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Linklaters first-half revenue down 10%
Posted on November 20, 2009Linklaters, Britain?s second-biggest law firm, disclosed a 10 per cent fall in first-half revenue to £591 million today as the legal market continues to suffer from the lack of big deals.
Experts can be named in family cases
Posted on November 20, 2009Expert witnesses in family cases are to be named under the next stage of opening up the family courts to the media, although social workers' anonymity will be protected, ministers have announced.
Grandmother wins Supreme Court ruling on care of three-year-old boy
Posted on November 19, 2009A woman has won a legal battle over the care of her three-year-old grandson after the Supreme Court reversed rulings that he should live with his father.
Law firms selected for State bank sell-off
Posted on November 19, 2009Four City law firms, including a second-tier contender, have been chosen by the Government to handle the sale of its stake in big banks, The Times has learnt.
Controversy ahead of landmark Bar meeting
Posted on November 18, 2009Hundreds of years of tradition may end tomorrow when the ban on barristers joining with other professionals to set up "one stop" partnerships is lifted.
MP expenses file to be sent to CPS ?in weeks?
Posted on November 18, 2009Detectives investigating allegations of abuse of parliamentary expenses by MPs and peers will be ready to send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service in the next six weeks.
Fitness test probes strength of new law firms
Posted on November 18, 2009People or companies who buy up law firms under the imminent "Big Bang" of the legal profession will have to pass an a special test to prove their "fitness to own" under plans outlined today.
Lehman chief denounces ?flat-out silly? claims
Posted on November 18, 2009Creditors of Lehman Brothers had filed claims for the return of $824 billion ($£492 billion) and total claims might reach $1 trillion, the chief executive of the investment bank said yesterday.$
Downturn brings surge in crime by ?cappucino fraudsters?
Posted on November 18, 2009The economic downturn has led to a surge in crime by middle-manager ?cappucino fraudsters? who have resorted to stealing from their employers.
Legal costs mount in Tchenguiz family row
Posted on November 18, 2009The billionaire Tchenguiz brothers have been ordered to pay their brother-in-law an additional £100,000 towards his legal costs after failing to meet a previous court order.
Tourists sue Sanbona safari park after too-close encounter with lions
Posted on November 18, 2009Eight British tourists are suing a South African safari park after they became trapped by a pride of wild lions when their tour vehicle overturned.
In the City: no holds barred as solicitors and insurers let fly
Posted on November 18, 2009Having a blast
Lawyer of the week: Paul Michel
Posted on November 18, 2009Paul Michel, of Cloisters Chambers, acted for Sharon Coleman, the carer of her disabled son, in the landmark case in which the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that all carers are now protected by anti-discrimination legislation in the workplace.
Don?t doom Bridget Jones to life without a partner
Posted on November 18, 2009Unmarried couples should have new legal rights ? or should they? The prevailing consensus is very much in favour: many believe that the law should reflect changing times and that at present it creates hardship.
Legacies unleash a battle of wills
Posted on November 18, 2009When Dr Christine Gill last month successfully challenged her mother?s will, which had bequeathed the £2 million family farm in North Yorkshire to the RSPCA, it was just the latest in an increasingly long line of disputes over wills to have been picked over by the media.
The Derry Irvine case shows why politicians must know their limits
Posted on November 18, 2009The Labour Government has an impressive record since 1997 of promoting constitutional reform. Yet, as pointed out by Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at the University of Oxford, in his stimulating book The New British Constitution (Hart Publishing, £17...
Braced for the big bang and Tesco law
Posted on November 18, 2009How is the legal services market to be reformed? The first detailed insight into what the ?big bang? will mean in practice came this week with a major report from the Legal Services Board.
Barristers claim unfair secrecy as board debates ban on partnerships
Posted on November 18, 2009Hundreds of years of tradition may be ditched today when the ban on barristers joining in partnership with other professionals is lifted.
Intelligence services win secrecy ruling
Posted on November 18, 2009British intelligence services won the first round of a legal battle yesterday for the right to rely on secret evidence in their defence.
FSA fines broker over inside information
Posted on November 17, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined a stockbroker £24,000 for encouraging his clients to buy shares using inside information.
Regal 'pleased to divorce company from the past'
Posted on November 17, 2009Regal Petroleum today expressed disappointment after being fined a record £600,000 for breaching AIM rules under previous management but said it was pleased "to divorce the company from this historic episode".
Bernard Madoff yachts raise nearly $2 million at auction$
Posted on November 17, 2009A small fleet of powerboats owned by the convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff and his associates fetched almost $2 million ($£1.2 million) at an auction in Florida overnight, which was held to raise cash for the thousands of victims of his $65 billion Ponzi scheme...
Planned legislation extends FSA powers
Posted on November 17, 2009The Financial Services Authority is to get new powers that will allow it to seize data from hedge funds.
Sergei Magnitsky, lawyer for Hermitage Capital in Kremlin case dies in prison
Posted on November 17, 2009A Russian lawyer who represented Hermitage Capital and helped the London-based hedge fund in its allegations of theft and fraud against Kremlin officials has died in prison.
Threat of data fine is no deterrent to lucrative trade
Posted on November 17, 2009The illegal trade in personal details is a highly profitable undercover market.
Phone giant faces inquiry over sale of customer records
Posted on November 17, 2009The private details of millions of mobile phone customers, including their numbers and addresses, have been sold illegally.
Lawyer for Hermitage in Kremlin case dies in prison
Posted on November 17, 2009A Russian lawyer who represented Hermitage Capital and helped the London-based hedge fund in its allegations of theft and fraud against Kremlin officials has died in prison.
Google opens new chapter as millions of books go into its online library
Posted on November 16, 2009Controversial plans by Google to digitise millions of out-of-print books to create the world?s biggest online library have been approved by British publishing groups and authors.
Bankers intent on flouting pay rules should quit mainstream, says Myners
Posted on November 16, 2009Bankers who are not prepared to forgo controversial contracts that flout new rules on bonuses should get out of the mainstream industry, Lord Myners has declared.
Galleon's Rajaratnam seeks to unseal Khan records
Posted on November 16, 2009Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire at the centre of the Galleon Group insider-trading case, has asked the court to unseal records of an earlier criminal charge against the Government?s main witness.
Mother's anguish as Baby RB dies
Posted on November 15, 2009Baby RB, whose parents fought a legal battle with each other over whether to keep him alive, has died after his life support was removed.
Union provides BA staff with link to solicitors as airline brings in new work practices
Posted on November 15, 2009British Airways staff have been urged to contact employment solicitors hired by Unite, their union, as new working practices come into force within the airline today.
Iraqi cleaner takes UK to court over alleged sexual harassment
Posted on November 15, 2009An Iraqi cleaner who claims that she was sexually harassed at the British Embassy and at the ambassador?s residence in Baghdad is taking the Government to court over its alleged failure to investigate her complaints.
Jack Straw accuses magistrates of clogging up crown courts with trivial cases
Posted on November 15, 2009Jack Straw is blaming magistrates for clogging up the Crown Court by sending thousands of trivial cases that they could deal with themselves.
Libel laws stifle health doubts
Posted on November 14, 2009Scientists and specialists who question medical treatments and alternative therapies are being gagged by firms using Britain?s draconian libel laws.
Privy Council majority backs removal of Gibraltar?s Chief Justice
Posted on November 13, 2009The Chief Justice of Gibraltar should be removed from office because his behaviour has brought his office into dispute, senior UK judges have recommended.
Total pleads guilty to Buncefield fire charges
Posted on November 13, 2009Total, the world?s fifth-largest oil company, today admitted health and safety breaches relating to Britain?s biggest explosion during peacetime.
Tullett Prebon-BGC Partners dispute enters next chapter in High Court
Posted on November 13, 2009A feud between two of the City?s leading brokers escalated yesterday after Terry Smith, the head of Tullett Prebon, admitted discussing a rival?s private life with a Sunday newspaper.
Legal guidance on assisted suicide ?a danger to elderly? say judges
Posted on November 13, 2009New guidance on the interpretation of the laws surrounding assisted suicide pose ?serious dangers for public safety?, according to a group of influential lawyers, peers and former judges.
IT programmers charged in Madoff scandal
Posted on November 13, 2009Federal prosecutors have charged two computer programmers with assisting Bernard Madoff?s $65 billion ($£39 billion) fraud and hinted that there are more conspirators to be unmasked.
Nick Anstee steps into battle to preserve City?s supremacy
Posted on November 13, 2009Nick Anstee is the 682nd Lord Mayor of London, with a career stretching over three decades as a City accountant. In another reality he could have been flying Tornadoes for the RAF.
Fraud office probes $500m hedge fund$
Posted on November 12, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has today launched a formal criminal investigation into a $500 million London hedge fund following complaints from investors and a referral by the City$?s chief regulator.
SFO drops case against Sir Christopher Evans
Posted on November 12, 2009Sir Christopher Evans, the biotech entrepreneur, will not be prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office over allegations relating to his business, Merlin Biosciences, Times Online has learnt.
OFT to investigate the high cost of going bust
Posted on November 12, 2009The cost of going bankrupt in Britain is too high, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said today as it launched a sweeping review of Britain?s corporate insolvency market.
Intel pays $1.25bn to end bitter feud with AMD$
Posted on November 12, 2009Intel yesterday paid Advanced Micro Devices $1.25 billion ($755 million) in an attempt to end years of bitter conflict over sales tactics.$
Entrepreneurs accuse Rutland of contract breach
Posted on November 12, 2009Two entrepreneurs who claim that they came up with the idea to turn around Britain?s largest pawnbroker are suing the private equity house that made tens of millions doing the deal without them.
Spiritualist sacked by police wins ruling over his faith in psychics
Posted on November 12, 2009A police trainer sacked for saying that psychics should be used to solve crimes must have his views respected as a religious faith, a judge ruled yesterday.
Tom Wise, former MEP, jailed for £39,000 expenses fraud
Posted on November 11, 2009A former MEP was sentenced to two years in prison today after fiddling his expenses to channel £39,000 into a secret bank account.
Thanks a million ? downturn makes no dent in seven-figure pay of top lawyers
Posted on November 11, 2009Hundreds of partners at the City?s leading law firms earned more than £1 million this year, despite the sudden downturn in the commercial legal market.
Boss hired Russian hitman to kill me, financier tells tribunal
Posted on November 11, 2009A financier who is suing the boss of a Mayfair investment firm for sexual harassment believed that he had hired a Russian hitman to kill her, a tribunal was told yesterday.
Lying estate agents confronted with home truths
Posted on November 11, 2009One in four estate agents has lied to homebuyers about properties or failed to comply with consumer protection laws, an investigation has revealed.
Gloom today, merger tomorrow
Posted on November 11, 2009The City legal market could be set for a wave of mergers between mid-sized firms as they fight to remain competitive.
Setback for Government over 'secret evidence' for control orders
Posted on November 11, 2009The Government?s attempt to restrict the movements of terror suspects through ?control-lite? orders suffered another setback at the High Court yesterday.
Whatever happened to the radical lawyers?
Posted on November 11, 2009Michael Mansfield?s autobiography is called Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer. For many, the juxtaposition of the two words ?radical? and ?lawyer? is a contradiction in terms, possibly, even a bit of a joke. But if anyone can carry off that tricky 1960s label, then Mansfield can.
European Commission flexes its muscles over British banks
Posted on November 11, 2009The move last week by the European Commission to break up the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB, the bloated beneficiaries of state aid, may be a clue as to the future and unexpected direction of the banking sector.
Lawyer of the Week: John Cooper
Posted on November 11, 2009John Cooper, a barrister at 25 Bedford Row, acts for nine of the 14 families of the servicemen who died when the Nimrod XV230 burst into flames in Afghanistan in 2002. The official report by Charles Haddon-Cave, QC, found the Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems and RAF officers officially responsible for the safety failures, and, unusually, named them.
Canoe fraudster Anne Darwin to repay nearly £600,000
Posted on November 11, 2009Convicted fraudster Anne Darwin has agreed to repay nearly £600,000 from the faked death scam she carried out with her husband, a court heard today.
City executive Jordan Wimmer says boss 'wanted her killed'
Posted on November 11, 2009A City executive suing her boss for discrimination alleged today that he had tried to kill her.
Baby RB to be allowed to die as father withdraws from court battle
Posted on November 10, 2009A baby at the centre of a ?right to life? court battle will be allowed to die after his father today withdrew his case.
Ofsted hid crucial evidence on Baby P sacking
Posted on November 10, 2009The childcare watchdog has admitted withholding crucial evidence that could potentially hand Sharon Shoesmith, the former head of children?s services at Haringey Council, hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.
Judge blocks attempt to play pensions system
Posted on November 10, 2009Trustees of underfunded pension schemes cannot actively exploit the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to boost workers? retirement benefits, the High Court said yesterday.
MEP gives City hope on EU hedge fund directive
Posted on November 10, 2009The woman who chairs one of the most powerful political committees in the European Parliament will propose next week that caps on hedge fund borrowings should be dumped, The Times has learnt.
Sun pays high price as regulators battle over Oracle?s takeover plan
Posted on November 10, 2009European and American regulators clashed yesterday over the fate of Oracle?s $7.4 billion ($£4.4 billion) bid to buy Sun Microsystems, which looks set to be mired in months of legal delay.
Police to handle minor charges under new CPS proposals
Posted on November 10, 2009The police may take over responsibility for bringing charges for thousands of minor offences each year under changes to be piloted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers acquitted of lying to investors
Posted on November 10, 2009A jury acquitted two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers of lying to investors about the dangers posed by imploding credit-backed securities that eventually brought down the Wall Street investment bank.
Accenture loses ruling in battle with British Gas
Posted on November 09, 2009Accenture, the management consultancy locked in a £220 million High Court battle with British Gas, has lost an initial ruling for its role in a faulty IT system that the utility company claimed had reduced its customer billing service to a shambles.
Jack Straw orders review of police cautions
Posted on November 09, 2009The use of police cautions to deliver instant justice is to be reviewed because of mounting concern that they allow violent offenders to avoid court.
Caution for assault ?will one day be followed by murder?
Posted on November 08, 2009Concern is increasing among judges and magistrates that thousands of cautions are being handed out by police or prosecutors for violent assaults that should come before courts.
Case study: ?I blame the criminal justice system?
Posted on November 08, 2009As a pub manager for 16 years, Jean Rowe was used to dealing with customers who had had one too many. But one night when she asked a customer to leave the Rose and Crown in Rushden, Northamptonshire, he smashed his glass into her face.
Fixed penalties are efficient and cost-effective. But is it justice?
Posted on November 08, 2009Nearly half of all crimes ? or 700,000 a year ? are handled outside the courts, including shoplifting, burglary and assault. Under a drive in the past decade towards swift, summary justice, police have been given wide powers to impose cautions and fines (fixed penalty notices), and prosecutors can impose conditional cautions.
Judges? families under 24-hour security as Real IRA increases threat
Posted on November 08, 2009Judges in Northern Ireland have had to make new security arrangements for themselves and their families at levels not seen since the height of the Provisional IRA campaign.
Chief prosecutor demands curb on police cautions
Posted on November 08, 2009The top prosecutor has demanded an end to the use of police cautions to deal with thousands of serious assaults every year amid concern that the justice system is failing to rein in violent offenders.
'I survived so please let Baby RB live too'
Posted on November 08, 2009When Vicky Rhodes was born suffering from the same condition as a baby at the centre of a right-to-life case, doctors told her parents she might become a ?physical and mental vegetable?.
The law is on trial for closed shop
Posted on November 07, 2009As an Asian woman who uses a wheelchair, Husnara Begum laughs that she ticked every minority box when she applied for law school.
Mike Pullen: From the fairground to on top of the legal world
Posted on November 07, 2009Mike Pullen was born under a wandering star. The leading international trade lawyer grew up in a family of fairground people, attending school ? until he was 12 ? only for three months in winter.
Setback for Lehman creditors as court blocks PwC plan
Posted on November 06, 2009Creditors of Lehman Brothers are facing further delay after a radical plan designed to speed up the investment bank?s administration was shot down for a second time this morning.
Allen & Overy income falls as law firms continue to suffer
Posted on November 06, 2009Allen & Overy reported a 7 per cent fall in half-year revenues yesterday and Clifford Chance said that it was cutting more lawyers as law firms continue to suffer from the economic downturn.
Tom Wise, former MEP, facing jail for £30,000 expenses fraud
Posted on November 05, 2009An MEP who fiddled tens of thousands of pounds in expenses to buy fine wines and a car faces jail after he confessed during his trial.
Prosecutors charge 14 in Galleon insider trading case
Posted on November 05, 2009United States prosecutors charged a further 14 people on Thursday over an alleged $53 million ($£32 million) web of insider trading surrounding Galleon, the New York hedge fund group, in a case that could come straight from the pages of a crime thriller.
FSA condemns weak controls at UBS that allowed rogue traders to flourish
Posted on November 05, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined UBS £8 million for weak controls that allowed staff in its private bank to make thousands of unauthorised trades with clients? money and then hide the losses. It is the third-largest fine awarded by the FSA.
Potential judges will not have to declare if they are Freemasons
Posted on November 05, 2009Would-be judges will no longer have to declare if they are Freemasons, the Government said yesterday.
Watchdogs: UK should retain right to reject faulty goods
Posted on November 05, 2009The right of consumers to reject faulty goods must be retained in the UK despite European plans to abolish it, legal watchdogs said yesterday.
UBS fined £8 million by City watchdog
Posted on November 05, 2009UBS has been fined £8 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City regulator, for having weak controls that allowed staff in its private bank to make unauthorised trades on client accounts and hide the losses for almost two years.
CWU v Royal Mail: a hollow victory?
Posted on November 04, 2009It is widely reported that the Communication Workers Union will appear in the High Court tomorrow seeking an injunction preventing Royal Mail from hiring temporary workers to help to break the postal strikes. Even if the CWU succeeds, though, its victory is likely to prove pyrrhic.
Clarification
Posted on November 04, 2009Because of a major computer failure last Friday evening, a report in Saturday?s printed editions ("Bonuses for lawyers who seize criminal assets 'threaten to undermine justice'") did not include a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service in which the CPS strongly denied any link between asset recovery and bonuses and said: ?Bonuses are not paid to senior staff solely on the basis of the amount of money realised through the Proceeds of Crime Act but for meeting a wide range of 18 targets, of which POCA is just one...
Should the Financial Services Authority be a private individual?
Posted on November 04, 2009A jury at Southwark Crown Court yesterday convicted Neel and Matthew Uberoi, a dentist and his son, of offences of insider dealing. The case was been brought by the Financial Services Authority. The case is one of a number that raise important questions about how many prosecution agencies we should have and to what extent the powers of such prosecutors should be limited or regulated.
Lynne Frederick inherited £4million as Peter Sellers died before final divorce
Posted on November 04, 2009Peter Sellers had reached a final divorce settlement with his fourth wife that would have deprived her of any claim on his estate ? but he died before the document became binding, according to legal papers that have come to light.
Lolita: how a lawyer's cunning plan paid off for Vladimir Nabokov
Posted on November 04, 2009With all the brouhaha over Carter-Ruck allegedly stifling free speech it is intriguing to note that it was the very founder of the firm who struck a blow for freedom of expression 60 years ago. In 1959, almost to the day, Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian émigré novelist, may have been feeling anxious about rather more than the critical reception of his latest novel.
Desmond Browne: We are heading for two standards of access to justice
Posted on November 04, 2009What is the point of the Bar? As several hundred barristers meet in London this Saturday for their annual conference, it is a question they ? as well as the public ? might well ask. In the present recession their profession looks like becoming an enclave for the rich, both for those joining it and those using its services.
Lawyer of the Week: Anna Mills
Posted on November 04, 2009Anna Mills, an associate solicitor in the contentious construction group at Lovells, acted under a conditional fee agreement for a rape complainant who was sued for £300,000 by her alleged rapist after his conviction was quashed. The Court of Appeal, in a landmark decision, ruled that the woman should not be exposed to such an unprecedented legal attack.
Neel Uberoi and son Matthew face jail for insider trading
Posted on November 04, 2009A dentist and his work experience stockbroker son were facing jail today for a £110,000 insider trading scam.
