THE BAR Council’s narrow ballot victory in favour of its complaints scheme could be short-lived, as its opponents consider an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to force another ballot. The move is being discussed because the ballot included around 4,000 employed barristers, who opponents say would not be seriously affected by the changes. If the move […]
THE CENTRAL London County Court is to launch a new Chancery list this spring to provide a streamlined service for cases remitted to it by the High Court. Litigators and clients in the South East are expected to benefit from the move, which aims to handle specialist commercial cases faster and, by implication, more economically. […]
Are trainee solicitors and newly qualifieds any less literate or numerate than their counterparts who qualified 10, 20 or even 30 years ago? This is one of the questions the Law Society working party on entry to the profession is debating as part of its investigation into reducing the number of entrants to the profession. […]
Herbert Smith is acting for the Chilean state copper company Codelco in its $170 million litigation against a London trading company alleging conspiracy to defraud. The action by Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, is against a London Metal Exchange trading company, Sogemin. Codelco is seeking damages relating to losses suffered in the copper futures […]
CITY firm Charles Russell has established an association with an Indian legal practice. The association with Bombay-based Desai, Berjis & Chinoy comes shortly after the Indian government’s restriction on the UK firms setting up in India. Simon Slater, director of marketing at Charles Russell, said: “We have a policy of not setting up our own […]
A NEW post of head of education and training has been created at the Bar Council as it undergoes a major expansion of its bureaucracy in response to several recent reforms. Nigel Bastin, former head of Manchester Metropolitan University’s law school, has taken up the newly-created post at the Bar Council. The appointment follows the […]
THE LORD Chancellor has announced he will not implement a Law Commission report which took five years in the making. Although his department has not rejected the commission’s report on mental incapacity out of hand, a parliamentary answer by Lord Mackay last week suggested it would prove more controversial than anticipated. The report, published as […]
Rosemary West, convicted last November on 10 counts of murder, has lodged grounds for her appeal. Master Michael McKenzie QC has referred the application to the Court of Appeal and, because of the high-profile nature of the case, he has decided that a full Court of Appeal should consider the application rather than the usual […]
I have read with interest the problems which the Bar is having over its proposed complaints system. It seems to me there is something curiously amiss with complaints procedures across the profession. Members of the Bar are rightly having their fair share of reservations about the schemes proposed by the Bar Council and fear that […]
KENT firm Marsons is celebrating its achievement of an Investor in People award and a Legal Aid Board franchise. According to senior partner Brian Marson, the firm is the first in the South East to hold an ISO9001 quality standard, an Investor in People award and a legal aid franchise at the same time.
SOLICITORS Indemnity Fund managing director John Speedman will retire this year after completing the fund’s most radical revamp to date. Senior colleagues see Speedman, a qualified accountant, as the driving force behind the fund’s successful management and major cost reduction, making it one of the cheapest funds to run despite rocketing claims in recent years. […]
City firm Lovell White Durrant has reversed its decision made in the 1980s to create separate shipping and commodity departments. Since this month the two departments have been operating under one roof as the commodities, trade finance and shipping department. Partner Philip Quenby said: “In the 1980s we were seduced by the lure of specialisation. […]