5 August 1996

Olswang acted as UK adviser and Latham & Watkins acted as US attorney to Ionica

The judiciary remains hostile to an extension of the law of privilege to embrace a New York Times v Sullivan-style public figure defence. It believes that such a far-reaching change requires legislation. Sir Michael Davies, in striking out a public figure plea in Bennett Ors v Guardian Newspapers (1995), said that US culture was different […]

The position of global head has been created at Credit Suisse Financial Products’ London legal department as part of a shake-up following the merger of two of Credit Suisse Holdings’ US subsidiaries in Boston. Eoin O’Shea is the new general counsel and global head of the department. He takes over from Stephen Greene, who becomes […]

Many people say the CPS has failed. The CPS idea has not failed – it has never been given the chance to work. When the 1981 Royal Commission on Criminal Justice recommended that there should be an independent prosecuting service, what was proposed was fundamentally different to the CPS created. It said that within each […]

The Filofax Group is heading for what could turn out to be a landmark High Court legal battle to stop its name being used on the Internet. It is seeking an order to make Netlink Internet Services disclose the identity and address of whoever registered the Internet domain name “Filofax. Co. UK”.The Filofax Group will […]

“after the event” legal funding is a development that has caught the eye of both the legal profession and the Lord Chancellor’s Department. At a time when the Government is examining all options for funding and high costs exclude middle income earners from litigation, interest shown by insurance firms in the litigation market could offer […]

A former bank of England economist has called for new laws to prevent the UK’s few remaining building societies from being converted to banks. Rob Thomas, now a building society analyst for UBS, said the UK’s “treasured” mutually-owned building societies should be saved by laws to stop members enriching themselves on conversion to bank status. […]

A tenth birthday is a milestone for any organisation. It is also a time for reflection. What have we achieved? Where do we go from here? The CPS is at the heart of the criminal prosecution process, as the prosecutor of criminal charges and as an effective contributor to the development of the criminal justice […]

PETER REES, the new head of Norton Rose’s commercial litigation departments, wants to increase the proportion of paralegals in the department to allow qualified lawyers to focus on the most demanding work. Peter Rees took charge last week of the 70 lawyers in the department which has only eight paralegals, plus a pool of freelancers. […]

Two Brighton firms of solicitors have agreed to pay £55,000 in settlement of a negligence claim by a mother-of-two they represented in a claim against a local health authority. Julie Carey first instructed Davies & Co and later Fitzhugh Gates to sue Brighton Health Authority for medical negligence on the grounds that doctors at the […]

Nottinghamshire Law Society has launched a campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the risks of unqualified people marketing low-cost legal advice. The society, which represents 748 solicitors, is concerned about adverts by unqualified firms and claims assessors offering cheap will and probate and no win, no fee services. It has hired a local public […]