11 August 2003

High blood pressure

Deep vein thrombosis may have sent a shiver of fear down the spine of the airline industry, but as Nicholas Hughes reports, it seems the Appeal Court has put paid to any future claims Instances of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) have made headlines for several years now. A number of airline passengers have complained that […]

Fly drive

Is European airline consolidation really ready for takeoff? Stephen Dolan sets the scene A flurry of developments concerning the regulation of European air transportation is transforming the industry. It has quickened the pace of reform and hastened the day when European airlines will be free to engage in the types of cross-border merger, acquisition and […]

Safety instructions

A recent decision on compensation for airline crash victims offers a warning to tour operators and their lawyers when drafting booking conditions. On 14 September 1999, at approximately 21.20 hours local time, a Britannia aircraft came in to land at Gerona airport. Flight conditions were turbulent and, on attempting to land, the aircraft hit the […]

Petty sue

Common Good, a new body led by Covington vice-chairman Philip Howard, is aiming to kill off the claim culture in the US. Jon Robins asks: is this public spirit, or just self-interest? So just what is wrong with the US legal system? “You want an example? Here’s one I found the other day,” says Philip […]

Forget court, we like sport

Staying with sport, Taylor Wessing appears to be building a veritable Olympic Games squad all of its own.Larger-than-life US specialist David Kent has just won a gold medal for England in a recent target-shooting competition, while private client partner Michael Stanford-Tuck is a past winner of the individual London Solicitors Inter-Firm Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition. […]

Amazonian rumble

Controversy surrounded the third annual The Lawyer Cup, part of The London Triathlon. At first it looked like a surprise victory for the in-house legal team from Amazon, until it transpired that the same team was also entered in the IT Cup and the team members were probably not even lawyers.Team Amazon’s consequent disqualification allowed […]

Stokes of luck

Congratulations to whisky-swilling Freshfields associate Don Stokes. The lucky finance group liquor lover is the winner of our Scotch Malt Whisky Society first (and only) prize. None of the deluge of entries we received managed to answer all six questions correctly, but Stokes managed an impressive five. All those who equalled the prize-winning score were […]

Service… in a while

Sometimes, when dealing with the PR agencies used by law firms, a beacon of light shines through the fog generated by press releases on stamp duty and the never-ending requests for ‘getting to know each other’ meetings. Just the other day, one of Tulkinghorn’s scribes was delighted to pick up the phone to a PR […]

Spanking offence

For people who are supposed to be highly educated, lawyers really can be incredibly dim.Take, for example, the head of a practice group at a top 10 firm who thought it would be a brilliant idea to send an extremely saucy and lurid email to a lady with whom he was having a fling.Tulkinghorn is […]

Cloaks and daggers

Given the intense rivalry among barristers from different chambers and lawyers’ propensity for drunkenness, a party gift of a highly lethal penknife with 15 or so sharp items to choose from could have been a recipe for disaster. But that did not deter those swashbuckling boys at Fountain Court, who offered such an item as a parting […]

Missing by inaction

There appears to be some serious identity issues going on at Russell Jones & Walker. Take, for example, the firm’s clinical negligence head Rosa-mund Rhodes-Kemp. According to the firm’s website, she doesn’t exist.Light was shed on the mystery by a call from one of Tulkinghorn’s scribes to a helpful marketing team member, who explained that […]

Cloaks and daggers

Given the intense rivalry among barristers from different chambers and lawyers’ propensity for drunkenness, a party gift of a highly lethal penknife with 15 or so sharp items to choose from could have been a recipe for disaster. But that did not deter those swashbuckling boys at Fountain Court, who offered such an item as a parting […]