepting MDPs, 51 per cent believe Chancery Lane should support the development of MDPs. Only 25 per cent of solicitors came out against in a major survey of the profession published by the Law Society last week. But while 59 per cent of […]
Research by academics at Bristol University has shown that very few solicitors are taking up advocacy rights in civil courts and that they are not likely to do so in the future. A team from the University’s Department of Professional Legal Studies, commissioned by the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education, conducted two-hour long […]
EVERSHEDS is looking to expand in Europe and the Far East, either by opening its own offices or by linking up with an existing international alliance. Chairman Keith James said the firm would be appointing three senior partners “as soon as we can” to form a committee charged with the task of “implementing its international […]
Withers partner David Mills has rejected as “mischievous” Tory claims that his previous job as non-executive director at Benetton Formula created a potential conflict of interest for his wife, Health Minister Tessa Jowell, in the exemption of Formula One from the ban on tobacco advertising in British sport.
Official Referee judgments considered by judges to be of interest to practitioners are to be made available free on the Internet, according to the Official Referees’ Bar Association.
In the week following The Lawyer’s graduate law fair, which was attended by 5,000 young hopefuls, Chris Fogarty asks if law firms have got their recruitment policies right yet Business is booming for large law firms, young lawyers are in demand and recruitment companies are riding a wave of healthy profits. So is everybody happy? […]
London-based Olswang has recruited SJ Berwin & Co partner David Stewart to be its first dedicated commercial litigation partner. “We’re really, genuinely excited about this,” said Stewart, who specialises in international arbitration and was in charge of alternative dispute resolution at SJ Berwin & Co. He will join three litigation assistants at his new firm […]
In a major coup, the fast-growing niche IP practice Llewelyn Zietman has almost doubled, with the poaching of an eight-strong litigation team from Denton Hall, including highly-regarded partner James Irvine. Irvine’s team includes commercial litigation partner Gerard Cronin; fraud partner Miles Laddie, who joins as partnership secretary; two assistants, Helene Monsche and Stephen Ipp; and […]
A senior Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) official said the UK judiciary had recognised – “not always with tremendous enthusiasm” – that abused women could suffer from “cumulative provocation”. Speaking at the International Bar Conference, CPS director of casework evaluation Chris Newell referred to Crawley woman Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who burnt her husband to death. She had […]
Employed barristers are threatening to complain to the competition authorities, and to brief solicitor advocates rather than counsel, if the Bar does not push hard enough to give them rights of audience. Despite a long campaign, employed barristers currently have less rights of audience than solicitor advocates or even employed solicitors. The Bar Council is […]
The Indian Bar Association appears to have removed some obstacles to foreign lawyers setting up in its country – only to raise new ones. During the inaugural ceremony, Lalit Bhasin, honorary secretary-general of the Indian Bar Association, said international lawyers were welcome to come to India “so long as they practise on a level playing […]