'BGC poaching was industry norm'
Posted on November 04, 2009BGC Partners, the interdealer broker, was following the established customs of a ?tough? and ?tribal? industry when it tried to hire several staff from rival Tullett Prebon, the High Court heard today.
£30m payout to victims of toxic waste ?at risk of theft?
Posted on November 04, 2009The £30 million paid by the oil traders Trafigura to compensate African victims of toxic waste is in danger of being stolen because of corruption in the Ivory Coast, it was claimed last night.
Father and son are found guilty of £110,000 insider trading scam
Posted on November 04, 2009A dentist and his former City intern son were facing jail last night after being convicted of a £110,000 insider dealing scam.
Intel accused of ?coercion and bribery? in lawsuit
Posted on November 04, 2009Intel?s antitrust legal battles escalated sharply yesterday when New York?s attorney-general accused the company of using ?illegal threats and collusion? to dominate the market for computer microprocessors.
Plumber Charlie Mullins sues rival for 'tapping up' rich clients
Posted on November 04, 2009It is a battle of the ballcocks, a fight to the death over the U-bends of the rich and famous. The weapon of choice, however, is not the monkey wrench, or even the sink plunger, but the High Court writ.
Barristers deny love triangle with clerk made them blind to her racism
Posted on November 04, 2009A senior barrister and part-time judge denied yesterday that his affair with a senior clerk was a ?smouldering fire? that led him to overlook a ?racist culture? at his chambers.
Baby RB at risk of more painful death if cared for at home, says infant's doctor
Posted on November 03, 2009A severely disabled baby at the centre of a life or death battle between his parents would be at risk of a more painful death if his father was to have him cared for at home, the boy?s doctor told the High Court yesterday.
City workers ?driven out of Nomura for not being male or Japanese?
Posted on November 03, 2009Two City workers who are each suing a Japanese investment bank for £1.5 million say they were driven from their jobs because they were not male and not Japanese.
Specsavers wins day in court with Asda
Posted on November 03, 2009Specsavers, the high street optician, is heading for a court showdown with Asda in a row over copycat advertising.
Saudi rapist and murderer to be beheaded and crucified
Posted on November 03, 2009A Saudi man convicted of kidnapping and raping five children, one of whom he left in the desert to die, has been sentenced to be beheaded and his body publicly crucified, the Saudi Arabian media said today.
Italy challenges ruling that crucifix in class violates religious freedom
Posted on November 03, 2009Italy said today that it would challenge a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in favour of an Italian woman who opposed the display of a Catholic crucifix at a state school attended by her two children.
Parents fight in court over whether disabled son should live or die
Posted on November 02, 2009The parents of a severely disabled baby faced each other in the High Court yesterday on opposite sides of a case to determine whether the boy should be allowed to die.
Woman left broke by divorce payout takes fight to Supreme Court
Posted on November 01, 2009A British woman left almost penniless by divorce goes to the Supreme Court this week in a case that will test London?s reputation as the divorce capital of the world.
Father of Baby RB fights hospital?s decision to turn off life support
Posted on November 01, 2009A father whose son was born with a rare neuromuscular condition will go to the High Court today to try to stop a hospital withdrawing support that keeps the child alive.
Postal strike helps speeding motorists escape fines
Posted on October 31, 2009Thousands of speeding motorists may be able to escape fines and penalty points on their licences thanks to the postal strike.
Libel tourists flock to 'easy' UK courts
Posted on October 31, 2009An Icelandic professor has emerged as the latest victim of ?libel tourism? in Britain after he was sued in the High Court by a wealthy compatriot for a posting on a website based in Iceland.
Bonuses for lawyers who seize criminal assets 'risk undermining justice'
Posted on October 30, 2009Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are receiving personal bonuses linked to their success in confiscating criminal assets, The Times has learnt.
BP fined record $87m for safety lapses at Texas refinery$
Posted on October 30, 2009BP was dealt a bitter blow last night when American regulators fined the oil group a record $87 million ($£53 million) for more than 700 safety violations at the Texas refinery where an explosion killed 15 people and injured 170 in 2005.
New York agog at Galleon insider dealing allegations
Posted on October 30, 2009The Galleon Group insider trading scandal continues to grip New York two weeks after fraud and conspiracy charges were brought against Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder and one of America?s richest men, and five others.
Lord Irvine of Lairg: I pleaded with Blair not to sack me
Posted on October 30, 2009It was seen as the ultimate act of treachery. But for six years Lord Irvine of Lairg has kept his bitterness to himself and refused to speak about how Tony Blair, his friend and protégé, stabbed him in the back and peremptorily dismissed him as Lord Chancellor.
William Garrow: he paved the way for the modern adversarial system
Posted on October 29, 2009Right ? hands up all those who have heard of William Garrow. H?mm, thought so ? me neither.
Herbert Smith and Lovells win coveted Treasury work
Posted on October 29, 2009Herbert Smith and Lovells, the City law firms, have won coveted roles advising the Government on preserving the stability of the financial system, The Times has learnt.
Lovells wins coveted role on Treasury panel
Posted on October 29, 2009Lovells, the City?s sixth-biggest law firm, has won a coveted role advising the Government on preserving the stability of the financial system, The Times has learnt.
Law lords decide Sigma SIV dispute
Posted on October 29, 2009Investors in the world?s largest structured investment vehicle (SIV) are set to recover their money after the UK?s highest court clarified how the remains of Sigma Finance Corporation should be divided among competing creditors.
Lord Mandelson unveils internet pirates suspension plan
Posted on October 28, 2009Persistent internet pirates will face an escalating series of sanctions which could end with their connection cut off, under plans unveiled by Lord Mandelson today.
School dispute 'about religion, not race'
Posted on October 28, 2009A top Jewish school accused of race discrimination told the Supreme Court yesterday that a boy was refused admission because he was not a Jew under the rules set by the Chief Rabbi.
Security services ask for secret evidence
Posted on October 28, 2009British intelligence services made an unprecedented request to a High Court judge yesterday to use secret evidence in defending a civil claim alleging they were complicit in the ill-treatment of former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Bankers' bonanza bonuses: what can be done about them?
Posted on October 28, 2009Reining in bankers? bonuses has become like a Wild West rodeo in which every political cowboy in town strives to bring to heel a powerful bull. Its advocates argue that it should be allowed to run free if it is to generate healthy profits for banks and tax receipts for governments in the future.
Lawyer of the Week: Arfan Khan
Posted on October 28, 2009Arfan Khan, a barrister at the Chambers of Mark Littman, QC, acted for Geert Wilders. The controversial Dutch MP was barred from entry to the UK to address the House of Lords in February. That bar was overturned by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and he has now visited the UK.
Slaughter may lose its legal stranglehold on banking
Posted on October 28, 2009Slaughter and May could lose its crown as the Government?s preferred legal adviser on the banking crisis. In the biggest legal shake-up since the bank bailouts started two years ago, the Treasury is asking other firms to tender for the business.
Watchdog proposes shake-up of inheritance law for unmarried couples
Posted on October 28, 2009Unmarried couples would automatically inherit some of their partner?s estate on his or her death under radical reforms proposed today.
Has the new Companies Act helped small business?
Posted on October 28, 2009Will company directors be more accountable to their shareholders and the wider community now that the landmark Companies Act 2006 is now fully in force?
Why a criminal lawyer should be the next Justice of the Supreme Court
Posted on October 28, 2009The candidacy for the twelfth justice of the UK Supreme Court ? the first appointment since the court began its life earlier this month ? is under way.
Technology chief named in Galleon case
Posted on October 28, 2009A high-profile US technology executive has been named as an alleged source of confidential company information in the $25 million insider-trading scandal that is gripping New York.$
Technology chief linked to Galleon case
Posted on October 28, 2009A high profile US technology executive has been named as an alleged source of confidential company information in the $25 million insider trading scandal that is gripping New York.$
Dentist Neel Uberoi denies receiving share tips from son Matthew
Posted on October 28, 2009A dentist who made a £150,000 profit buying shares in three companies immediately before they announced takeover offers picked his investments based on internet research, a court heard today.
Brussels to split up Britain's high street banks
Posted on October 27, 2009The European Commission will today approve the Government?s plan to split off the viable part of Northern Rock and sell it. Neelie Kroes, the Competition Commissioner, will allow the injection of £3 billion of taxpayers? money into the part of the bank that contains depositors, branches and some ?good? loans.
Marco Pierre White allowed to sue London lawyers over seizure of papers by wife
Posted on October 27, 2009Marco Pierre White, the TV chef, can proceed with suing a top London firm of divorce lawyers after senior judges ruled that they had a case to answer over the seizure of his private documents.
FSA under fire for lack of inquiry into Icelandic banks
Posted on October 27, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) will come under attack from MPs today for failing to carry out an inquiry after the collapse of Icelandic banks.
Court hears Radovan Karadzic?s threats of Muslim slaughter
Posted on October 27, 2009Radovan Karadzic showed his contempt for international justice by shunning his own trial again yesterday, but the chilling threats he made before Europe?s worst atrocities since the Second World War still echoed around the UN courtroom.
Statutory Instruments are often used to slip through controversial laws
Posted on October 27, 2009Most people assume that parliamentary approval involves MPs trooping through division lobbies to signal their assent on a piece of legislation.
Mandelson to press on with cutting internet links for download pirates
Posted on October 27, 2009Lord Mandelson will say today that he intends to press ahead with controversial measures to cut off the internet connections of people caught downloading pirated music, films or television programmes.
Councils get ?Al Capone? power to seize assets over minor offences
Posted on October 27, 2009Draconian police powers designed to deprive crime barons of luxury lifestyles are being extended to councils, quangos and agencies to use against the public, The Times has learnt.
'Coincidence' that intern looked up insider dealing
Posted on October 27, 2009A City intern accused of leaking the details of a series of takeovers told a court today that he researched insider trading on the internet the night before his father made a crucial share purchase because he was following up on office gossip.
Alan Johnson 'stops the clock' on Gary McKinnon's extradition proceedings
Posted on October 26, 2009The Home Secretary has thrown a lifeline to Gary McKinnon, the alleged computer hacker, with a promise to examine new medical evidence ?very carefully? before deciding on his extradition to the United States.
Corruption case against BAE Systems may be delayed
Posted on October 26, 2009The Serious Fraud Office will miss its own deadline for bringing corruption charges against BAE Systems, Europe?s largest defence company, this week as it struggles with the complexity of the case.
Fury as Karadzic refuses to turn up for war crimes trial
Posted on October 26, 2009The victims of Radovan Karadzic voiced outrage yesterday after the former Bosnian Serb leader made a mockery of the first day of justice for the worst atrocities seen in Europe since the Second World War.
Those in power tread a crooked moral line
Posted on October 26, 2009Exercising power is tricky. Before you have it, you may entertain shockingly naive notions about how easy it will be, the way it will feel and what you?re going to do with it.
Jewish school JFS in Supreme Court to deny it broke law by turning boy away
Posted on October 26, 2009A leading Jewish state school goes to the new Supreme Court today to challenge a ruling that it broke race laws.
Mediaset is ordered to run advertising for Sky Italia
Posted on October 26, 2009Mediaset, the broadcaster controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, was told by a court yesterday that it could not simply refuse to take advertising from Sky Italia, its rival.
Hoare Govett training was less help than Wall Street, says alleged insider dealer
Posted on October 26, 2009A trainee accused of insider dealing told a court yesterday that he had only a ?rough understanding? of the practice and had learnt more about it from the film Wall Street than he had during the six months he spent with Hoare Govett, the broker.
PricewaterhouseCoopers tries to win approval for Lehman Brothers? assets scheme
Posted on October 25, 2009PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the administrator of Lehman Brothers in Europe, will return to court this morning for a second attempt to win approval for a plan designed to speed up the administration.
Vulnerable children being failed by crumbling family justice system
Posted on October 25, 2009It?s a bad time to be a vulnerable child at risk of abuse and neglect. Social work vacancies are running at record levels ? 12 per cent nationally and almost 33 per cent in some London boroughs; and Cafcass ? the service charged with looking after the interests of children in family proceedings ? is in meltdown...
Family courts crisis means long waits for vulnerable children
Posted on October 25, 2009Children are waiting for more than a year for crucial decisions on where they are to live because of a crisis in the family courts service.
Vulnerable children put at risk by plans to cut family legal aid, say lawyers
Posted on October 25, 2009Ministers are pressing ahead with huge cuts in legal aid fees for lawyers who handle cases involving vulnerable children and families, despite warnings from the most senior family judge.
Bank of New York will lend to Russia again as Moscow drops lawsuit
Posted on October 22, 2009Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) will begin lending to Russian state banks again after Moscow abandoned a $22.5 billion lawsuit against it.$
European judge casts fresh doubt over SNP plans for minimum alcohol prices
Posted on October 22, 2009The Scottish government?s plans to introduce a minimum price for alcohol have suffered a setback with a move by the European Court to block similar initiatives in other EU countries.
Nokia sparks legal showdown with Apple
Posted on October 22, 2009Nokia and Apple are squaring up for a bruising legal battle after the Finnish mobile phone maker filed a legal complaint against its Californian rival that could culminate in Nokia taking a cut on every iPhone sold by Apple.
Justice in the raw: everyday tales of human failure laid bare
Posted on October 22, 2009The entrance hall of the new Supreme Court is adorned with lofty declarations of the integrity of British justice. ?To no one will we deny or delay right or justice? reads the legend engraved on one floor-to-ceiling glass panel of the building in Parliament Square, in Central London.
Russia drops $22.5bn lawsuit against New York Mellon$
Posted on October 22, 2009Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) will begin lending to Russian state banks again after Moscow abandoned a $22.5 billion lawsuit against it.$
Jean-Marie Messier, former Vivendi chief, ordered to stand trial
Posted on October 22, 2009Jean-Marie Messier, who famously proclaimed himself master of the universe when he was chief executive of Vivendi Universal, has been sent for trial in France on charges of share manipulation.
Reduced legal aid rates will cause 'mass exodus' of law firms
Posted on October 22, 2009Vulnerable children and families will bear the brunt of swingeing new cuts that will cause a ?mass exodus? of law firms from legal aid, lawyers warned yesterday.
Zurich loses data on 51,000 UK customers
Posted on October 22, 2009Zurich Insurance, the UK arm of the Swiss insurer, admitted yesterday that it had lost a tape containing the confidential personal details of 51,000 of its British customers.
OFT gives all clear to pubs' beer-tie supply
Posted on October 22, 2009Pub companies that force licensees to buy beer through their landlord are not doing anything wrong, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Zurich insurance loses personal data of thousands of British customers
Posted on October 22, 2009Zurich Insurance, the UK arm of the Swiss insurer, admitted yesterday that it had lost a tape containing the confidential personal details of 51,000 of its British customers.
Pubcos toast Office of Fair Trading's tied-pub competition ruling
Posted on October 22, 2009By some estimates, the tied-pub business model has been reviewed 25 times over the past 33 years, including four times by the EU competition authorities. On every occasion, even after the brewery-owned pub sell-off sparked by the 1989 Beer Orders, the tie has been declared fit for purpose.
Virgin won?t take seat copying lying down
Posted on October 22, 2009When it comes to competition in the skies, there is no fiercer contest than who has the best seat.
Former Vivendi chief to stand trial on share manipulation charges
Posted on October 22, 2009Jean-Marie Messier, who famously proclaimed himself master of the universe when he was chief executive of Vivendi Universal, has been sent for trial in France on charges of share manipulation.
?We must prosecute people for the crimes they may have committed?
Posted on October 21, 2009Lord Judge wants to restore public confidence in the criminal justice system. Every single person was affected by it, ?as victims, as witnesses, as defendants?. And, he adds, ?if I read my newspapers correctly, public confidence has been damaged or reduced?.
The Times wins Reynolds qualified privilege battle
Posted on October 21, 2009Last week The Times won an important preliminary issue in a long-running libel action with a police officer by establishing that an article it published in 2006 was covered by Reynolds qualified privilege.
Legal training: is it taking too long?
Posted on October 21, 2009American commercial law firms are beating their City counterparts in the race for the best international talent because of anachronistic legal profession rules, say leading UK academics.
Lawyer of the week: Dan Squires
Posted on October 21, 2009Dan Squires, of Matrix Chambers, is part of the team that acts for a group of Iraqi men who claim that they were tortured, and that other Iraqis were killed, at a UK base in 2004.
SFO opens criminal inquiry into 'Beano' Levene
Posted on October 21, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today announced it was opening a criminal investigation into Nicholas Levene, the bankrupt City trader.
Outrage as 'secret inquests' plan revived
Posted on October 21, 2009Civil liberties campaigners today accused the Government of quietly reviving plans to hold investigations into controversial deaths in secret.
Civil servant jailed for £1.6m car crash fraud
Posted on October 21, 2009A civil servant at the heart of a ?cash for crash? scam which is costing motorists an extra £50 annually on their insurance policies was jailed in Manchester yesterday for four and a half years.
Lehmans? clients may claim interim income, court rules
Posted on October 21, 2009Hundreds of hedge funds that were customers of Lehman Brothers and had their assets frozen when the bank collapsed can keep the cash generated by their portfolios in the 13 months since the investment bank was declared bankrupt.
Galleon to wind down and may sell off business
Posted on October 21, 2009Galleon Group, the New York-based hedge fund manager whose billionaire founder is at the centre of a $25 million ($£15 million) insider-trading case, is winding down its funds and considering whether to sell the business.
Fraud office investigates missing ?Beano? City trader
Posted on October 21, 2009Nicholas Levene, the City financier who has vanished amid allegations that he owes tens of millions of pounds, is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), it emerged yesterday.
The jury's still out on whether internet use affects the brain
Posted on October 20, 2009Advances in technology have revealed that our brains are far more altered by experience or training than was thought possible. The memory-storing hippocampus region of the brain in London taxi drivers is bigger, and the auditory areas of musicians more developed, than average...
Lord Judge calls for jury system that caters for computer generation
Posted on October 20, 2009The jury system is threatened by the internet generation, who no longer get their information from listening to people speaking, the Lord Chief Justice warned yesterday.
Intern 'had no access to inside information'
Posted on October 20, 2009A summer intern accused of leaking secret information about takeovers was given menial tasks including buying food for bosses and was not privy to inside information, a court heard today.
PartyGaming founder cuts holding with £190m sale
Posted on October 20, 2009One of the founding shareholders of PartyGaming, the online gambling operator, has made almost £190 million after selling two thirds of his holding to institutions.
Israeli basketball manager with Nick Levene link found hanged
Posted on October 20, 2009One of Israel?s best-known basketball figures has hanged himself after bad financial investments made through a British company left him $20 million ($£12 million) in debt, according to his friends.
Galleon chief protests innocence as investors leave
Posted on October 20, 2009Raj Rajaratnam, the American billionaire at the centre of a $25 million ($£15 million) insider-trading case, has insisted that he is innocent, but his protestations have not been enough to prevent investors from pulling out almost half the funds invested with his Galleon Group.
Osborne takes regulatory roadshow to Financial Services Authority
Posted on October 20, 2009George Osborne met about 70 staff from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday to discuss Conservative plans for a new regulatory structure for the City.
Lawyer who conned £7m from bank spent millions on luxuries
Posted on October 20, 2009A City lawyer defrauded the bank she worked for of more than £7 million to bankroll a friend?s failing airline, a court was told yesterday.
Royal Mail talks in deadlock as strike looms
Posted on October 19, 2009Last ditch talks to avoid a national postal strike looked doomed today as both side refused to give ground.
Hey, UK plc, it?s time to clean up your act!
Posted on October 19, 2009Every day?s a free ticket to a show,? Dan Nardello says, laughing so loudly that the Claridge?s tea cups on the table in front of him rattle.
Prosecutors to be given more discretion over sending cases to trial
Posted on October 19, 2009More offenders could escape going to court even when there is enough evidence to charge them under guidelines published by the Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday.
Lawyers dismiss Peter Hain's BNP warning to the BBC
Posted on October 19, 2009Media lawyers today dismissed warnings by Peter Hain, the Welsh Secretary, that the BBC could face legal action unless it cancelled an appearance on Question Time by the leader of the British National Party.
India on edge as battling brothers take war to court
Posted on October 19, 2009India?s richest brothers will go head-to-head in the country?s highest court today to fight out a $17 billion ($£10 billion) dispute over the sub-continent?s largest gas find.
