The bill creating foundation hospitals scraped into law last year. Through the mist and fog of political debate, one thing seems clear. Foundation hospitals will have to behave much more like private companies than extensions of the civil service. If trusts status was one step away from Whitehall, foundation status is probably three steps away […]
Hampshire firm White and Bowker has been around longer than many of its competitors. Established in 1750, the firm has existed “in a number of guises ever since”, according to chairman Niall Brook. “We’ve long been a recognised player in the Hampshire legal market,” says Brook. “I’d say we’re one of the leading medium-sized general […]
A new charitable trust, aimed at providing financial support to law centres throughout London, is set to launch in April. The London Legal Support Trust will be launched by Lord Woolf on 29 April. The first of its kind, it will coordinate fundraising efforts by firms across the City. The trust hopes to enlist the […]
The proposed Exclusion of Judicial Review in the Asylum and Immigration Bill is an affront to the rule of law, says Richard Plender QC
If the Human Rights Act 1998 is expanded, commercial and voluntary providers of public services should take note, warns Helen Mountfield
The Higher Education Bill has grabbed its fair share of headlines, mainly over top-up fees. Carola Geist-Divver outlines the rest of the proposals
US firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius is set to launch in Paris with a team from French independent De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Leygonie. European Community (EC) competition partner and former name partner Jean Leygonie leaves De Pardieu with most of the team that joined the firm from Moquet Borde & Associés five years ago. […]
Ashurst’s former managing partner Justin Spendlove is joining the firm’s jilted US merger partner Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. As revealed on www.the lawyer.com (18 March), he will join Fried Frank’s London office at the end of this month. The US firm lost its only UK-qualified partner Christopher Kandel to Cadwalader in October 2002. […]
The London office of McGrigors (formerly KLegal) is reeling after the resignation of three corporate partners, including executive board member Philip Rogers, which has slashed the corporate department from six to three. All three partners resigned within the last two weeks ahead of a crucial partnership meeting last weekend (20-21 March). This was the dead-line […]
Private equity giant Apax has given its clearest indication yet which firms are likely to make its hotly anticipated panel after inviting Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Travers Smith Braithwaite to pitch. It is understood that all three have been asked to take part in a beauty parade, scheduled for the middle of April, […]
Olswang is taking the £19m negligence claim brought against it last year all the way to the High Court. It is common for law firms to settle negligence claims, but Olswang will fight the action. It was brought by 10 shareholders of software company Omnibus, who claim the firm failed to advise properly on a […]
The UK’s largest class action has been overshadowed by calls for the Government to sue 18 claimant law firms, which have been involved in the case against British Coal. The substantive cases involve thousands of claims by miners who have suffered pulmonary disease and a condition known as vibration white finger. Law firms have already […]