Costs of more than £50,000 could not be awarded in the Patents County Court pursuant to CPR r.45.42(1). Where a patentee had brought an unsuccessful claim for patent infringement against two companies, that constituted a single claim for the purposes of CPR r.45.42(1) and consequently the companies were limited to recovering £50,000 in costs. Intellectual […]
A few weeks ago I was chairing a round table discussion of in-house lawyers at Taylor Wessing on the topic of outsourcing. It was, if I’m honest, one of those enjoyable evenings during which many of your assumptions are pleasantly overturned. However, it did rather confirm my suspicion that in-house lawyers and private practice are […]
Austerity cuts could leave judges in the dark over implications of Jackson reforms Six months before the full implementation of the Jackson reforms concern is mounting among senior figures in the litigation market that many judges in England and Wales will be unprepared. In particular, a number of judges have little understanding of the impact […]
Is the ABS system more likely to redress gender imbalance than quotas? Despite efforts by firms to help women break through the glass ceiling little progress has been made in the gender equalisation of law firm boards. Perhaps it is the historic nature of partnerships and their voting systems that hinders progress. At Russell Jones […]
Addleshaws is bracing itself for what could be a tough fight for the senior partner job In a year categorised by uncontested management elections – see Allen & Overy, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Eversheds – news of candidates going head-to-head for the senior partner job at Addleshaw Goddard and Nabarro stood out. While Nabarro’s senior […]
Addleshaws should make more of the success of its Berezovsky fee arrangement How could Addleshaw Goddard lose one of the biggest cases of the year yet still manage to bill Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky £50m for the work it carried out for him over the past four years? The firm has kept tight-lipped over the […]
Women lawyers to appear in Saudi courts – under certain circumstances Five years ago Prince Sultan University in Riyadh introduced Saudi Arabia’s first law degree for women. Since then they have been able to practise law as representatives and give legal advice to clients, but not to argue in court. In fact, they have not […]
They spared Gary McKinnon, but doing away with legal aid will be bad news for clients such as him I was delighted by last week’s decision of home secretary Theresa May to withdraw the extradition order against Gary McKinnon. It has been a long, hard fight. We have been to the High Court three times, […]
Newcastle International Airport Ltd v Eversheds LLP. [2012] EWHC 2648 (Ch). Proudman, J. 02 October 2012 Solicitors who accepted instructions from an executive director to draft a service contract that awarded him a very significant bonus had not been negligent in accepting his instructions even though they knew that his remuneration had to be determined […]
Tough new SFO policies on gifts and payments mean companies need lawyers on their side The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has published new policies relating to gifts and hospitality, facilitation payments and self-reporting. All previous guidance, apart from the Joint Prosecution Guidance (JPG) has been withdrawn. The message in the new policies is clear: if […]
Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean may benefit financially from resigning rather than being sacked Steve Kean’s turbulent reign as manager of Blackburn Rovers FC ended with his resignation on 28 September, when he indicated that he would be claiming constructive wrongful dismissal. Since then there has been speculation that, if successful, he could get far […]
The trend for unbundling legal work is advancing through the law firm ranks but there is still resistance in some quarters – namely in-house. We asked why Three years ago Rio Tinto’s legal team struck a deal with legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider CPA Global that hit the headlines. The mining giant signed an agreement […]