Hermitage alleges fraud in high places in Moscow
Posted on October 18, 2009Fraudsters operating within the Russian Interior Ministry and the Moscow Tax Authority have stolen 11.2 billion roubles (£235 million) from the state budget, according to a complaint filed today with the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Royal Mail could face legal action from unions over agency staff
Posted on October 18, 2009A union warned yesterday that it might take legal action against Royal Mail for hiring 30,000 temporary workers to clear the backlog of undelivered post from this week?s nationwide strikes.
Crime czar Louise Casey blames Gordon Brown for growth of yob culture
Posted on October 18, 2009The Government?s own neighbourhood crime adviser has accused Gordon Brown of letting people down on antisocial behaviour.
Crime adviser says justice system is seen as ?too sympathetic? to criminals
Posted on October 18, 2009Many people working in the criminal justice system instinctively side with offenders because they want to give them a second chance, says the Government?s neighbourhood crime adviser. This leaves the public thinking that the system is set up to meet the needs of criminals rather than the victims of crime and the wider public, she warns.
Six-month jail sentences reduced to six weeks to ease jail overcrowding
Posted on October 18, 2009Six-month jail terms are being slashed to six weeks and 28-day sentences are being waived by prison governors desperate to ease record levels of overcrowding, The Times has learnt.
Vanished City trader's losses may hit £200m
Posted on October 18, 2009FOUR clients of a missing City financier claim they have lost £30m each, according to officials investigating the case. Total claims against Nick Levene, a 45-year-old trader and adviser, amount to £200m ? three times the sum originally feared.
Fund boss Nick Martin takes Fidelity to court
Posted on October 17, 2009FIDELITY is being sued for closing down a $500m ($£300m) private-equity fund by the financier hired to run it.
Briefing: Super injunctions: Bound and gagged
Posted on October 17, 2009PRESS SILENCED Paper told not to report parliamentary question
England?s libel laws don?t just gag me, they blindfold you
Posted on October 17, 2009I spent Tuesday night at the Barley Mow pub in Westminster, central London, surrounded by 150 people who were outraged at the state of English libel laws. The event, which is part of a series of Skeptics in the Pub events around the country, started with a misquote from Star Wars that set the tone of optimism for the entire evening: ?We are more possible than you can powerfully imagine...
Nichola Pease sparks the mother of all rows
Posted on October 17, 2009Aside from the pair of diamond earrings she was wearing, there was nothing to suggest Nichola Pease?s vast wealth as she sat dressed in plain black before a Treasury committee last week.
Tax affairs of 27 MPs under investigation
Posted on October 17, 2009The tax affairs of 27 MPs are being investigated after checks on their expenses claims while at least one MP is expected to be prosecuted over the scandal, it has been reported
Trafigura report on dumped waste in Ivory Coast revealed
Posted on October 16, 2009A report commissioned for the oil trading firm Trafigura stating that tonnes of dumped waste could have caused an outbreak of illness in West Africa can be revealed for the first time after an injunction was lifted.
Mother faces jail for faking son?s illness and claiming benefits
Posted on October 16, 2009A mother who convinced doctors that her son was the ?sickest child in Britain? is facing jail for falsely claiming £130,000 in disability benefits.
Judge condemns Jack Straw's 'haste' on media access to family courts
Posted on October 16, 2009The most senior family judge in England and Wales urged ministers not to rush ahead with controversial plans to allow greater media access to family court hearings.
Billionaire is charged in $25m insider trading case$
Posted on October 16, 2009One of America's richest men was amongst six people charged yesterday in the largest-ever insider trading case involving hedge funds.
Weird Cases: hijacking a legal career
Posted on October 16, 2009Being a back-stabber is not necessarily a bar to becoming a lawyer. It is occasionally said to be an advantage in some law firms. Shooting people in the back, however, is a different matter ? even cynics agree that is incompatible with being a good lawyer.
Trader 'used Chinese food code' for share deals
Posted on October 16, 2009A work experience student at a City bank is alleged to have sent coded messages to his father telling him to buy Chinese food hours before the father bought shares in three companies that were about to make major announcements, a court heard today.
Dentist Neel Uberoi ?made £150,000 through insider trading with intern son?
Posted on October 15, 2009A dentist made a ?fabulous? profit on shares after his son, who was on a work experience attachment, tipped him off about imminent takeover deals, a court heard yesterday.
Europe prenup law 'attractive model for reform', says Baroness Deech
Posted on October 15, 2009European-style contracts between couples who are marrying should replace the discretion of judges in dividing a couple?s assets on divorce, a leading family lawyer has said.
OFT to probe 'misleading' high street pricing
Posted on October 15, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate pricing practices employed by companies, both online and in the high street, and how they ?could potentially mislead consumers?.
Judges oppose appointment of Sumption, QC, to the Supreme Court
Posted on October 14, 2009A frontrunner for a vacancy in the new Supreme Court is being strongly opposed by senior judges on the ground that he has not earned his spurs as a judge.
City no longer sexist, says Nichola Pease
Posted on October 14, 2009One of the wealthiest women in the City yesterday told MPs that employers should cut maternity leave and ban excessive payouts in sex discrimination settlements.
FSA cracks down on City job candidates
Posted on October 14, 2009City regulators have dramatically stepped up the number of people they veto for senior City jobs and yesterday rebuked banks for putting up unsuitable candidates.
Wife of property tycoon, Scot Young, ordered to leave rented house
Posted on October 14, 2009A woman at the centre of a £400 million divorce case has been given six weeks to leave her home.
TV coverage means justice really will be seen to be done
Posted on September 30, 2009Today is a turning point in the history of our legal system, not only because we have a new highest court in the land, but because the public will finally see justice at work.
The highest court in the land opens its doors to the public
Posted on September 30, 2009It was dreamt up over a glass of whisky or on the back of a cigarette packet. That, at least, is the prevailing myth as to how the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came about. Now, six years on, this landmark reform finally takes effect and today the court opens its doors for business.
Supreme Court opens as fears raised of US-style selection of judges
Posted on September 30, 2009The judges of Britain?s first Supreme Court, which opens today, will face greater public scrutiny over who they are and their backgrounds, its new President has told The Times.
What lawyers think of Blair?s legacy - the Supreme Court
Posted on September 30, 2009The creation of the United Kingdom?s first Supreme Court which comes into being today, has overwhelming support among lawyers ? and they also predict that it will flex its muscles to become more powerful, in time, than the law lords that it replaces.
Times Law panel: do they approve of the new Supreme Court?
Posted on September 30, 2009* "The House of Lords seemed to me to work well enough and there was no need to spend £35 million plus on a new building and a new administrative system when government is awash with property . . . " John Davidson, general counsel, SAB Miller
More independent? Their lordships have never hesitated to make their views clear in the past
Posted on September 30, 2009Today the law lords ? or the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords ? morph into the Supreme Court for the UK. It is a landmark in British legal history.
Views from Canada and South Africa: 'We owe a great debt to the work of the judges'
Posted on September 30, 2009CHIEF JUSTICE BEVERLEY McLACHLIN of Canada
Shaping the Supreme Court ? the power of the presidency
Posted on September 30, 2009Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers comes to a judicial office of incomparable power in the community of democratic nations: the President of the Court chairs the selection commissions not only for new members of the court, but also for his own replacement.
Keeping an eye on the Supreme Court - online
Posted on September 30, 2009In the United States there is comprehensive coverage of what goes on at the US Supreme Court and much else besides. Daily posts on ScotUSblog (www.scotusblog.com) mean that every American lawyer or anyone interested can keep up with the arguments and issues before the court.
The Supreme Court may have had a shambolic start but it's getting better all the time
Posted on September 30, 2009The Constitutional Court of post-apartheid South Africa was built on the site of what had been Johannesburg?s most infamous prison. The origins of the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are more shambolic than symbolic: not a fundamental transformation of society, but Tony Blair?s inept announcement, when Prime Minister, of constitutional reform without consultation at the same time as he dismissed Lord Irvine of Lairg, then Lord Chancellor...
Legal line-up: the justices of the Supreme Court
Posted on September 30, 2009Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
How Bloody Sunday helped to future-proof the Supreme Court's IT
Posted on September 30, 2009For the first time in any court in England and Wales, the public are about to see justice in action ? rather than rely for their knowledge of the justice system on dramas or footage from the United States. When the Supreme Court opens this week, it will have broadcasting facilities and other IT that make it the UK?s most technologically advanced court.
Pomp and circumstance: the new Supreme Court building
Posted on September 30, 2009The Edwardians knew all about pomp and circumstance. When it came to civic buildings, nothing was too grand or too over-the-top. Even by these standards, however, the building now known as the Supreme Court was a bit rich. Odder still ? at a time when ?Edwardian Baroque? was in vogue ? the Middlesex Guildhall, as it was known, harked back to a much earlier time.
Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were locked up in our court
Posted on September 30, 2009Is it true that manors maketh the man? This is more or less the question put to me (without the sexist overtones) about the move of top UK judges from their snug ensconcement in the House of Lords into a new quirky building across the way. Would functioning in a different habitat under a new title affect the nature of their processes and the texture of their decisions?
Lawyer of the Week: Louisa Ghevaert
Posted on September 30, 2009Louisa Ghevaert, a partner at Gamble & Ghevaert, acted for Melanie and Robert Gladwin in a case that won a last-minute change to the law in Parliament, extending the time limit for storing frozen embryos used in surrogate pregnancies from five to ten years.
Sheriff courts to take on more powers
Posted on September 30, 2009A major expansion of the role of the sheriff court was proposed today as part of the biggest review of the civil justice system in modern times.
Some lawyers will oppose this. Tough ? it makes sense
Posted on September 30, 2009There is no downside to Lord Gill?s report. The idea is it will improve access to justice for civil litigants and save them a great deal of money and time.
Nine elderly residents wait for judgment on closure of Underhill House care home
Posted on September 29, 2009One of the UK's oldest women and eight other residents of a Midlands care home must wait another week to see if they have won their battle to stop its closure after the court case was adjourned today.
Family in custody battle over pet sheep
Posted on September 29, 2009A family are in a court custody battle over a pet sheep.
£400m husband may have faked a breakdown, divorce court told
Posted on September 28, 2009A businessman ordered by a court to explain the disappearance of his alleged £400 million fortune after his wife filed for divorce may have faked a mental breakdown to escape jail, the High Court was told yesterday.
Audit firms left unprotected against claims of negligence
Posted on September 28, 2009Britain?s big four auditing firms have been left exposed to a surge in negligence claims after the Government refused to limit further the damages they could face.
Jack Straw?s plan to name social workers in family courts ?breaches human rights?
Posted on September 27, 2009Plans to allow the media to name social workers in family court cases are being opposed strongly by judges and lawyers, who warn that the change could breach human rights laws. They have expressed ?grave concerns? that the latest tranche of reforms to open up the courts may drive away experts and violate children?s rights to privacy.
California dreaming of full marijuana legalisation
Posted on September 27, 2009The smell gives the game away. A sweet herbal scent wafts from the medicines inside the smart display cases in the Harborside clinic in Oakland, California.
Expert opinions in family courts must be open to objective scrutiny
Posted on September 27, 2009After decades of obsessive secrecy, supposedly to protect the interests of vulnerable children, the family courts will be required to open their doors a few centimetres wider as the Minister of Justice builds on rules introduced earlier this year that allowed some degree of media access but limited rights for them to report their observations.
Construction companies to fight OFT after £130m bid-rigging fines
Posted on September 27, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is facing a wave of appeals by construction companies that were fined nearly £130 million last week for illegally colluding on building contracts.
Black bra, red stockings: is that a fair cop?
Posted on September 26, 2009ONE woman is dressed provocatively in a black bra. Another sports red high heels and stockings. Their long-haired male companions are dressed in scruffy blue boiler suits and the occasional riot helmet.
Timeline: the battle against enforced retirement
Posted on September 25, 2009*October 1 2006: Employment Equality (Age) Regulations become law, enabling an employer to sack any worker over age 65
Judge demands Government scrap compulsory retirement age
Posted on September 25, 2009The Government faces overwhelming calls to scrap the compulsory retirement age of 65 after a High Court judge ruled today that in the current economic climate it was likely to be unlawful.
Mabey & Johnson prosecution a feather in the cap of Serious Fraud Office
Posted on September 25, 2009The judgment against Mabey & Johnson is a major coup for the Serious Fraud Office ? and for the principle that large companies operating abroad can be held accountable under British law.
I still have plenty to offer, says librarian forced out of work on 65th birthday
Posted on September 25, 2009Margaret Davison-Scott had worked full-time all her life until she took up two part-time jobs a couple of years ago to give her time to travel.
Bribes firm ordered to pay £6m for breaching Iraq sanctions
Posted on September 25, 2009A British company that admitted bribing ministers and officials in Ghana and Jamaica, and breaching sanctions in Iraq, was yesterday ordered to pay £6.6 million in fines and compensation.
Foreign Office chief faces sack after 'anti-Semitic' rant verdict
Posted on September 24, 2009A senior civil servant is facing the sack today after being found guilty of shouting that Israelis should be ?blown off the f***ing earth? while exercising in a gym.
New blow to terror control orders as second suspect released
Posted on September 24, 2009Alan Johnson has allowed a second terror suspect to be released from virtual house arrest rather than disclose secret evidence against him.
Mabey & Johnson to be sentenced in landmark bribery case
Posted on September 24, 2009A British company that bribed foreign officials to win business contracts and breached United Nations (UN) sanctions in Iraq is due to be sentenced tomorrow in the first prosecution of its kind in the UK.
Perot employee charged with insider dealing
Posted on September 24, 2009An employee of H. Ross Perot's investment firm has been charged with insider dealing ahead of Dell?s proposed $3.9 billion ($£2.4 billion) takeover of Perot Systems.
Metropolitan Police chief says fixed penalties undermine courts
Posted on September 24, 2009The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Britain?s most senior police officer, has criticised the increasing use of on-the-spot penalties, saying they undermine the authority of magistrates? courts.
Tax system repels foreign insurers, says Lloyd?s chief
Posted on September 24, 2009Britain?s tax system was deterring overseas insurers from relocating to the UK and risked damaging the long-term competitiveness of the world?s oldest insurance market, Richard Ward, the chief executive of Lloyd?s of London, said yesterday.
SEC pursues insider trading case against Perot worker
Posted on September 24, 2009An employee of Ross Perot?s investment company has been charged with insider dealing ahead of Dell?s proposed $3.9 billion ($£2.4 billion) takeover of Perot Systems.
Loloahi Tapui and her husband arrested by immigration officials
Posted on September 24, 2009The Attorney-General?s former housekeeper was arrested in West London by UK Border Agency officials yesterday and questioned about alleged immigration offences.
JJB Sports spent £3.7m with its directors' companies
Posted on September 24, 2009JJB Sports, the sportswear retailer that has teetered on the verge of bankruptcy for much of this year, spent £3.7 million in the past 18 months on goods and services from companies linked to its own directors.
IN FULL: factors for and against prosecution
Posted on September 23, 2009Factors in favour of prosecution
Attorney General's aide resigns over housekeeper row
Posted on September 23, 2009Baroness Scotland of Asthal was under growing pressure today to resign as Attorney General after one of her aides quit over her breach of immigration law.
Judge Bruce Macmillan resigns after second drink-driving arrest
Posted on September 23, 2009A Crown Court judge resigned today after being arrested for drunk driving for the second time in a month.
Q&A: assisted suicide
Posted on September 23, 2009Why is the issue of assisted suicide so controversial?
Assisted suicide guidelines do not give immunity against prosecution, says DPP
Posted on September 23, 2009New guidelines on assisted suicide give no guarantee against prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions warned today.
BNP Paribas Fortis director arrested
Posted on September 23, 2009A director of BNP Paribas Fortis has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a ?19.5 million insider dealing scam in the shares of Fortis in the Belgian bank's final days as a standalone business.
Siemens threatens to sue former bosses
Posted on September 23, 2009Siemens has threatened to sue a group of former executives if they do not agree to pay millions of euros in damages to the engineering conglomerate for their roles in its recent corruption scandal.
Three sent for trial in insider-dealing case
Posted on September 23, 2009An accountant and two lawyers accused of insider dealing by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have been committed to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Husband said farewell to dying wife at airport to avoid suicide prosecution
Posted on September 23, 2009Sydney Robbins, 82, said farewell to his wife Dorothy at an airfield, then sent her to die. He was unable to accompany her to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland after being warned by police that he might be prosecuted for assisting in her suicide.
Assisted suicide guide is a blend of protection and compassion
Posted on September 23, 2009Keir Starmer has made the best of a difficult job. First, as widely trailed, he has decided that his assisted suicide guidelines must apply to England and Wales as well as to behaviour abroad. This is surely right: there is no moral difference between an act committed in Geneva and its replica in Hull.
Trafigura's £30m payout approved after 'slops' dumped in Ivory Coast
Posted on September 23, 2009The £30million settlement of the class action by thousands of Africans against the oil company Trafigura was formally approved in the High Court yesterday.
New guidelines on assisted suicide will help but debate is likely to continue
Posted on September 23, 2009During the interview police conducted with the mother of Daniel James, there was a moment when it was put to her that, in accompanying her son to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, she might have thought that she was breaking the law.
Don?t trust me, I?m a doctor . . .
Posted on September 23, 2009In my twenties I allowed a podiatrist to remove the hard skin on my feet as I knelt on a chair in front of him facing the wall. He used my bottom as a headrest for his forehead and grunted as he grappled with my heels. I assumed that was the standard way to treat feet until I returned to my office and complained to the women I worked with that I had sore knees, and told them why...
In the City: so who won The Times/Herbert Smith Advocacy Competition?
Posted on September 23, 2009Winning advocates
Lawyer of the Week: Carl Richmond
Posted on September 23, 2009Carl Richmond, a partner at Middleweeks, the Manchester firm, acted for AF, a terror suspect, whose control order was withdrawn to prevent secret intelligence evidence against him being revealed in court.
Without prejudice: what does it actually mean?
Posted on September 23, 2009Despite being in use in British courts for more than a 100 years, the ?without prejudice? rule is well known but not necessarily well understood.
File sharing: how can the music industry get the public to pay up?
Posted on September 23, 2009Rock god versus pop diva ? the music rights debate is producing some unexpected spectacles. Is file sharing creating a generation of people who expect never to pay for music or is it opening up a whole new audience who will save the industry?
Since my son died we aren't allowed to see our grandchildren
Posted on September 23, 2009Since my son?s death from cancer, his widow has refused all contact with their two children. We did not want to lose touch with them so an application was made to the family court.
Brussels regulators could order Britain to bail out banks under new rules
Posted on September 23, 2009Britain could be ordered to bail out a bank or other financial institution by a vote of other European Union nations under a pan-European system of supervision unveiled in Brussels yesterday.
Brussels to consider farmers? milk demands
Posted on September 23, 2009An emergency meeting over the collapse in the price of milk will be held by Europe?s agriculture ministers in Brussels on October 5.
European carbon trading market takes hit
Posted on September 23, 2009The Europe-wide carbon trading market suffered a severe blow yesterday when a European court issued a ruling that will weaken carbon prices and undermine efforts by the European Commission to curb carbon emissions further.
STV poised for counter-offensive in wake of ITV?s £38m action
Posted on September 23, 2009STV, the Scottish commercial broadcaster, is preparing to hit back at ITV with a claim of up to £40 million, amid a row over advertising revenues that it says should have been sent by ITV north of the Border.
Corruption helped cause financial crisis
Posted on September 23, 2009Bribery and corruption within the financial system was partly to blame for the global economic crisis and ratings agencies were especially culpable, according to a report from a leading anti-graft agency.
Google wins latest round in brand names dispute
Posted on September 22, 2009Google has won the latest round in a legal row against Louis Vuitton and other brand owners that are trying to stop the search engine from using their trademarks as paid for search terms.
Fraudster steals Ben Bernanke's identity
Posted on September 22, 2009US prosecutors say a man has pleaded guilty in an identity theft ring that ensnared Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as a victim.
OFT fines construction sector £129m for bid-rigging
Posted on September 22, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today fined the construction industry £129.5 million after an investigation into bid-rigging between companies tendering for public sector building contracts.
Should the Attorney-General keep her job?
Posted on September 22, 2009The Attorney-General suffered the humiliation yesterday of being fined £5,000 for employing an illegal immigrant.
Kent attracts new type of tourist: Europeans seeking easy bankruptcy
Posted on September 22, 2009Tourists have come to Kent for its castles, where widowed queens lived out their days and kings organised the defence of the realm of England. They have come to see Canterbury Cathedral, founded by St Augustine at the end of the 6th century, site of the murder of Thomas à Becket.
FSA chairman in fresh attack on City traders who ?cooked up? crisis
Posted on September 22, 2009Lord Turner of Ecchinswell, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), turned on his critics last night, launching a ferocious attack on some in the City for their lack of contrition and their refusal to recognise the need for radical change.
Google wins latest round in Louis Vuitton battle
Posted on September 22, 2009Google has won the latest round in a legal battle against Louis Vuitton and other brand owners that are trying to stop the search engine profiting from their trademarks.
£5,000 illegal worker fine is like a £60 traffic penalty, says law chief
Posted on September 22, 2009The Attorney-General faced fresh calls to resign last night after comparing her £5,000 fine for breaching the immigration law with a failure to pay the congestion charge.
Building companies are fined £130m for rigging bids
Posted on September 22, 2009More than a hundred construction companies were fined nearly £130 million yesterday after illegally colluding in bids to secure building projects, including schools and hospitals.
Fake golf club scam 'cost eBay customers millions'
Posted on September 22, 2009A global network of criminals duped eBay customers into buying millions of pounds worth of fake golf clubs in the largest fraud uncovered by the online auction site.
Lord Sugar named as victim of sweeteners in Office of Fair Trading inquiry
Posted on September 22, 2009Lord Sugar fell victim to one of the worst offences uncovered by the Office of Fair Trading?s bid-rigging inquiry.
?Fat? family?s legal fight to get children out of care
Posted on September 22, 2009The pregnant mother of two children, aged 3 and 4, taken into care because they were judged to be overweight spoke yesterday of her anguish at the decision.
Dinner lady Carol Hill sacked for telling parents of attack on daughter
Posted on September 22, 2009A school dinner lady who was sacked for telling a pupil?s parents that their daughter had been attacked by playground bullies is preparing to take legal action against the school.
Lloyds Bank faces allegations of tax evasion
Posted on September 21, 2009Lloyds Banking Group, the bank that is 42 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is being investigated over allegations of tax evasion after one of its employees was caught on camera apparently encouraging a customer to avoid tax by channelling money through Hong Kong.
Top commercial lawyers forced to slash rates
Posted on September 21, 2009The ?magic circle? has lost some of its power: average hourly rates for London?s top commercial lawyers fell by a third last year as law firms offered substantial discounts after competition intensified in the downturn.
G20 to give regulators power to curb bank bonuses
Posted on September 21, 2009Regulators around the world will be handed new powers to limit the share of profits that banks can spend on bonuses under a compromise deal to be tabled in Pittsburgh this week at the G20 meeting of leaders of the largest economies.
Music teacher Helen Goddard jailed for lesbian affair with pupil
Posted on September 21, 2009A music teacher who had a lesbian affair with a 15-year-old pupil will be allowed to continue to see the girl after she is released from jail.
Richard Dawkins to call for changes to Britain?s libel laws
Posted on September 20, 2009Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist, is to call for Britain?s libel laws to be reformed following a string of cases in which science researchers and writers have been sued for criticising health therapies they felt to be unreliable.
Supreme Court will give a peep into the land of the obscure
Posted on September 20, 2009It is a supreme irony that two of the first cases before the new Supreme Court will be veiled in secrecy ? for its main selling point was that it would enable justice to be seen to be done.
For and against the guidelines on assisted suicide
Posted on September 20, 2009?It won?t start Dignitas rush'
Assisted suicide investigations will focus on who stood to benefit
Posted on September 20, 2009People who stand to benefit financially from a person?s death are likely to be the ones prosecuted for assisting a suicide, under guidelines to be issued this week.
First hearings in new British Supreme Court shrouded in secrecy
Posted on September 20, 2009The Supreme Court, which opens its doors next month, is supposed to herald a new era in British justice ? contemporary surroundings, television cameras and transparent justice.
Illegal migrant row makes Lady Scotland?s job untenable, say Labour MPs
Posted on September 20, 2009The future of the Attorney-General was in doubt last night as it emerged that the UK Border Agency had raided the home of an illegal migrant she had employed as her cleaner.
Music industry talks break down in illegal downloading row
Posted on September 20, 2009The music industry dispute over illegal downloading intensified yesterday after talks between record labels and a rebel group of artists broke down.
Managers await sentencing on accounts fraud
Posted on September 18, 2009Three former senior managers of Alfred McAlpine Slate, the Welsh business that quarried the slate used for the roof of Buckingham Palace, are due to be sentenced for their roles in an accounting fraud today.
Yvonne Hossack cleared of professional misconduct
Posted on September 18, 2009A solicitor and prominent campaigner against care home closures was cleared of breaching professional rules of conduct by a Solicitors? Disciplinary Tribunal in London today.
Judge sanctions Aviva fund scheme
Posted on September 18, 2009Attempts to block a scheme under which insurance group Aviva will give policyholders £500 million in exchange for giving up their rights in a fund worth £1.2 billion failed today when a High Court judge approved the plan.
Former investment banker William Murphy wins bigger share of divorce payout
Posted on September 18, 2009A former investment banker has succeeded in winning a bigger divorce settlement after appealing against a ruling in which his wife was awarded 65 per cent of their joint assets.
Aviva policyholders must settle for £500m payout
Posted on September 18, 2009About 800,000 policyholders of with-profits funds run by Aviva, Britain?s largest insurer, will share less than half of the billion-pound windfall promised just over 18 months ago.
Gale Norton at centre of corruption inquiry over oil-shale awards to Shell
Posted on September 17, 2009Gale Norton, a senior member of President Bush?s Cabinet, is the focus of a corruption investigation over her support of oil-shale exploration by Royal Dutch Shell, her current employer.
Attorney-General under investigation for hiring an illegal migrant
Posted on September 17, 2009Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, has been placed under investigation after she admitted that she had employed an illegal migrant. Britain?s most senior law officer sacked Loloahi Tapui after the 27-year-old Tongan was revealed by the Daily Mail to have overstayed her student visa.
EU to seek global deal on bankers? bonuses
Posted on September 17, 2009The European Union will seek a global deal on clawing back or cancelling bankers? bonuses at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week after agreement among the 27 European leaders last night.
Settlement near for Ivory Coast?s victims of contaminated waste
Posted on September 17, 2009At Djibi in the north of Ivory Coast?s biggest city, contaminated soil has been gathered into giant white bags that cover an area bigger than two tennis courts.
Harriet Harman tries to end corporate lap-dancing tax break
Posted on September 17, 2009Harriet Harman has declared war on the culture of corporate entertainment in lap-dancing clubs, saying that businessmen will no longer be able to claim back tax on their expenses.
FSA orders Lloyds to stay in the special assets scheme
Posted on September 17, 2009Hopes that Lloyds Banking Group would be able to strike a lenient deal with Brussels over state aid have been dashed after the City regulator barred it from leaving the Government?s scheme for toxic assets.
Sky attacks Ofcom over plans to rein in charges
Posted on September 17, 2009BSkyB will today launch a bitter attack on Ofcom, accusing the regulator of exceeding its legal powers and using flawed analysis to insist that it cuts the price for selling Sky Sports and Sky Movies to rivals.
Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney-General, subpoenas five BoA directors
Posted on September 16, 2009The New York Attorney-General will force five Bank of America directors to testify under oath as part of his investigation into the bank?s controversial $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch.$
Société Générale sues Saudi billionaire to recover $50m loan$
Posted on September 16, 2009Société Générale, the French bank, has launched legal action to recover a $50 million loan from a company controlled by Maan al-Sanea, the Saudi billionaire who owns nearly three per cent of HSBC.$
Home Secretary Alan Johnson denies 'consipiracy' to shut care homes
Posted on September 16, 2009The Home Secretary appeared before a tribunal yesterday to back a lawyer facing disciplinary charges over her work campaigning against the closure of council care homes.
Home Secretary admits control orders may have to go
Posted on September 16, 2009Alan Johnson has today admitted the control order regime under which freed terror suspects are kept under surveillance may be swept away by the courts in the coming months.
Allen Stanford claims he cannot afford a lawyer
Posted on September 16, 2009Allen Stanford, the financier charged with defrauding investors of $7 billion ($£4.3 billion), will be represented by a public lawyer after telling a US court that he has no money to pay for an attorney.
Lawyer of the Week: Phillippa Kaufman
Posted on September 16, 2009Phillippa Kaufman, of Doughty Street Chambers, acted for a transsexual convicted killer who was born a man but has had her womanhood recognised by law and her birth certificate amended. The High Court ruled that she be transferred to a woman?s prison.
Hold the front page (lawyer?s request)
Posted on September 16, 2009Journalism is changing faster than at any time in its history but still not as frequently as the law. The editors of McNae?s Essential Law for Journalists need to revise their textbook roughly every two years which, since an up-to-date edition is required reading for media students, must be fine for royalties but involves constantly beating deadlines...
Shipping finds itself at the crest and the bottom of a wave
Posted on September 16, 2009On Monday morning the full complement of new trainees arrived at Ince & Co, the maritime law specialist. Unlike the picture at many other City law firms, there had been no need for deferrals. In fact, it took on two more young lawyers than last year.
Citizens Advice Bureau: a national treasure under pressure
Posted on September 16, 2009?Sorry, due to staff shortage (swine flu etc) we can only see a limited number of people today,? reads the note pinned on the door of the Tottenham branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau. I have a full four minutes to digest the message because it takes that long for someone to open said door.
Restraints on terror suspects may be lifted, Government admits
Posted on September 16, 2009A number of terrorist suspects will be freed from the restraints of control orders despite posing a danger to the public, the Government admitted yesterday.
Should intercept evidence on terror suspects be made admissible in court?
Posted on September 16, 2009The control orders regime for detaining suspects who have been neither charged nor prosecuted has been widely discredited.
Trafigura offers deal to 31,000 Africans over dumped waste
Posted on September 16, 2009A British oil trader has offered to settle a court case brought by 31,000 Africans who say that they were injured by the dumping of waste ? the largest personal injuries class action mounted in an English court.
Attorney-General sacks housekeeper alleged to be illegal immigrant
Posted on September 16, 2009The Attorney-General has dismissed her Tongan housekeeper after claims were made that she was an illegal immigrant.
Reforms will clamp down on ?menace? of online libel
Posted on September 16, 2009Plans to clamp down on internet libel were announced by ministers yesterday after a long-running battle through the courts led by The Times.
Mandelson to shelve laws aimed at cutting binge drinking
Posted on September 16, 2009Measures to curb binge drinking top a list of regulations to be shelved in the latest U-turn forced on Labour by the economic downturn.
Foreign Office chief accused of saying: Blow Israel off the face of the Earth
Posted on September 16, 2009A Foreign and Commonwealth Office civil servant told a Jew that the Israelis should be ?blown off the face of the Earth? during an altercation at a gymnasium, a court was told yesterday.
Watchdog refuses to scrap ITV contract rules
Posted on September 15, 2009Britain?s competition authority today rejected ITV?s call for strict rules governing advertising to be dropped but said it would consider easing some of the restrictions.
KPMG director Andrew Wetherall stole £545,000 to fund wife's lifestyle
Posted on September 15, 2009A former finance director who stole over £500,000 to fund his wife's lavish lifestyle has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Brussels may force Lloyds to surrender Halifax
Posted on September 15, 2009The European Commission has warned Lloyds Banking Group that it may have to split off Halifax as punishment for the billions of pounds of state aid that it has received.
Price war looms as Ofcom frees shackles on BT
Posted on September 15, 2009Ofcom has abandoned 25 years of controls on BT?s consumer business and cleared the way for what could be a price war over phone and broadband costs.
Aviva accused of 'derisory' settlement in High Court
Posted on September 14, 2009Aviva, the UK's largest insurer, today faced a fresh challenge to its plans to make £500 million in cash windfall payments to its with-profits policyholders after Which?, the consumer group, said the settlement was "derisory" and called on a high court judge to ring-fence further funds.
Workers can claim back holidays ruined by illness
Posted on September 14, 2009Workers who are ill during their holidays can now claim the time back from their employers following a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice.
Divorce: the Government wants talk, talk before war, war
Posted on September 14, 2009Should divorcing couples be compelled to consider mediation before they can go to court?
First look inside Britain's new Supreme Court
Posted on September 14, 2009The crest is on the wall, the television cables are in place and the ?chill-out? room has been created.
Regulators to pore over Magna?s GM Europe deal
Posted on September 14, 2009European competition regulators are to examine General Motors? deal to hand control of its Vauxhall and Opel plants in Europe to a consortium led by Magna International, the Canadian car parts supplier.
EU sanctions on Sri Lanka to hit 'cheap' clothing over human rights abuses
Posted on September 14, 2009They were billed as ?garments without guilt? ? cheap, good-quality lingerie, casual clothes and sportswear made in Sri Lanka and sold in stores such as Next, Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
Divorcing couples must consider mediation, says Bridget Prentice
Posted on September 13, 2009Divorcing and separating couples would be compelled to consider mediation before going to court, under plans being drawn up by ministers.
Stop giving ex-wives these undeserved millions, says Baroness Deech
Posted on September 13, 2009The divorce laws are unfair to men and multimillion-pound awards are degrading to women, an expert in family law believes.
Americans work to raise credit crunch legal float for London Stock Exchange
Posted on September 12, 2009Two top American lawyers are working on plans to raise a £200m fund on the London Stock Exchange to bankroll credit-crunch litigation.
French judge Eva Joly compares Iceland crisis to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme
Posted on September 12, 2009The chief investigator probing Iceland?s financial collapse has compared the dramatic implosion of the banking system with the infamous Ponzi scheme run by convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff.
Jackpot for lawyers in trademark management CPA patent sale
Posted on September 12, 2009Hundreds of British patent lawyers are poised to land a multi-million-pound jackpot from a stake sale in Computer Patent Annuities (CPA), a trademark management company based in Jersey.
Telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien faces Cable & Wireless lawsuit
Posted on September 12, 2009Cable & Wireless has opened a fresh offensive in its battle in the Caribbean with telecoms tycoon Denis O?Brien by launching a $44m ($£26m) lawsuit against his Digicel mobile-phone empire.
Analysis: How Mandelson intends to ban the Phoenix Four
Posted on September 11, 2009If Lord Mandelson is serious about disqualifying the Phoenix Four, he will need to convince a judge that they are ?unfit to be concerned in the management of a company?.
America’s not ready for losers to pay
Posted on September 10, 2009Is the British “loser pays” rule sweeping America? The idea is popular in polls, and already it is in effect in Alaska and some parts of Florida.
Lawyer of the Week: Geoffrey Robertson
Posted on September 10, 2009Geoffrey Robertson, QC, head of Doughty Street Chambers, acted for the author Sir Salman Rushdie, who received unreserved apologies from the publisher and ghost writer for allegations made in a book by Ron Evans who was his police protection officer...
Is it crunch time for the British criminal justice system?
Posted on September 10, 2009Peter Lodder, QC, paints a grim picture of the justice system as it faces its own credit crunch. Well-publicised criminal trials are in jeopardy because of a dispute over barristers’ fees, courts are hit by a cash crisis and the Bar risks becoming the enclave of the wealthy...
Justice needs to be blind to a judge's lawful sexual interests
Posted on September 10, 2009Is a judge's private life relevant to his court rulings? In a dissenting judgment in 2001, Judge Alex Kozinski, of the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, stated that the private life of a judge was not relevant to the validity of a decision he had made in court...
In the City: who will be hanging around at the back door hoping to catch a few scraps?
Posted on September 10, 2009No such thing?
JJB Sports and Sports direct in fraud probe
Posted on September 10, 2009JJB Sports and Sports Direct are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in relation to an alleged cartel involving the sale of sports goods.
Former bank director guilty of insider dealing
Posted on September 10, 2009A former managing director at Morgan Stanley has been convicted in Hong Kong?s highest-profile insider dealing case ? a trial where the Wall Street investment bank?s compliance practices also came under fire from the judge.
Lord Phillips calls for senior judges to stay on until 75
Posted on September 10, 2009The head of the UK?s first Supreme Court has added his voice to calls by senior judiciary for Britain?s top judges to be able to stay in post until 75.
Lord Mandelson prepares to ban the ?Phoenix Four?
Posted on September 10, 2009Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, is understood to be preparing the way for the consortium of businessmen known as the ?Phoenix Four?, who ran Rover from 2000, to be disqualified as company directors.
Lord Phillips: I sympathise over assisted suicide
Posted on September 10, 2009Britain?s most senior judge has said that he sympathises with terminally ill people seeking to end their own lives.
SEC failings laid bare as Madoff tape comes to light
Posted on September 10, 2009The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it was humbled by its failure to catch Bernard Madoff as a 2005 audio tape emerged of the Ponzi schemer explaining how easy it was to fool America?s securities regulator.
The man who fuelled Lord Turner?s attack on the City
Posted on September 10, 2009Paul Woolley is an unlikely revolutionary. With sober suit, silk tie and measured, thoughtful delivery, he looks and sounds like a retired City gent. Which is exactly what he also is. He was a banker with Barings years before that bank?s implosion and then founded the London arm of GMO, the American fund management group.
Dawn raid by regulator after JJB blows whistle on Sports Direct
Posted on September 10, 2009JJB Sports, the sportswear retailer, has blown the whistle on Mike Ashley?s Sports Direct, reporting its bitter rival to regulators for alleged criminal price-rigging and fraud.
This could be the last time a politician takes mercy on a prisoner
Posted on September 09, 2009Jack Straw?s granting of a pardon to Michael Shields is the first exercise of the rare power exercised under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy for more than ten years.
Lawyer of the week: Rhona Friedman
Posted on September 09, 2009Rhona Friedman, an associate at Bindmans, in London, is acting for Samantha Orobator, 20, whose death sentence in Laos for drugs trafficking was commuted to life because she was pregnant. She has been repatriated to a UK prison, from where she is challenging her conviction.
Clubs face curbs on pursuit of youth
Posted on September 09, 2009Sympathy for Chelsea is never easy to find, but it was arguably just bad timing that thrust the club?s signing of the French teenager Gaël Kakuta into the heart of a legal and moral storm thrown up by the interest of English clubs in the cream of foreign youth.
TV cameras to capture new era for law lords
Posted on September 09, 2009The UK?s Supreme Court opens for business next month ? and for the first time in the highest court in the land, television cameras will be there to record its work.
Tolkiens win $150m Lord Of The Rings film settlement$
Posted on September 09, 2009Time Warner has agreed to pay an estimated $150 million to the heirs of JRR Tolkien after a legal dispute over profits from the Lord Of The Rings films.$
DNA database holds flawed data on ethnicity, claims Ethics Group
Posted on September 09, 2009The DNA database holds flawed data on criminal suspects? ethnic groups and is ?not fit for purpose?, a government-appointed advisory group said. The independent Ethics Group, which reports to the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, called on ministers to introduce an ethnicity classification system, warning of ?deficiencies? in the current method and describing these as ?unacceptable?.
Musicians hit out at plans to cut off internet for file sharers
Posted on September 09, 2009Musicians from some of the world?s biggest bands are calling on the Government to abandon proposals to cut off the internet connections of people who illegally download music.
Dresdner sued for millions in withheld bonuses by 72 former traders
Posted on September 08, 2009A group of 72 former Dresdner Kleinwort traders have sued the bank?s new owner Commerzbank claiming it reneged on tens of millions of pounds of guaranteed bonus payments.
Small law firms threatened by soaring insurance costs
Posted on September 08, 2009Thousands of Britain?s high street solicitors are facing devastating increases of about 20 per cent in the cost of their annual insurance premiums because of the threat of negligence cases arising from the recession.
Brussels backs Portugal in Bwin online betting case
Posted on September 08, 2009Moves to liberalise the online gambling market suffered a setback yesterday when Europe?s highest court ruled that governments could bar foreign online bookmakers if the intention was to combat fraud.
Former Dresdner Kleinwort traders sue for ?34m
Posted on September 08, 2009A group of 72 former Dresdner Kleinwort traders are suing for millions of pounds in withheld bonuses in the biggest lawsuit of its kind to have emerged from the credit crunch.
McCurry Restaurant wins eight-year legal battle with McDonald?s
Posted on September 08, 2009One is an international conglomerate, the other a small neighbourhood business ? and since 2001 they have been locked in battle over two letters of the English language. Yesterday McDonald?s Corporation, the American hamburger giant, was defeated finally in a Malaysian court by the McCurry Restaurant, of Ipoh Road, Kuala Lumpur.
Barclays fined £2.45m for reporting failure
Posted on September 08, 2009Barclays, Britain?s second-biggest bank, has been fined £2.45 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for ?serious? breaches in its reporting of trades.
Orange merger with T-Mobile to face tough competition hurdles
Posted on September 08, 2009The planned merger of Orange and T-Mobile faces an uphill battle to convince competition authorities that the creation of Britain?s biggest mobile phone company should be allowed to proceed.
Google facing European challenge to digital library
Posted on September 07, 2009Google was forced to offer concessions to European publishers yesterday as it came under pressure over its plans to digitise the world?s books.
BSA asks City regulator to delay stricter lending rules
Posted on September 07, 2009Building society leaders have called on the City watchdog to suspend the imposition of its planned new mortgage lending restrictions. They say that the proposed new curbs are unfair because they will apply to them but not to banks.
Release of terror suspect expected to end secret evidence detentions
Posted on September 07, 2009Britain?s most dangerous terrorist suspects are likely to be released from detention to avoid the disclosure of secret intelligence evidence, lawyers said.
RBS cuts overdraft penalties ahead of court ruling
Posted on September 07, 2009Royal Bank of Scotland, the lender that is majority-owned by the taxpayer, has reduced its future overdraft charges before a decision is reached in the long-running court battle over the legality of the controversial fees levied by banks and building societies.
Sacked executives of Park Resorts win unfair dismissal tribunal
Posted on September 07, 2009Three former executives of Park Resorts, the caravan park operator controlled by GI Partners (GIP), won their unfair dismissal case yesterday, although a tribunal rejected their claim that they were sacked after they blew the whistle on misleading financial estimates given by GIP to the banks.
Jurors find it hard to tell right from wrong, says study
Posted on September 06, 2009The legal standard for dishonesty needs to be reviewed because jurors? widely different views may be affecting the outcome of trials, criminologists say.
Top terror suspect is freed over secrets fear
Posted on September 06, 2009The Home Secretary has released a man regarded as one of Britain?s most dangerous terror suspects from virtual house arrest to avoid disclosing secret evidence against him, The Times has learnt.
Business big shot: Martin Grant, former chief executive of Park Resorts
Posted on September 06, 2009Martin Grant, who was dismissed as chief executive of Park Resorts in December after 17 months in the job, will discover today at the London Central Employment Tribunal whether he has won his claim for wrongful dismissal from the caravan park operator.
M?learned friends make hay while City lawyers suffer
Posted on September 06, 2009An increase in legal disputes arising from the credit crunch led to a record year for Britain?s top commercial barristers, with overall turnover increasing 14 per cent to £750 million, according to research published today.
BAE Systems and SFO discuss compromise deal after epic investigation into arms sales
Posted on September 06, 2009BAE Systems is negotiating a possible settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over bribery and corruption allegations that could see Europe?s largest defence company pay a fine but admit no guilt.
Buyers of Skype on course for a legal showdown with its founders
Posted on September 06, 2009The founders of Skype last night were heading for a legal battle with the new owners of the internet telephony business over the technology that powers it.
Terror suspects' release: demise of control orders is inevitable
Posted on September 06, 2009Four times each year a panel of Home Office officials, police counter-terrorism officers and agents from the intelligence services meets to discuss the individuals around the country who live subject to the terms of control orders.
Darling: bonuses must be 'earned not guaranteed'
Posted on September 04, 2009Finance ministers from the G20 group of developed and emerging nations will meet in London today to try to reach agreement on a set of rules limiting the amount bankers can earn.
Transsexual killer wins battle to serve life sentence in a women's jail
Posted on September 04, 2009A transsexual killer who was born a man has won a legal battle to be transferred to a women?s prison.
No buyer, no chef and a ?50 million legal wrangle for Hôtel de Crillon in Paris
Posted on September 04, 2009It is the grandest hotel in France, with suites costing up to ?8,220 (£7,150) a night and a register signed by the likes of King George V, Sir Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin.
Google brought to book over digital library
Posted on September 04, 2009A US district judge named Denny Chin is on the verge of becoming one of the most important men in the history of publishing. On October 7 in a New York courtroom he will preside over a ?fairness hearing? for a deal between Google and US publishers and authors to put millions of books online.
Partners at SJ Berwin feel pinch as cash is conserved
Posted on September 03, 2009Partners in SJ Berwin are owed hundreds of thousands of pounds after the beleaguered City law firm delayed paying their share of profits for six months, it emerged yesterday.
Murder charge for boys would have made Edlington trial too problematic
Posted on September 03, 2009The spectre of the trial of the two boys who killed the toddler James Bulger 16 years ago loomed large over Sheffield Crown Court yesterday ? with the result that there will be no repeat spectacle of two small boys in the dock for attempted murder.
British National Party forced to admit non-whites
Posted on September 03, 2009The British National Party is poised to give up its whites-only membership policy after a legal challenge accusing it of racial discrimination.
WTO to rule on claims of state aid for Airbus
Posted on September 03, 2009The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is expected to issue a ruling today on the long-running feud between the United States and Europe over state aid for Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer.
Michael Mansfield, QC, on lawyers, the law and becoming a hate figure
Posted on September 02, 2009Michael Mansfield, QC, the best-known brief at the Bar, says in an extract in his autobiography in The Times that it was "utterly reasonable" for Diana, Princess of Wales, to fear for her safety and suppose that she was under surveillance.
Broker fined £20,000 for allowing insider trading
Posted on September 02, 2009A stockbroker who missed "clear warning signals" and allowed a client to trade on inside information has been fined £20,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) but allowed to continue working in the City.
Michael Mansfield - the dangerous subversive?
Posted on September 02, 2009The memoirs of Michael Mansfield, QC, were always going to be a rollicking good read. Britain?s best-known defence lawyer and probably only household name at the Bar has appeared in an unrivalled run of top cases ? from the Birmingham Six to the Bloody Sunday inquiry; Jean Charles de Menezes to the Diana and Dodi inquest.
Calling all women solicitors . . . if you want to join the Bench, now's your chance
Posted on September 02, 2009It may be the 21st century, but too many women solicitors still lack the confidence to apply to join the Bench. However, help is at hand. The Association of Women Solicitors is actively campaigning to encourage women to apply for judicial and public appointments.
Lord Turner and the City: do lawyers have a voice in the regulation debate?
Posted on September 02, 2009This week the Financial Services Authority organised a briefing for lawyers to discuss ?issues arising from the Turner review (and its associated discussion paper)?. David Strachan, director of financial stability at the FSA, lead the session backed up by Andrew Whitaker, general counsel to the FSA board.
Judges go back to school to learn the art of judging
Posted on September 02, 2009The art of judging cannot be taught. It is acquired on the job, almost by osmosis. That, at least, was the prevailing view among most judges a couple of decades ago. Judicial training was in its infancy and for many judges, who resisted it, almost a dirty word.
Lawyer of the Week: Patrick Green
Posted on September 02, 2009Patrick Green, a barrister at Henderson Chambers, acted for Alice Clarke, a law student who, after a four-year battle, successfully challenged Cardiff University?s marks given to her in the Bar Vocational Course. The High Court ruled that the revised results should be accepted as though she had passed first time.
Broker fined by Financial Services Authority over ?acts of omission? on illegal trading
Posted on September 02, 2009A stockbroker who missed ?clear warning signals? and allowed a client to trade on inside information has been fined £20,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) but allowed to continue working in the City.
London Mayor Boris Johnson goes into battle on behalf of City?s financiers
Posted on September 02, 2009Boris Johnson encountered stiff opposition in Brussels yesterday as he set out to soften European regulations on hedge funds.
Double murderer Dennis Harland Roberts wins cosmetic-treatment case
Posted on September 02, 2009A double murderer serving a life sentence has won a High Court victory in his long-running legal campaign for the right to undergo cosmetic surgery to remove a large facial birthmark.
Diana was right to be worried, says top QC, Michael Mansfield
Posted on September 01, 2009The fears of Diana, Princess of Wales, for her safety and her preoccupation with surveillance were ?entirely justified?, Michael Mansfield says today.
Divorcing couples encouraged to search for the most favourable court
Posted on September 01, 2009Divorcing couples encouraged to search for the most favourable court Divorcing couples search for the best court Divorcing couples can receive vastly different outcomes depending upon which part of the country their case is heard
Judges to be put on trial to test their courtroom skills
Posted on August 31, 2009Judges will go back to school to have their skills tested, under a radical training programme.
Applicants pull out as FSA gets tough on top bank jobs
Posted on August 31, 2009Almost one in ten candidates for senior jobs at banks and other financial services businesses have withdrawn their applications since the Financial Services Authority (FSA) began aggressively vetting senior staff.
City braces for Tories? new financial crime force
Posted on August 31, 2009A new agency with beefed-up powers to tackle fraud and other financial crime could be created within the first year of a Conservative government, City lawyers believe.
Lehman faces $100bn claims following bankruptcy$
Posted on August 31, 2009London units of Lehman Brothers are among those claiming up to $100 billion ($£67.1 billion) from the defunct bank as its winding-up gathers speed.
Law firms enjoy vintage year despite dip in profits
Posted on August 30, 2009Britain?s biggest law firms suffered a dip in profits for the first time in a decade last year but still enjoyed one of their best years, earning more than £4 billion.
Stanford rushed to hospital with rapid heart beat
Posted on August 27, 2009Allen Stanford, the accused swindler, was rushed to hospital from his prison cell in Texas at 5.50am, Dick DeGuerin, his lawyer, confirmed today.
Law student wins four-year case to have exam marks upgraded
Posted on August 27, 2009A law student who refused to accept the results of her final examinations has won a four-year legal battle to have her marks upgraded.
Policing protests: would mediation help?
Posted on August 26, 2009As the Camp for Climate Action 2009 pitched its tents in Blackheath, south east London, yesterday how will the police react to protesters after the publicity they received over their actions at the G20 demonstrations in London in April?
Retirement: it?s a great idea but will anyone ever afford it?
Posted on August 26, 2009Life expectancy increases by 15 minutes every hour. Fit and healthy 65-year-old men can expect to live to 88 and women longer still. By the time a man now starting his career reaches 65, he might expect to live until almost 100.
The tail of legal aid cuts is wagging the dog of British justice
Posted on August 26, 2009The task of ensuring quality at the Bar has far-reaching effects. The profession is the main training ground for the higher court judges. The recent departure of the law lords for the Supreme Court was an occasion for noting the international admiration for that best of all courts: its quality is and will be inextricably linked to the quality of the young barristers who join the profession...
Co-op steals a march on Tesco in the race for legal customers
Posted on August 26, 2009Forget ?Tesco law? ? the label now ascribed to the Big Bang that will lead to the shake-up of the legal services market in the next two years ? it?s clearly going to be Co-op law.
Class actions: why are we waiting?
Posted on August 26, 2009When is a class action not a class action? When it?s a collective redress scheme or a representative action or basically anything that does not sound like loony American litigation.
Lawyer of the Week: Iain Purvis
Posted on August 26, 2009Iain Purvis, QC, of 11 South Square Chambers, acted for the musician Matthew Fisher, who composed the organ riff in 1967 for A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum.
Tycoon sues his ex-wife after discovering children were not his
Posted on August 26, 2009A devoted father who discovered that two of his three children had been fathered by another man is suing his ex-wife for compensation.
I?m a contestant ? let me out of here I?m off to an employment tribunal
Posted on August 26, 2009As the sixth series of The X Factor gets under way, the spotlight falls on the latest group of hopefuls attempting to win a recording contract. But there can be only one winner and the ordeal suffered by Susan Boyle, a contestant on Britain?s Got Talent, has intensified pressure on programme makers to offer better protection to those who take part.
FSA chairman Lord Turner says City too big
Posted on August 26, 2009Large parts of the City have grown too big and need to be cut down to size, if necessary by imposing new taxes, according to the chairman of the Financial Services Authority.
Can Peter Mandelson cast the internet pirates adrift?
Posted on August 25, 2009Lord Mandelson's proposal that people who illegally download films and music should have their internet connection cut off re-opens a huge, unnecessary row.
Admiral Group warns of rise in fraudulent claims
Posted on August 25, 2009Admiral Group, the FTSE 100 constituent that operates Confused.com, warned today that it had seen a marked increase in fraudulent insurance claims, including by organised gangs, in the wake of the recession.
US businessman Hassan Nemazee arrested for alleged Citigroup fraud
Posted on August 25, 2009A major fundraiser for the Democrats has been charged with trying to defraud Citigroup in a $74 million ($45 million) scam.$
Prison officials reject Madoff cancer claim
Posted on August 24, 2009US authorities have rejected a report that Bernard Madoff, the jailed fraudster, is dying of cancer.
Unmasked blogger Rosemary Port to sue Google for $15m$
Posted on August 24, 2009Google is to be sued for $15 million ($£9 million) by an anonymous blogger who was unmasked by the internet search company.
Error leaves children unprotected under 1984 Video Recordings Act
Posted on August 24, 2009People selling adult videos, including pornography, to children are to escape prosecution after the discovery of a Whitehall blunder that means that the 1984 law regulating the video industry was never enacted.
Senior CPS lawyer, Sarfwaz Ibrahim, arrested on corruption charges
Posted on August 24, 2009A senior Crown Prosecution Service lawyer has been arrested and charged in a corruption investigation.
Human rights watchdog begins legal action over BNP membership policy
Posted on August 24, 2009The British National Party is facing legal action over claims that its membership restrictions are in breach of racial discrimination laws.
Ex-Park Resorts boss alleges GI Partners lied
Posted on August 23, 2009A leading American private equity company will face accusations today that it lied to HBOS, the bank that backed one of its biggest acquisitions in Britain.
Tullett Prebon traders in City bonus row
Posted on August 22, 2009Traders at Tullett Prebon, the City brokerage, are threatening legal action against the firm over unpaid bonuses worth up to £23m.
High court rejects Lehman asset recovery plan
Posted on August 21, 2009Creditors of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed almost a year ago, are facing further delays in recovering their assets after the High Court today refused to sign off administrators' plans for the bank's European arm.
Lehman Brothers? creditors face years of delays in recovering assets
Posted on August 21, 2009Thousands of creditors of Lehman Brothers, the American investment bank that collapsed almost a year ago, face years of delays in recovering their assets after the High Court yesterday refused to sign off administrators? plans for a quick payout.
Bus operators to be probed over high fares
Posted on August 20, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today announced that it is referring the local bus industry to the Competition Commission over concerns that passengers are being charged unfair, high prices.
Loophole may help Danny Fitzsimons to escape the death penalty
Posted on August 20, 2009Lawyers representing Danny Fitzsimons, the British security guard accused of killing two of his colleagues in Baghdad, have discovered a legal loophole that could allow him to stand trial in Britain rather than Iraq, where he faces the death penalty.
Barristers? fees slashed in Government squeeze on legal aid bill
Posted on August 20, 2009Defence barristers face swingeing cuts of up to 25 per cent in their fees under government moves to freeze the £2 billion annual legal aid bill. Payments for some expert witnesses giving their opinions in cases will also fall by up to 20 per cent in an attempt to reduce a £192 million-a-year bill.
Local bus operators face full competition inquiry
Posted on August 20, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has called for a widespread investigation into concerns that the dominance of four companies in local bus services outside London has led to higher prices.
UBS to give up 4,450 client names in tax evasion row
Posted on August 19, 2009UBS, the Swiss bank, will disclose the identities of about 4.450 of its American clients with offshore bank accounts containing as much as $18 billion in its settlement with the US Government over allegations of tax evasion.$
Lawyer of the Week: Michael Rowlands
Posted on August 19, 2009Michael Rowlands, a partner in Cripps Harries Hall, acts for Svetlana Hvorostovsky, the former wife of the opera singer Dmitri Hvorostovsky. She has been awarded a larger share of his future earnings by the Court of Appeal, a total of £195,000 a year from his £1...
'Understand clients, know what they want and find a solution'
Posted on August 19, 2009?The days of the high street sole practitioner are numbered. It?s hard to see that there will be any left in five years? time, other than in rural areas.?
Commoditisation - it's a horrible word but it's the way law firms will be working
Posted on August 19, 2009The return to profitability and (possibly) big bonuses at Barclays and HSBC this month might have raised hopes that the law business, too, can return to the days of its pomp.
Seven arrests in carbon trading inquiry
Posted on August 19, 2009HM Revenue & Customs officers swooped on homes in London and Gravesend yesterday and arrested seven people in connection with a suspected £38 million tax fraud in the carbon emissions trading market.
Headhunter Hogarth cites Nomura phone calls in court claim
Posted on August 19, 2009It is a battle characterised by some in the City as a David and Goliath fight. Hogarth Davies Lloyd, the small head-hunting firm, is taking on Japan?s biggest bank in a dispute over the recruitment of about 600 Lehman Brothers bankers last summer. At stake is up to £90 million in allegedly unpaid fees.
Injured Marine fighting for compensation says Prince Harry backs him
Posted on August 19, 2009A severely injured Royal Marine who says he has the full support of his friend, Prince Harry, took on the Ministry of Defence yesterday in a campaign to win better compensation for his injuries.
Probation Service boss Phil Wheatley wants fewer community sentences
Posted on August 19, 2009Community sentences should be replaced by fines for thousands of offenders, the head of the Probation Service says.
John Cleese finally accepts his marriage has ceased to be and pays £12m to ex-wife
Posted on August 18, 2009The bitter 18-month saga of John Cleese's financial settlement with his former wife appears to have come to an end.
Edinburgh clears way for Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi?s move to Libya
Posted on August 18, 2009The High Court in Edinburgh helped to clear the way for the Lockerbie bomber to return to Libya yesterday when it granted his application to abandon his appeal against conviction.
Headhunters sue Nomura in row over Lehman staff
Posted on August 18, 2009The London division of Nomura is being sued for up to £90 million by a City headhunting firm for allegedly failing to pay fees associated with attracting star talent from Lehman Brothers, the US bank, amid its collapse last year.
Accountants profit as FSA gets tough with banks
Posted on August 18, 2009The Big Four accounting firms stand to reap millions of pounds in fees since the Financial Services Authority (FSA) turned to outside advisers to investigate the management of banks and other financial institutions.
RBS £60bn takeover of ABN under investigation
Posted on August 17, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has begun an investigation into Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) disastrous acquisition of ABN Amro and its subsequent £12 billion rights issue.
Charity sues government over 'rendition' of two men handed by British to US forces
Posted on August 17, 2009A legal charity is suing the Government in connection with the extraordinary rendition of two men arrested in Iraq, passed to the US authorities and held at a detention centre in Afghanistan for the past five years.
Duke of York met Gaddafi and his son on private visits to Libya
Posted on August 17, 2009Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103, will abandon his legal fight formally today to have his guilty verdict overturned amid concern that the Scottish government is preparing to allow him to return to Libya.
Dubai collapse sparks £3bn in legal claims
Posted on August 15, 2009The collapse of Dubai?s once-booming construction industry has created a backlog of legal claims totalling almost £3 billion.
Novartis sues Glaxo Smith Kline over vaccine patent
Posted on August 15, 2009Novartis, the Swiss drugs giant, has launched a legal action against Glaxo Smith Kline claiming that its larger rival is infringing one of its patents.
Baker & McKenzie reveals 3% fall in revenue
Posted on August 14, 2009Baker & McKenzie, the top-six global law firm, today revealed a 3 per cent slump in full-year revenue to $2.11 billion ($£1.28 billion).
Financial crisis and dollar weakness take toll on Baker & McKenzie
Posted on August 14, 2009Partners in the London office of Baker & McKenzie, the top-six global law firm, suffered a 33 per cent fall in their average earnings to £380,000, while the average share of profits of equity partners for the year to June 30 was $992,000 (£597,000), down 17 per cent.
Abercrombie & Fitch told to pay disabled worker Riam Dean £9,000
Posted on August 13, 2009A law student who was prevented from working on the shop floor of a clothing chain because her false arm was contrary to its ?look policy? has been awarded more than £9,000 by an employment tribunal.
?Wriggle-room? for multimillion-pound bonuses in FSA?s new code, say lawyers
Posted on August 13, 2009The City regulator?s new rules on bonuses have created loopholes that banks could exploit to keep star employees on multimillion-pound packages, lawyers have warned.
Taxman seeks assets as cash feud splits Italy?s Agnelli family
Posted on August 13, 2009Italian summer gossip switched from the sex life of Silvio Berlusconi to the troubles of Italy?s wealthiest and most powerful dynasty yesterday after allegations that ?2 billion of the inheritance left by Gianni Agnelli, the former chairman of Fiat, had been hidden in Switzerland and not declared.
Rio Tinto arrests send jitters through foreign groups operating in China
Posted on August 13, 2009The arrest of the four Rio Tinto executives in China on allegations of bribery and industrial espionage has heightened fears among foreign companies operating in the country.
UBS set to disclose US clients in tax evasion case
Posted on August 12, 2009UBS, the Swiss bank, is expected to disclose the identities of thousands of its American clients with offshore accounts after agreeing a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over allegations of tax evasion.
Summer Quiz: our entertaining test of memory
Posted on August 12, 20091. Judges have sometimes begun judgments with notable phrases. Which of these are genuine opening words?
Lawyer of the Week: Des Collins
Posted on August 12, 2009Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, Watford, acts for 18 families in Corby in the first case of its kind on birth defects since the thalidomide case in the Sixties. The High Court ruled that Corby Borough Council?s reclamation of a former steelworks was capable of leading to some or all of the birth defects displayed in 16 of the 18 children...
Can you buy an acre of the Moon?
Posted on August 12, 2009If an American astronaut assaulted a Russian in the Japanese section of the International Space Station, under whose criminal law would he be prosecuted? Could anyone stop a company launching into outer space an advertisement that would be visible to large parts of the world? What about our right to privacy from satellites that can focus to within a few metres of the ground? And what nationality would a child born on the Moon have?
Extradited for 'stealing' a mobile phone
Posted on August 12, 2009Ervin Juresa does not seem like a man on Europol?s most-wanted list. He is mild-mannered, well dressed and articulate ? less international master criminal, more suburban accountant.
Briton facing Iraq murder trial on probation for gun offence
Posted on August 12, 2009The guard facing trial for murder in Iraq flew to Baghdad last week despite being under probation supervision in Britain after being convicted of robbery and firearms offences.
Taxman wins right to see details of 500,000 offshore bank accounts
Posted on August 12, 2009The names and bank details of up to 500,000 wealthy Britons holding money in offshore saving accounts will be passed to HM Revenue and Customs after the tax authority won an important court ruling yesterday.
Government to publish report into MG Rover collapse
Posted on August 11, 2009The Government will finally publish a report into the collapse of MG Rover after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said that it would not begin a criminal investigation into the sale of the carmaker.
SFO rejects criminal probe into MG Rover sale
Posted on August 11, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said this morning that it does not intend to begin a criminal investigation into the sale of the MG Rover, the carmaker.
UK strikes deal to end Liechtenstein tax havens
Posted on August 11, 2009The UK Government struck a deal today with Liechtenstein, the tiny Alpine principality, to effectively end secrecy for Britons who hold accounts in the tax haven.
Hedge funds shut out as banks win IMO
Posted on August 11, 2009A group of banks that financed the £450 million leveraged buy-out (LBO) of car wash group IMO will take control of the struggling business leaving a rival group of hedge fund investors with nothing.
Bernard Madoff finance chief pleads guilty to conspiracy
Posted on August 11, 2009The former chief financial officer for Bernard Madoff has pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
Rio Tinto China executives charged with bribery
Posted on August 11, 2009A Rio Tinto executive faces seven years in a Chinese prison after prosecutors formally charged him today with bribery and violating commercial secrets.
City regulator backpedals over bonuses
Posted on August 11, 2009Ask the Boss: Send a question to FSA chief Hector Sants
Court threat to offshore accounts as taxman does deal with Liechtenstein
Posted on August 11, 2009Some of the richest people in the UK will find out today if the taxman will be allowed access to details of their secret offshore accounts.
Phoenix Four under fire in MG Rover report
Posted on August 11, 2009A long-awaited report on the demise of MG Rover will raise questions over the right of the so-called Phoenix Four to be company directors, Lord Mandelson said yesterday.
Baby P's father says he will sue 'negligent' Haringey Council
Posted on August 11, 2009The father of Baby Peter is preparing to sue Haringey Council for failing to protect his son.
Senior Treasury official joins OFT reshuffle
Posted on August 10, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today announced five senior appointments, including that of one of the architects of the Government's bailout of the banking sector, as part of a reshuffle at the consumer watchdog.
SFO to decide on MG Rover inquiry tomorrow
Posted on August 10, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will reveal tomorrow whether it will launch a criminal investigation into the collapse of MG Rover after a four-year inquiry by Department for Business inspectors.
Judge rejects Bank of America-SEC Settlement
Posted on August 10, 2009A federal court judge poured scorn on the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) $33 million settlement with Bank of America over charges that the bank misled shareholders over a multi-billion dollar bonus payment.$
Pressure on Rio Tinto as espionage claims intensify in China
Posted on August 10, 2009City investors were further unsettled yesterday by the increasingly shrill accusations of espionage being made against Rio Tinto, the world?s second-largest mining group.
Sharon Shoesmith?s legal challenge fast-tracked by High Court
Posted on August 10, 2009The High Court is to fast-track Sharon Shoesmith?s legal challenge against the Education Secretary?s role in her dismissal from Haringey Council without compensation.
One-stop courts to help women confront abuse
Posted on August 08, 2009ONE-STOP courts to help victims of domestic violence win legal redress are to be established across the country to encourage battered women to come forward and identify their abusers.
Revealed: Britain's most lenient judge
Posted on August 08, 2009A CIRCUIT judge who sits at Birmingham crown court has had 10 of her sentences increased on appeal, placing her top of a list of judges whose decisions have been overturned for excessive leniency.
Spinvox in probe over financial mismanagement
Posted on August 08, 2009THE troubled technology firm Spinvox has launched an inquiry into the activities of some senior executives after a dossier alleging financial mismanagement was circulated to shareholders.
Deutsche spied on me like the Stasi, says lawyer
Posted on August 08, 2009Germany?s biggest bank has been accused of mounting a Stasi-style entrapment operation against a prominent shareholder regarded as a troublemaker.
Bernard Madoff aide Frank DiPascali is to plead guilty
Posted on August 08, 2009BERNARD MADOFF?s right-hand man will plead guilty this week to criminal charges linked to his role in the $65 billion (£40 billion) Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the convicted fraudster.
OFT refers Sports Direct over JJB Sports stores
Posted on August 07, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the consumer watchdog, has referred Sports Direct to the Competition Commission after the retailer failed to find a buyer for stores it had acquired from JJB Sports, its biggest rival.
Linklaters sued by former employee
Posted on August 07, 2009Linklaters, the City?s biggest law firm, admitted today that it is facing legal action by a former employee over a redundancy programme that resulted in around 200 staff in London losing their jobs.
Police to ignore European Court of Human Rights ruling on stored DNA
Posted on August 07, 2009Chief constables have been told to ignore a landmark European Court ruling and continue storing the DNA samples of innocent people.
Judge queries SEC deal with Bank of America
Posted on August 06, 2009A New York judge has refused to sign of a $33 million settlement between the top US securities regulator and Bank of America over the bank's controversial $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch.$
Ex-AIG boss pays $15m to settle SEC inquiry$
Posted on August 06, 2009Hank Greenberg has paid $15 million to settle a long-running investigation into an accounting scandal at American International Group (AIG), the insurer he turned into a financial giant only to watch it decimated by the credit crunch.$
Tenants to gain safeguards from landlords
Posted on August 05, 2009Tenants in properties let by financially unstable landlords could be given greater protection if their homes are repossessed under proposals published today.
Law Panel live: cracking down on corruption
Posted on August 05, 2009On Thursday August 6 at 1pm we will be holding the first of a series of live discussions featuring members of The Times Law Panel.
Minister admits: rape review plans back to drawing board
Posted on August 05, 2009A Home Office minister today admitted plans to review rape laws had gone back to the drawing board after an intervention by Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman.
Book in for some good summer reading
Posted on August 05, 2009The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law by Albie Sachs
Corby 'toxic soup' case: why it's a long way from being over
Posted on August 05, 2009The satisfaction of the Corby families last week about the High Court ruling over the link between the reclamation work of a former British Steel plant between 1985 and 1999 and the disabilities suffered by their children might have suggested that the compensation cheques had already being written.
Lawyer of the Week: Ronald Thwaites
Posted on August 05, 2009Ronald Thwaites, QC, of Ely Place Chambers, successfully defended a libel action by Richard Desmond, the press baron, against Tom Bower, the journalist and author, backed by publisher HarperCollins. The case was said to have hinged on successfully gaining the right to play the tape of a telephone conversation between Desmond and another person ? generally, no case is won on a single piece of evidence.
Trainee barristers are being offered annual salary on a par with MPs
Posted on August 05, 2009Aspiring lawyers are now being offered as much as £60,000 a year, almost the same as an MP?s salary, before they even qualify.
Environment Agency cracks down on organised crime in waste industry
Posted on August 05, 2009Guns, ammunition, stashes of cash and luxury cars are being seized as environment authorities try to stop organised criminals muscling in on Britain?s £9 billion waste industry, The Times can reveal.
Judge Ian Trigger faces investigation over immigration speech
Posted on August 04, 2009A senior judge who described Britain?s immigration system as ?completely lax? is to face an investigation. Judge Ian Trigger said last week that ?hundreds and hundreds of thousands? of illegal immigrants were abusing the benefits system.
Harriet Harman digs in her heels to demand tougher rape law
Posted on August 04, 2009Harriet Harman has vetoed a review of the rape laws at the eleventh hour, complaining that the proposals fail to address the concerns of women.
Juries return to Japanese justice in Katsuyoshi Fujii trial
Posted on August 03, 2009A petty squabble between two elderly neighbours that escalated into a brutal, deadly stabbing attack became the centrepiece of the most radical shake-up of Japanese justice since the Second World War.
SFO adopts aggressive approach on banking fraud
Posted on August 03, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a series of investigations into UK-based banks to establish whether they fraudulently mis-sold complex financial products in the run-up to the global banking crisis.
Criminal trials from 18th and 19th centuries go online for first time
Posted on August 02, 2009On March 2, 1882, Roderick Maclean brandished a pistol outside Windsor railway station and attempted to shoot Queen Victoria.
Tracking law Q and As
Posted on August 01, 2009Do tracking devices such as these come under privacy laws?
Assisted suicide: Whose life is it anyway?
Posted on August 01, 2009Debbie Purdy was ?ecstatic?. It was a strange reaction to the news that it had suddenly become easier to be killed in Zurich. But the real reason for her elation was that the news also meant it might soon become easier to be killed in Britain.
Hacker Gary McKinnon fights on as extradition appeal rejected
Posted on July 31, 2009Computer hacker Gary McKinnon will appeal to the newly formed Supreme Court after he today lost his latest High Court bid to avoid extradition to America.
Assisted suicide guide prepared by Director of Public Prosecutions
Posted on July 31, 2009The Director of Public Prosecutions started work yesterday on the guidelines for assisted suicide cases as calls came for a change in the law.
Former GP Michael Irwin questioned by police over Dignitas death
Posted on July 31, 2009A former GP known as Doctor Death was questioned by police this morning after admitting that he helped a terminally ill man pay for assisted suicide.
US Government settles tax secrecy with UBS
Posted on July 31, 2009The US Government has agreed to settle its case with UBS over claims that the Swiss bank helped up to 52,000 rich Americans evade tax on money held in secret bank accounts.
Judge orders Tchenguiz brothers to return files
Posted on July 31, 2009The billionaire Tchenguiz brothers have been ordered by a judge to return confidential documents seized from their brother-in-law in a feud over their sister Lisa?s divorce.
High Court revokes order on suspected terrorist after law lords' ruling
Posted on July 31, 2009A control order on a terrorism suspect was revoked by the High Court yesterday, the first to be overturned after a landmark ruling by the House of Lords.
Oleg Deripaska loses his battle to transfer lawsuit from London to Russia
Posted on July 31, 2009An appeal by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire, to have a £2.4 billion lawsuit against him transferred from London to Russia was rejected yesterday.
Disinherited family win High Court battle for thousands
Posted on July 31, 2009The family of a wealthy philanthropist have won a High Court battle to reclaim their inheritance after she left her estate to a man she might never have known.
Enron boss seeks early release in court appeal
Posted on July 30, 2009The former chief executive of Enron may see his 24-year sentence for fraud cut by ten years today after his case was re-examined by an appeal court.
Enron boss may see jail time cut in resentencing
Posted on July 30, 2009The former chief executive of Enron may see his 24-year sentence for fraud cut by ten years today after his case was re-examined by an appeal court.
Auditors cleared in landmark negligence case
Posted on July 30, 2009Auditors preparing for a surge in legal action arising from the financial crisis received a boost today after Britain?s highest court threw out a multimillion-pound negligence case against Moore Stephens, a City accounting firm.
'Right to die' campaigner Debbie Purdy wins House of Lords ruling
Posted on July 30, 2009Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, won a landmark victory in the House of Lords today in her fight to allow her husband to help her commit suicide.
Earl of Sandwich bites takeaway owner over use of name
Posted on July 30, 2009When in 1762 the Fourth Earl of Sandwich ordered his butler to bring him a piece of meat tucked between two pieces of bread to sustain him at the gaming tables, he invented the world?s most famous snack. That, at least, is the claim, and the sandwich has borne his name ever since.
Fund manager Hermitage Capital hopes US court action will link Russian bank to fraud
Posted on July 30, 2009Hermitage Capital, a London fund manager, has started legal proceedings in the US that will seek to connect Renaissance Group, a leading Moscow investment bank, to alleged fraud and money laundering involving the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Russian Treasury.
Matthew Fisher wins 40 per cent of royalties to A Whiter Shade of Pale
Posted on July 30, 2009The composer behind the iconic organ introduction to Procol Harum?s A Whiter Shade of Pale won the right to a share of the song?s royalties yesterday, after a four-year court battle.
Historic last words that bring years of uncertainty and fear to an end
Posted on July 30, 2009Seven years of fear, stress and disappointment dissolved into relief and jubilation today as Debbie Purdy heard Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers utter the words: ?Here endeth our final judgments.?
Local council found liable over birth defects
Posted on July 29, 2009A group of young people who blame their disabilities on their mothers? exposure to toxic materials can seek compensation from the local council after winning a crucial first legal ruling today.
Farewell to the law lords
Posted on July 29, 2009Today the law lords sit to give judgment for the last time in the House of Lords and, as Lord Hope of Craighead said there last week, the upper chamber will be ?losing part of itself?. From October the law lords will become Justices of the Supreme Court, created under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005...
Victims pleased over legal ruling in Corby 'toxic soup' case
Posted on July 29, 2009As the other children hopped around the nursery, Dylan South watched from the sidelines because his deformed right leg made such movement impossible.
How virtual lawyers are weathering the recession
Posted on July 29, 2009Some do it for childcare. Others do it to pursue non-legal interests such as oil painting. One even combines it with presenting the weather on Sky News. But all represent a growing trend of solicitors embracing the freelance life.
Suicide law campaigner Debbie Purdy hopes for crucial law lords ruling
Posted on July 29, 2009Debbie Purdy is expected to secure the backing of the highest court in the land today with an historic final ruling on her plea for clarity in the law on assisted suicide.
A high-flier no one envied
Posted on July 29, 2009When my friends and I were working 14 hours a day and complaining about our lack of social life, we?d find solace in the life of a university friend who was a high-flying lawyer.
The stress of being a female lawyer
Posted on July 29, 2009Like others within the legal profession I was very sad to have read the tragic story of Catherine Bailey, a partner at a leading City law firm about whom an inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. Having practised as a divorce lawyer for 30 years I have seen many changes within the legal profession, with increasing pressure put on women, and I have suffered from it at times throughout my career ? much more than my friends in other professions.
Law lords pass into history with move to the UK's new supreme court
Posted on July 29, 2009The crates are stacked, the law books labelled. All that remains before the law lords pack up their personal effects is to hear the final few short cases and to give their last judgments.
Northern Rock investors lose compensation appeal
Posted on July 28, 2009Former shareholders in Northern Rock, the state-owned bank, today lost their second legal challenge over the Government?s compensation scheme.
Successful lawyer Catherine Bailey drowned herself
Posted on July 28, 2009A successful City lawyer who was struggling to balance the demands of her job and motherhood told her husband to look after their children and then drowned herself.
MoD under fire for trying to cut compensation to injured soldiers
Posted on July 28, 2009The mother of a young British soldier who lost both his legs while serving in Afghanistan attacked the Ministry of Defence today for appealing against compensation awarded to two injured soldiers.
Bar Council says Crown Prosecution Service wasting millions with in-house prosecutions
Posted on July 27, 2009A row has broken out over the Crown Prosecution Service?s "profoundly flawed" policy of using its own in-house prosecutors for serious trials.
Business claims fuel surge in libel actions
Posted on July 27, 2009Libel actions have soared in recent months as companies increasingly resort to the courts to defend their reputations, according to a new figures published today.
US-style community justice courts fail to reduce reoffending rates
Posted on July 27, 2009A radical US-style court initiative in which judges monitor each criminal?s progress after sentencing has failed to cut reoffending rates. The results are a blow to supporters of specialist community justice courts who had hoped for better results in preventing criminals returning to a life of crime.
Judge defends US-style initiative as integral part of the community
Posted on July 27, 2009The man who is the public face of the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre insists that the ?bald? reconviction figures do not tell the full story of the pioneering work of his court.
Dinghy sailors and canoeists to be subject to shipping laws
Posted on July 26, 2009Canoes, surfboards and dinghies are to be given the same legal status as cruise liners and oil tankers in a clampdown on reckless behaviour at sea.
British trader seeks $100m pay from Citi$
Posted on July 25, 2009THE British-born trader Andrew Hall is pressing Citigroup to honour a $100m ($£61m) pay package that could spark a showdown between the banking giant and America?s new pay czar.
New Jersey, old sleaze
Posted on July 25, 2009TONY SOPRANO and friends did for New Jersey what the Kray twins did for London?s East End. Who would visit the Blind Beggar if the Krays hadn?t killed there first? Now busloads of tourists visit the unprepossessing Pizzaland and Muffler Man from the programme?s opening credits, perhaps in the hope that some of Tony?s animal magic will rub off on them.
Damages in Emlick's libel case could top £1m
Posted on July 25, 2009AN EDINBURGH property developer has been awarded more than £1m in damages and costs against a Dubai newspaper after it wrongly said that he had deceived Middle East investors.
Civilian engineer loses claim against MoD over blast injuries in Iraq
Posted on July 24, 2009A civilian engineer wounded in a bomb blast in Iraq lost a claim for damages against the Ministry of Defence and a private consultancy today. The ruling is a potential blow for other people hoping to sue for injuries sustained in a war zone.
OFT increases pressure over milk price-fixing
Posted on July 23, 2009The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has renewed its attack on two leading retailers, Tesco and Wm Morrison, over alleged price-fixing in milk and other dairy products. The two supermarket groups continue to deny any wrong-doing.
Lord Neuberger named Master of the Rolls
Posted on July 23, 2009The youngest of the law lords is to be the next head of England and Wales? civil justice system, Downing Street announced today.
Police inquiry into MPs? expenses to be quick and focused, says DPP
Posted on July 23, 2009The investigation by police into MPs? expenses will be swift and focused on a few key cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions said yesterday.
Lehman analyst told to suppress negative research, Tribunal hears
Posted on July 22, 2009A former analyst at Lehman Brothers was pressurised into burying a piece of negative research relating to a company the bank was attempting to float on the stockmarket, an Employment Tribunal heard today.
The Times Law100 2009
Posted on July 22, 2009Scorned and ridiculed they may be ? but lists of the top 100 in any profession are still compulsive reading. This is the second year of the Times Law 100 ? our pick of the most powerful and influential in the law today.
Charity: can it begin at school?
Posted on July 22, 2009Is the Labour Government using the Charity Commission to do its dirty work for it by dispatching a poison-tipped arrow towards the independent schools? Achilles' heel ? their charitable status?
Lawyer of the Week: Rachel Atkins
Posted on July 22, 2009Rachel Atkins, a partner at Schillings, the London firm, acts for the celebrity father who, supported by the mother, successfully challenged the media?s right of access under rules designed to open up the family courts to public scrutiny.
FSA fines HSBC units £3m for ?careless? handling of confidential data
Posted on July 22, 2009HSBC, Europe?s biggest bank, has been fined more than £3 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for the ?careless? handling of confidential details of tens of thousands of its customers.
Legal aid auctions on hold after new delay
Posted on July 21, 2009Plans for ?reverse? auctions of legal aid contracts to best value bidders looked in doubt last night after ministers announced delay of three years.
Deutsche Bank under investigation for 'spying'
Posted on July 21, 2009German prosecutors are investigating Deutsche Bank after allegations that the lender spied on a small group of managers and a critical shareholder.
SFO unveils plans for US-style negotiations
Posted on July 21, 2009The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has for the first time formalised its approach towards businesses that come forward with bribery and corruption issues in return for leniency.
Equitable Life policyholders head to court
Posted on July 20, 2009Equitable Life policyholders take their claim for compensation to the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday in a bid to overturn a Government ruling that gives them a fraction of what they say is a fair entitlement.
Scholar denies that Islamic divorce procedure is biased against women
Posted on July 20, 2009Opponents of Sharia have long complained that it involves an inherent bias against women and treats them as second-rate citizens.
Change would help to expose unjust rulings
Posted on July 20, 2009The move towards creating Britain?s first formal network of Sharia courts is a logical next step after the encouragement given to Islamic tribunals by leading legal and church leaders.
Regional law firms take severe steps to cut costs
Posted on July 20, 2009Britain?s leading regional law firms, suffering even more severely from the downturn in the legal services market than their London rivals, are imposing drastic cost-cutting measures in an attempt to stave off further job losses.
More non-Muslims turning to Sharia courts to resolve civil disputes
Posted on July 20, 2009Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt.
Sharia penal codes would benefit Britain says Muslim Sheikh Suhaib Hasan
Posted on July 20, 2009Hardline Islamic penal codes, such as the amputation of limbs as punishment for theft, would make Britain a safer and better place, the founder of the country?s oldest sharia court has told The Times.
Complex cases surge
Posted on July 19, 2009A surge in the complexity and the number of investment scams pushed the value of UK fraud prosecutions to a record level in the first half of 2009. Seventeen fraudulent investment schemes, amounting to £321 million in all, were prosecuted in UK courts between January and June.
Even as police investigate £80m Ponzi scheme, some 'victims' can't believe it
Posted on July 19, 2009Fraud squad detectives have embarked upon a unique attempt to break the stranglehold that a group of suspected fraudsters holds over hundreds of investors.
Lawyers will launch £50m ?litigation fund?
Posted on July 18, 2009THREE lawyers are planning the flotation of a £50m fund that will make money by financing legal disputes and sharing in any damages awarded.
Lawyer banks on record damages as panel upholds her harassment claim
Posted on July 17, 2009A former City lawyer was hoping for record damages after a tribunal yesterday upheld a ruling that she suffered sexual discrimination and harassment.
UK banks face clampdown on risk and bonuses
Posted on July 16, 2009Sir David Walker, a City grandee and former banker, will this morning unveil radical proposals to boost the importance of risk committees and will call for far stricter rules on bonuses.
Jack Straw?s plan to curb nuisance claims by prisioners ?a sham?
Posted on July 16, 2009Plans to curb nuisance claims by prisoners funded by legal aid, announced by Jack Straw, will have only a ?negligible? effect, according to documents leaked from his own ministry.
Legal aid cuts: How you could be acquitted and still face huge bill for costs
Posted on July 16, 2009Plans to reform the legal aid system and cut almost £200 million from its budget have brought warnings of a two-tier justice system: one for the rich and another for the poor.
Cost ceiling means defendants who win their cases may face a big bill
Posted on July 16, 2009Defendants who pay for their own defence face being the victims of miscarriages of justice under proposals to cap the costs that they can recoup after being acquitted, lawyers warn.
Justice Committee criticises plans for £12m cuts in family legal aid
Posted on July 16, 2009Proposals to cut £12 million in legal aid spent on families and children have been castigated by MPs, days after a senior family judge warned of their ?chilling effect?.
Innocent people ?won?t go through with cases? if reforms are approved
Posted on July 16, 2009Case study 1: Sam Hellen, the London cabbie
Former Sinopec chief sentenced to death
Posted on July 15, 2009The former chairman of Sinopec, the oil refiner that is one of China?s largest companies, was sentenced to death earlier today, becoming the latest victim of a Government drive to stamp out corruption.
Legal aid for prisoners to be capped as Jack Straw criticises lawyers
Posted on July 15, 2009Curbs are to be imposed on legal aid for prisoners amid predictions that the annual bill will more than double within two years to £45 million.
Lord Chief Justice warns of dangers over MPs' expenses body
Posted on July 15, 2009Britain?s most senior judge gave warning last night that plans for an independent body to oversee MPs? expenses risked a ?dangerous? conflict between judges and Parliament.
Supreme Court shows its colours
Posted on July 15, 2009The United Kingdom?s new Supreme Court will open its doors for business on October 1, with the first inbuilt facilities in Britain for broadcasting in court.
The reel treats you?re not allowed to see
Posted on July 15, 2009Thousands of hours of vintage film footage lies fallow in vaults across the UK, legally prohibited from being shown to the public because of arcane copyright rules.
'Brand' awareness in the divorce courts
Posted on July 15, 2009Never mind the money or the children, when it comes to a celebrity divorce there?s another battleground which can be every bit as fraught: public relations. If a couple depends on the media, separation starts the quest to emerge not merely with spoils divided but also with each person?s brand as unscathed as possible.
The Times defends libel case over alleged police link to security firm
Posted on July 15, 2009Scotland Yard tried to cover up its failure properly to investigate allegations that a British security company with wealthy Russian clients paid a policeman for sensitive information, the High Court was told yesterday.
Lawyer of the week: Helen Jackson
Posted on July 15, 2009Helen Jackson, a solicitor at Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity, acted for Ms Sharon Moran, a mother of two, in a landmark House of Lords decision against Manchester City Council. It ruled that women staying in temporary refuges after fleeing domestic violence should be considered homeless and must be given urgent help by local authorities to find a permanent home.
Sir Mark Potter rules on media and celebrity cases in family courts
Posted on July 15, 2009Cases in the family courts involving celebrities? children should be treated in the same way as those involving anyone else?s children, the senior family courts judge said yesterday.
Pension fund sues ratings agencies over $1bn losses$
Posted on July 15, 2009America?s biggest pension fund is suing the three largest ratings agencies after losing as much as $1 billion (£609 million) of Californian workers? retirement money on investments in high-risk securities.
China widens Rio spy probe to local traders
Posted on July 14, 2009Executives from five Chinese steel companies are being investigated as part of a widening probe into the alleged theft of state secrets that led to the arrest of a senior executive at Rio Tinto.
'Hardnosed' SFO to tap phones of suspected fraudsters
Posted on July 14, 2009Suspected fraudsters are to face covert surveillance and telephone tapping in a new ?hardnosed? drive by the Serious Fraud Office to nip frauds in the bud, its director has told The Times.
Charles Taylor denounces war crimes trial as 'deception, deceit and lies'
Posted on July 14, 2009?Lies! Lies! And more lies!? Charles Taylor, the first African leader to be put in the dock for war crimes, roared his innocence yesterday in a bravura performance.
Iraqi interpreters employed by British to sue over lack of protection
Posted on July 14, 2009About 25 Iraqis, mainly interpreters, employed by British Forces in Iraq are to take legal action against the Government for allegedly failing to protect them from militias that regarded the men as traitors.
Tension rises as Chinese question local steel traders in Rio Tinto 'sypying' case
Posted on July 14, 2009Tension between China and Australia escalated yesterday as the Chinese State Security Bureau stepped up its investigation into alleged spying by Rio Tinto staff when it questioned executives at leading Chinese steel mills.
BA staff in court on price fixing allegations
Posted on July 13, 2009Three former executives of British Airways (BA) and the airlines current sales and marketing director today denied allegations of fixing the price of fuel surcharges.
Father who found son dead in caravan park pond must repay £25,000
Posted on July 13, 2009A father who was left traumatised after discovering the lifeless body of his two-year-old son in a pond at a holiday park has been ordered to repay £25,000 compensation awarded against the site?s owners.
Virgin Atlantic chief Steve Ridgway admits he knew of conspiracy with BA to fix prices
Posted on July 13, 2009Steve Ridgway, the chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, admitted yesterday that he had been aware that his airline had conspired to fix prices with its rival British Airways.
Judge delays trial in UBS tax secrecy case
Posted on July 13, 2009A Miami judge approved the delay in the US tax authority?s case against UBS to allow a possible out of court settlement that could result in America making do with a fraction of the information it had demanded from the Swiss bank.
Organised crime groups one step ahead of police, Home Office admits
Posted on July 13, 2009The scale of organised crime in Britain is so great that it outstrips the capacity of the criminal justice system to cope with it, a government report has revealed.
Abuse video shown at public inquiry into British Army interrogation of Iraqis
Posted on July 13, 2009Screaming obscenities, a British soldier hauls the hooded Iraqi detainee off the floor and forces him to lean, legs bent, against a wall as other captives, sacks over their heads and wrists bound with tape, groan in discomfort.
Solicitor Leslie Seldon's retirement age challenge at appeal court
Posted on July 12, 2009A solicitor who was forced to leave his job at the age of 65 will bring a test appeal today in the first challenge over compulsory retirement to reach the Court of Appeal.
Moriarty lawyer buys chocs on expenses
Posted on July 11, 2009A lawyer who has earned more than ?5.8m from the Moriarty tribunal successfully claimed expenses for two chocolates costing ?6.25 each while visiting Belgium in 2002 on official business.
Foxtons loses legal battle over landlord fees
Posted on July 10, 2009Foxtons, the estate agency, today lost a High Court case when a judge ruled that some of the terms and conditions it imposes on landlords are unclear and unfair.
Rio workers face jail as China gathers evidence
Posted on July 10, 2009Four Rio Tinto workers detained in China over espionage and bribery claims are facing nearly a year and a half in jail while authorities gather evidence against them.
China accuses detained Rio workers of bribery
Posted on July 10, 2009Rio Tinto today expressed "surprise" at claims made by China's state media that four of the Anglo Australian mining giant's employees bribed local workers during annual iron ore supply contract talks.
British company pleads guilty to corruption
Posted on July 10, 2009A leading UK bridge-building company appeared in court today to say it will plead guilty to charges of overseas corruption and breaching United Nations sanctions.
Soldier's mother wins court fight over Snatch Land Rovers
Posted on July 10, 2009The mother of a soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has won the first round of a legal battle for an investigation into the use of the lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers.
Buy-to-let landlords can claim millions as Foxtons loses commissions case
Posted on July 10, 2009Thousands of buy-to-let landlords could be in line to claim millions back from estate agents as a result of a landmark High Court ruling yesterday against Foxtons.
British company to plead guilty in first corruption prosecution
Posted on July 09, 2009A British company will appear before magistrates tomorrow in the first Serious Fraud Office prosecution over overseas corruption.
Partners? profits down by tenth at Allen & Overy law firm
Posted on July 09, 2009A dramatic shake-up in Allen & Overy led to partners? profits falling by almost 10 per cent last year, Britain?s fourth-largest law firm discloses today.
Judges to work overtime as cuts and delays put justice at risk
Posted on July 09, 2009Courts face having to sit for an extra two hours a day as they struggle with rising workloads coupled with an unprecedented drive to cut costs.
Magistrates angry over cuts as on-the-spot fines replace court hearings
Posted on July 09, 2009Magistrates are angry that they are being made to carry the brunt of cuts because their workload is being diverted away from the courts.
Jack Straw to close legal loophole used by fugitive war criminals
Posted on July 08, 2009Suspects in the Rwandan and Yugoslavian genocides could be tried in British courts under proposals announced by Jack Straw yesterday to stop Britain becoming a ?safe haven? for war criminals.
Rio Tinto executives arrested in China
Posted on July 08, 2009Rio Tinto's iron ore sales team has been arrested in Shanghai, threatening a diplomatic rift between Australia and China.
China arrests Rio Tinto executive for 'spying'
Posted on July 08, 2009A Rio Tinto executive detained by Chinese authorities has been accused of spying and stealing state secrets.
Shadow minister calls for power to be given back to the people
Posted on July 08, 2009Within a few months of taking office, Gordon Brown declared that ?the character of our country will be defined by how we write the next chapter of British liberty?.
East Coast debacle puts rail franchise rules in spotlight
Posted on July 08, 2009We were back last week in that parallel universe whose jurisdiction is the ?court of public opinion?. A steady chorus demanded that National Express should be stripped of its two other rail franchises, East Anglia and c2c, in the event that it decided to walk away from the East Coast Main Line route despite having paid the due penalty.
End muddle over stem-cell patents or US will race ahead
Posted on July 08, 2009The news that synthetic human sperm have been grown from embryonic stem cells for the first time raises the prospect of a breakthrough in male infertility treatment, but also highlights the legal and ethical hurdles that will need to be overcome before the full potential of stem-cell research will be realised.
Joint enterprise law means even bystanders can get life
Posted on July 08, 2009Even bystanders can find themselves convicted of murder under a legal doctrine known as ?joint enterprise?. The centuries-old principle enables gang members to be prosecuted for a murder even when there is no evidence as to who inflicted the fatal blow.
Straw promises another increase in media scrutiny of family courts
Posted on July 08, 2009Thousands of cases in the family courts will be exposed to increased public scrutiny under reforms to be announced today by Jack Straw.
Lawyer of the week: Ayesha Vardag
Posted on July 08, 2009Ayesha Vardag, the founder of Ayesha Vardag Solicitors, acts for Katrin Radmacher, the German heiress who has won a landmark Court of Appeal case, where the judges ruled that prenuptial agreements should be taken into account by the courts in England and Wales when dividing assets in a divorce.
Jack Straw sticks to promises on family courts reporting reforms
Posted on July 08, 2009Jack Straw is sticking to his guns and doing what he promised The Times he would, in response to our campaign to open up the family courts.
Tribunals Service creaks as claims soar by 50 per cent
Posted on July 07, 2009The credit crunch has prompted a massive surge in claims lodged by employees against their bosses as people face redundancy or problems at work over contracts or working hours.
Jury discharged in Richard Desmond libel case
Posted on July 07, 2009A jury hearing a libel action brought by Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express, against the author of a biography of Conrad Black was discharged today after "fundamental" evidence emerged.
Yorkshire lawyer Nigel Knowles took on the world and won
Posted on July 07, 2009In 1988 Nigel Knowles was a lawyer working for Broomheads & Neals, a small Sheffield-based firm, when it merged with a Leeds-based practice, Dibb Lupton. In little more than two decades since, he has helped to turn the business ? DLA Piper ? into the world?s biggest law firm by revenue.
Amendment to relax law on assisted dying is thrown out by peers
Posted on July 07, 2009A move to relax the law on assisted dying was thrown out by the Lords on Tuesday night.
Mandelson presses SFO to probe MG Rover collapse
Posted on July 06, 2009Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has asked the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate the collapse of MG Rover, the Midlands carmaker, four years ago.
Jack Straw to close legal loophole used by fugitive war criminals
Posted on July 06, 2009Ministers will move today to close a loophole that enables war criminals to use Britain as a haven from justice.
For better, for worse. In pre-nup and in wealth
Posted on July 04, 2009?This is an important victory for love,? says Katrin Radmacher, the beautiful German heiress who last week made legal history when her pre-nuptial agreement was recognised at the Court of Appeal in London.
Linklaters trounces rivals as UK's biggest firm
Posted on July 03, 2009Linklaters today revealed a rise in full-year revenue, edging past rivals Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to become Britain's highest-grossing law firm.
Double jeopardy killer Mario Celaire gets minimum of 23 years jail
Posted on July 03, 2009A footballer who killed his former girlfriend was given two life sentences today after becoming the first person in Britain to be convicted of a crime for which he had been previously found not guilty by a jury.
Evidence 'not enough' as terror suspect scores win
Posted on July 03, 2009A terror suspect must be brought back to London from ?internal exile? in the Midlands despite convincing secret evidence that he intended to take part in terrorist-related activity, the High Court ruled today.
Express proprietor, Richard Desmond, in libel action against journalist
Posted on July 03, 2009Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily and Sunday Express,will become the first newspaper proprietor to take the stand in the High Court since Robert Maxwell, when he launches his libel action against the investigative journalist Tom Bower on Monday.
Downturn yields rich pickings for Linklaters
Posted on July 03, 2009Linklaters revealed record full-year revenue of £1.29 billion on Friday, edging past Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as Britain?s highest-grossing law firm. However, pre-tax profit fell by 9 per cent to £513.6 million as Linklaters absorbed millions in restructuring costs.
Heiress wins battle to uphold pre-nuptial contract
Posted on July 02, 2009A wealthy German heiress worth £100 million today won a Court of Appeal case that will leave her former husband, now an impoverished student, with only maintenance money for his daughters.
US marshals begin seizure of Bernard Madoff penthouse
Posted on July 02, 2009US marshals began the seizure of the luxury $7 million Manhattan penthouse belonging to fraudster Bernard Madoff and his wife. It was in this apartment that Madoff was held under house arrest before his eventual imprisonment and sentencing to 150 years in prison for a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme...
Analysis: no longer the divorce capital of the world
Posted on July 02, 2009Pre-nuptial contracts have won the clear backing of the English courts after years of suspicion and even hostility.
Freshfields defies market to post 9% jump in revenue
Posted on July 02, 2009Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the City's oldest law firms, today revealed a 9 per cent increase in full-year revenue to £1.29 billion despite the turmoil in the legal services market.
Family courts in crisis, says Sir Mark Potter
Posted on July 02, 2009Britain?s most senior family judge called last night for urgent action over a crisis in the family courts fuelled by increasing delays in child abuse cases and lack of funds.
Freshfields hits top spot in legal fees league
Posted on July 02, 2009Lucrative work on the bailout of the financial sector has helped Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer overtake Clifford Chance to become Britain?s highest grossing law firm.
Clifford Chance profits plunge 37 per cent
Posted on July 01, 2009Clifford Chance, once the world's biggest law firm, today revealed a 37 per cent plunge in full year profits after its key banking and corporate clients were hit by the impact of the financial crisis.
Lawyer of the Week: Mohammed Ayub
Posted on July 01, 2009Mohammed Ayub, the senior partner at Chambers Solicitors in Bradford, acts for AE, one of the three men subject to a control order in the landmark House of Lords case that ruled that controlled persons must be given sufficient disclosure of the case against them to meet the requirements of a fair trial under Article 6 of the Human Rights Act.
Sarcastic, rude: is this the way to question child witnesses?
Posted on July 01, 2009The cross-examination of the four- year-old girl in the Baby Peter-related rape trial raised uncomfortable questions about how the justice system treats child witnesses.
Eurojust, the EU fraud body, fails to fulfil its brief
Posted on July 01, 2009The Serious Fraud Office is embroiled in a fiasco that may inadvertently have settled the fate of José Sócrates, the Portuguese Prime Minister, and determined the outcome of that country?s elections in September.
Amending the law on the DNA database needs proper scrutiny
Posted on July 01, 2009Last December the European Court of Human Rights decided in S and Marper v The United Kingdom that the retention by the State of DNA profiles is a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. That is because information about people arrested for, or charged with, an offence but not subsequently convicted, is kept on the national DNA database for an unlimited period of time...
Clifford Chance profits slump as clients are hit by financial crisis
Posted on July 01, 2009Clifford Chance, the London-based law firm, disclosed a plunge in profits yesterday as it absorbed the cost of a radical shake-up that will lead to about 100 partners losing their jobs. It also lost its spot as the world?s biggest law firm by revenue as turnover slid by 5 per cent to £1.26 billion.
Credit card companies face a ban on 'exploiting' debtors
Posted on July 01, 2009Credit card firms will be told today to stop luring customers into higher borrowing as part of an overhaul of consumer rights. Lenders will be banned from raising credit limits without asking the customer first and ordered to stop sending unsolicited credit card cheques through the post.
Bernard Madoff gets 150 years in prison
Posted on June 30, 2009A judge yesterday sentenced Bernard Madoff to the maximum term of 150 years in prison for the biggest swindle in the history of Wall Street.
Enter this year's Times/Herbert Smith advocacy competition
Posted on June 30, 2009This is the last chance to enter our £7,500-prize student advocacy competition sponsored by Herbert Smith. What can be done to break the class ceiling keeping out so many people from a legal career? Or, bluntly, is it irremovable and there for a good reason?
Sharia courts: are their rulings breaching British law?
Posted on June 30, 2009Sharia courts operate in Britain in the shadows. Little is known about them or their rulings or how extensive their network is or the reach of their jurisdiction.
Commons clerk raises legal obstacle to Westminster 'clean-up' Bill
Posted on June 29, 2009The Government's attempt to replace self-regulation of MPs' financial affairs by a new independent regulator faces an unexpected challenge. Ministers hope to push the Parliamentary Standards Bill through the Commons in three days this week. But they face the challenge of an outspoken memorandum by Malcolm Jack, Clerk of the Commons...
Live: Madoff sentencing in New York
Posted on June 29, 200917.15 BST Judge Chin told the court: ?I don?t get the sense that Bernard Madoff said all that he could or told all that he knows."He said there had not been a single letter from friends or family testifying to Madoff?s good deeds. ?The absence of such support is telling,? he said.
Engineer wounded in Iraq claims for damages
Posted on June 29, 2009An engineer wounded in Iraq brought a landmark claim for damages yesterday against the Ministry of Defence and a private consultancy in a move that could pave the way for other civilians injured in war zones to sue their employers.
Does the jury system still work?
Posted on June 29, 2009Jurors wept when shown the photograph of the emaciated body of a seven-year-old girl, taken after her death. Khyra Ishaq, of Birmingham, died of an infection after being deprived of food as part of a ?punishment regime?. The jury was discharged yesterday due to illness and ?personal reasons? and a retrial is planned...
Bernard Madoff victim claims: ?He robbed me. I?ll be unable to afford food'
Posted on June 29, 2009Many of Bernard Madoff?s victims have been forced to sell their homes or cancel retirement plans. But Miriam Siegman is now reduced to scavenging for food in skips.
Judge Gerald Price is suspended after claims by male prostitute
Posted on June 29, 2009A judge has been suspended after allegations that he had a nine-month relationship with a male prostitute.
Magic fades for Clifford Chance with Americans on brink of centre stage return
Posted on June 28, 2009Clifford Chance is at risk of being knocked off its pillar as the world?s biggest law firm by an American rival as the balance of power in global legal services shifts from London back to the United States.
Baroness Vadera likely to be appointed to European Commission
Posted on June 28, 2009Gordon Brown is considering handing Baroness Vadera ? one of his most forceful supporters ? Britain?s place on the next European Commission, The Times has learnt.
Bernard Madoff to face angry investors who fell victim to $65bn swindle$
Posted on June 28, 2009The biggest swindler in Wall Street history will face the wrath of his investors today as he is sentenced for a $65 billion pyramid scheme.
Lawyers slam EU skills ruling
Posted on June 27, 2009A GROUP of the City?s largest law firms are up in arms over government changes to employment law that prevents them hiring talent from outside the European Union.
Treasury keeps grip on banks in shake-up
Posted on June 27, 2009ALISTAIR DARLING?s proposed reforms of banking regulation, to be published next month, will retain a significant role for the Treasury in financial supervision. His proposals will be seen by some as a further sign of tension between the Treasury and the Bank of England.
Weird cases: possession of pie with unlawful intent
Posted on June 26, 2009The Supreme Court of Canada will soon hear a case about an arrest for ?possession of a pie with unlawful intent?. Surreally, the pie didn?t even exist but the case has now become one of major constitutional importance in Canada.
£1.8 million windfall husband escapes divorce renegotiation
Posted on June 25, 2009A divorced wife who tried to claim for more money from her former husband after his shares quadrupled in value was blocked by senior judges today.
Jewish school broke race laws by refusing boy whose mother had converted
Posted on June 25, 2009A leading Jewish state school broke race laws by refusing to take a boy whose mother had converted at a progressive synagogue rather than an orthodox one, the Court of Appeal ruled today.
Allen Stanford denies $7bn pyramid scheme swindling charges$
Posted on June 25, 2009Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire and Twenty20 cricket impresario, pleaded not guilty today to charges that he ran a $7 billion pyramid scheme.$
Pupils free to rate teachers? performance online
Posted on June 24, 2009A court has ruled that schoolchildren may rate their teachers online, rejecting the case of a woman who argued that her rights had been infringed by pupils who gave her bad grades on a popular website.
L'Oreal found guilty of racism in shampoo ads
Posted on June 24, 2009L'Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, was found guilty today of racial discrimination after the highest court in France heard that executives had sought an all-white team of sales staff to promote its shampoos.
Creating law: from a blank sheet of paper to justice from the bench
Posted on June 24, 2009Should people who have been seriously wronged by the State ? whether the police or a care home ? be able to obtain redress in the shape of compensation?
Formula One: why falling out is an expensive game
Posted on June 24, 2009Sport, of course, is all about the glory of winning and (if you are British) the nobility of defeat.
Lawyer of the Week: Dan Brennan
Posted on June 24, 2009Dan Brennan, QC, of Matrix Chambers, led the team that acted for 12 of the victims? families of the Omagh bombing in 1998 that resulted in 29 deaths. The High Court, in a landmark civil case, ruled that four Real IRA members were liable for the attack and awarded £1...
A glass of wine with your picnic? It's against the law
Posted on June 24, 2009More than 700 ?controlled drinking zones? have been set up across England, giving police sweeping powers to confiscate beer and wine from anyone enjoying a quiet outdoor tipple.
French cosmetics giant L?Oréal guilty of racial discrimination
Posted on June 24, 2009L?Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, whose advertising campaigns proclaim ?because you?re worth it?, was found guilty of racial discrimination for considering black, Arab and Asian women unworthy of selling its shampoo.
Earl Spencer and ex-wife in secret talks after failing to ban media
Posted on June 24, 2009Earl Spencer and his former wife, Caroline, are in secret talks to try to settle their dispute over money within hours of losing a battle to ban the press from a bitter High Court fight.
Low-paid male council workers win right to equal pay with women
Posted on June 24, 2009More than 12,000 men in low-paid jobs won the right to bring equal pay claims alongside thousands of women in a landmark ruling yesterday.
Analysis: Mau Mau claim will be fought every step of the way
Posted on June 23, 2009The British do not use torture. At least, that has always been the official line, but as we square up to the realities of our past in the colonies and beyond, it is becoming an increasingly difficult line to hold.
Analysis: Britain has moral duty to allow Mau Mau case to proceed
Posted on June 23, 2009Since the 1950s, Mau Mau has often been synonymous with atavistic savagery. It was a grassroots movement that sought to end British rule in Kenya, and with it the privileges of an African minority loyal to colonialism. Comprised almost entirely of Kikuyu ? Kenya?s largest ethnic group ? Mau Mau perpetrated some heinous crimes...
Madoff lawyer seeks 12-year sentence
Posted on June 23, 2009Bernard Madoff?s lawyer has asked the judge who will sentence the mastermind behind America?s largest investment fraud to jail him for just 12 years, urging the court to ignore demands for ?mob vengeance?.
Lords scrutinise bank charges
Posted on June 23, 2009The legal battle over bank overdraft charges moves to the House of Lords today, where high street banks and Nationwide building society will bid to over-turn a previous ruling by the Court of Appeal.
Earl Spencer fails to win blanket press ban in divorce proceedings
Posted on June 23, 2009Earl Spencer and his former wife, Caroline, were united yesterday in an attempt to oust the media from their battle for a divorce settlement at the High Court.
Woolf v Genn: the decline of civil justice
Posted on June 23, 2009Fury and feathers are flying in the genteel world of academe ? and all over the civil justice system.
Mau Mau rebel recalls nine years of 'British torture' in detention camp
Posted on June 22, 2009Leaning on a wooden cane and gazing into the distance, Wambugu Nyingi, 84, recalled his nine years of misery in British-run detention camps. ?I was arrested on December 24, 1952, and taken to a concentration camp. They would beat my fingers with sticks...
Mau Mau veterans claim compensation over ?lost decade?
Posted on June 22, 2009Five elderly Kenyans will sue the British Government today for a lost decade of alleged torture, suppression and humiliation under Britain?s colonial rule of Kenya more than half a century ago.
SEC charges four recruiters with helping Madoff
Posted on June 22, 2009America?s securities regulator charged Stanley Chais, an investment manager to the stars of Hollywood, Palm Beach socialite Robert Jaffe and two brokers with participating in Bernard Madoff?s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.$
Tycoon Scot Young faces jail in £400m divorce
Posted on June 20, 2009A SECRETIVE tycoon at the centre of one of Britain?s biggest divorce cases is facing jail over the whereabouts of his £400m fortune.
Weird cases: And this week's award for judicial petulance goes to . . .
Posted on June 19, 2009In Tennessee, a judge is legally required to be ?patient, dignified and courteous? with people in court. He is also required, not unreasonably, ?to respect and comply with the law?. But not all judges do.
Allen Stanford arrested in the US after surrendering to the FBI
Posted on June 19, 2009The billionaire and cricket entrepreneur Allen Stanford was arrested in Virginia overnight and is expected to appear in a US court this morning to face criminal charges.
First criminal trial without a jury approved
Posted on June 18, 2009A criminal trial is to go ahead without a jury for the first time in England and Wales in 400 years after a historic ruling by the Court of Appeal today.
Commentary: a long history of jury 'nobbling'
Posted on June 18, 2009Jury intimidation or ?nobbling? is not new: its origins date back over centuries. It was a series of attempts to intimidate jurors that led to the introduction of majority verdicts in the Criminal Justice Act 1967, so that there could be a conviction even if one or two jurors disagreed.
Journalist Suzanne Breen need not disclose Real IRA contacts
Posted on June 18, 2009A newspaper journalist won the right today to withhold information from the police about the Real IRA and its involvement in the murder of two British soldiers.
Total sacks 900 workers in Lindsey strike row
Posted on June 18, 2009Nearly 900 workers were dismissed after a wildcat strike by contractors at Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, according to Unite, the union.
Brown fights all-powerful EU financial supervisors
Posted on June 18, 2009Gordon Brown last night attempted to fend off EU proposals for the creation of pan-European supervisors that would have the power to force governments to bail out struggling banks and financial institutions.
History-making divorcee Julia McFarlane is awarded an extra £100,000 a year
Posted on June 18, 2009A divorcing wife who made legal history when the law lords awarded her a £250,000-a-year payout from her husband has won a 40 per cent increase in her maintenance payments.
Why Lord Steyn believes ID cards should be scrapped
Posted on June 17, 2009Law lords, even when retired, can still crack a whip. This week it was Lord Steyn, who ? coming from South Africa ? knows a thing or two about the denial of civil liberties. He launched an attack on the Government?s plans for ID cards, condemning them as unnecessary, likely to be ineffective and unBritish...
IVF libel battle shows how capping costs would hit claims
Posted on June 17, 2009The BBC is no doubt still licking its wounds after settling a claim, reputedly for up to £6 million, by Mohamed Taranissi, an IVF specialist. He launched his claim after a Panorama programme, broadcast in January 2007, made serious allegations about his medical practices.
Rio Tinto deal heralds huge changes
Posted on June 17, 2009In a ground-breaking move this week, Rio Tinto is announcing today that it is outsourcing its legal work to India - triggering what is predicted to be an irreversible trend in the legal sector. The international mining group has concluded a deal with CPA Global, a leading outsourcing provider of legal services, and expects savings on its legal costs of up to 20 per cent.
Lawyer of the Week: Neil Sampson
Posted on June 17, 2009Neil Sampson, a partner at Rosenblatt Solicitors, led the team that advised 1,000 ex-servicemen who took part in nuclear tests in the 1950s and have just won the right to sue the Government for compensation. The case is one of the biggest group actions to be brought in the UK.
Lawyers revolt over auction of legal aid work
Posted on June 17, 2009Ministers are facing a growing revolt over plans to hold a ?reverse auction? to award legal aid contracts to the lowest bidders. Nearly 2,500 lawyers who say the scheme will cause ?irreparable damage? to the quality of the justice system have already signed a Downing Street online petition urging the plans be scrapped.
A tasty piece of thinking puts potato snack in its place
Posted on June 17, 2009The potato has not before played a significant role in the jurisprudence of this country. There is a statutory definition, in the Potatoes Originating in Egypt Regulations 1998. But the ?tuber or true seed of Solanum tuberosum L or other tuber-forming species or hybrid of the genus Solanum L? has not been on the menu for our appellate courts...
Glitz, glamour and gruffness vanish with great names
Posted on June 17, 2009?There are two people to whom you must tell the truth ? your solicitor and your clap doctor.? Such was the advice of Lord Goodman, Harold Wilson?s solicitor and one of the most feared lawyers of his generation. But despite the reverence in which Goodman is still held by many in the legal community, it is a safe bet than none would risk so blunt an exhortation.
Rio Tinto?s legal switch puts pressure on London
Posted on June 17, 2009Rio Tinto has hired a team of lawyers in India to try to reduce its annual £60 million legal bill by 20 per cent. The move will send a shudder through Britain?s commercial legal market, which earns billions of pounds a year in fees from big banks and multinationals. The Anglo-Australian miner, with CPA Global, a legal outsourcing group, has recruited 12 lawyers in Delhi to work for it on tasks such as reviewing documents and drafting contracts.
Attorney-General rules Baby P sentences 'not too lenient'
Posted on June 16, 2009The sentences handed out to the three people convicted over the brutal death of Baby P will stand after the Attorney-General today ruled they were not too lenient.
Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity
Posted on June 16, 2009Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled today.In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of a blog called ?NightJack?.
Analysis: bloggers can no longer be sure on anonymity
Posted on June 16, 2009Thousands of bloggers churn out opinions daily - secure in the protection afforded to them by the cloak of anonymity.
Writer advised on how to evade long arm of the law
Posted on June 16, 2009"If the Police arrive to lock you up, say nothing. You are a decent person and you may think that reasoning with the Police will help. Wrong.? It is not quite the advice you would expect to receive from a serving police officer.
Judge calls for action to stop British 'epidemic' of family breakdown
Posted on June 16, 2009A national commission should be created to tackle Britain?s ?epidemic? of family breakdown, a senior judge said yesterday.
Sentences for knife killers to be reviewed after Ben Kinsella murder
Posted on June 16, 2009Longer minimum terms for knife killers could be introduced after a review announced after calls by the family of Ben Kinsella for a change in the law.
Jewish couple sue over lighting that makes them ?work? on sabbath
Posted on June 16, 2009A Jewish couple are suing neighbours over motion sensors that turn on the lights in their communal stairwell, which they claim make it impossible for them to leave their flat during the sabbath.
GCHQ man, Neil McLellan, faces jail sentence after lying under oath
Posted on June 15, 2009A former employee of the GCHQ spy centre is facing jail for perjury and possession of a .44 Magnum revolver after being caught lying under oath.
Beware rape myths, judges to tell jurors
Posted on June 14, 2009Juries are to be instructed to ignore myths surrounding rape in an attempt to raise Britain?s low conviction rate for the crime.
Social services cut dying mother?s time with her children
Posted on June 14, 2009A dying woman whose children are in foster care has been told that her contact with them will be cut to 90 minutes a fortnight because of her failing health.
Army chiefs in Afghanistan cannot be sued for death of their troops
Posted on June 14, 2009Commanding officers in Afghanistan have been offered indemnity from prosecution under human-rights laws if they make a decision that leads to the death of a soldier.
UK legal industry faces loss of 10,000 lawyers
Posted on June 14, 2009As many as 10,000 lawyers could be out of work in the UK in the next two years as the legal business faces its worst slump in decades.
Former pupil sues Oundle School over drunken fall from window
Posted on June 12, 2009A public school is being sued by a former pupil who was permanently disabled following a drunken fall from a window.
Divorce settlement granted after 22 years
Posted on June 12, 2009A woman has won £220,000 in a ground-breaking divorce settlement ? 22 years after separating from her husband.
Weird cases: 'you're telling me this isn't fruit?'
Posted on June 12, 2009?Cap?n Crunch with Crunchberries? is a breakfast cereal. On the front of the packet, the beaming Cap?n is depicted thrusting a spoonful of colourful little balls of cereal at the shopper. But Janine Sugawara recently organised a mutiny. In a putative class action, she sued the manufacturer for $5 billion for fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of warranty when she discovered the cereal balls were not fruity...
Disarray over terror control orders after law lords ruling on secret evidence
Posted on June 11, 2009Read the law report here
Judges order Abu Qatata assets to be unfrozen
Posted on June 11, 2009European judges today overturned an order freezing the assets of Abu Qatada, the radical Muslim cleric, on the ground that its implementation breached his fundamental rights.
Lindt bunny case bounces back into courts
Posted on June 11, 2009With its little red ribbon and golden bell, few would find a chocolate bunny a major threat. However, Lindt, the Swiss chocolate giant famous for the Easter special, has spent the past eight years pursuing smaller chocolatiers across Europe who it believes are burrowing in to its lucrative warren.
Journalist faces Real IRA death threat if she helps police
Posted on June 11, 2009A journalist who received the Real IRA?s claim of responsibility for the murder of two soldiers in March told a judge yesterday that the republican terrorist group was prepared to kill her if she helped the police investigation.
Curious case of Lindt's chocolate Easter bunny trademark
Posted on June 11, 2009It is a question that few intellectual property lawyers probably grappled with in law school: can a chocolate bunny be trademarked? Yet it is at the heart of a long-running legal battle between Switzerland?s Lindt & Sprüngli, maker of the luxury Lindt chocolate brand, and an Austrian competitor.
Disarray over terror control orders after law lords ruling on secret evidence
Posted on June 10, 2009Three men have won a unanimous ruling from Britain?s highest court that strikes a massive blow to the ?control orders? regime for detaining terror suspects.
Analysis: contol orders ruling - information or freedom
Posted on June 10, 2009Today?s ruling by the Law Lords is another blow to a system which has already been undermined by previous court judgements.
The men behind the control order appeal
Posted on June 10, 2009The men at the heart of today?s appeal are known only by initials. One is a British citizen from Derby; one has dual UK and Libyan nationality and the third is an Iraqi national who claimed asylum.
Northern Rock investors step up payout fight
Posted on June 10, 2009Shareholders suing the Government over the nationalisation of Northern Rock began a legal appeal this morning.
Civil justice system: why we are doing well but can do better
Posted on June 10, 2009Ten years ago I took on the task of looking at how we could reform our slow and costly civil justice system. The resulting proposals were enshrined in new civil procedure rules (CPR). They were intended to transform, and I believe did transform, the legal system...
Why must a secret service fair hearing be heard in secret?
Posted on June 10, 2009Former MI5 officers guard many secrets. But, as Dame Stella Rimington well knows, they can tell their own stories. A former agent has to seek prior approval for publication from his or her former employers and, if it is not given, any dispute will ultimately be adjudicated by a High Court Judge with all the usual safeguards to ensure a fair trial...
Corporate manslaughter: making work a much safer place
Posted on June 10, 2009In law, small cases often mark major milestones. When the prosecution of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings begins next week at Stroud Magistrates? Court, a new chapter in English law will begin. It will be the first case brought under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and it signifies a new approach to prosecuting companies for alleged crimes.
Case study: stateless Palestinian came to Britain as refugee
Posted on June 10, 2009Mahmoud Abu Rideh is a stateless Palestinian who came to Britain as a refugee and in 1998 was granted indefinite leave to remain.
Lawyer of the Week: Chris Fry
Posted on June 10, 2009Chris Fry, head of industrial diseases at Wake Smith & Tofields, a Yorkshire firm, acted for Stephanie Baker in the landmark Court of Appeal industrial noise test case on the liability of employers for hearing loss becasue of noise at lower levels than those generally recognised as giving rise to liability.
Is that it for final salary pension schemes?
Posted on June 10, 2009The announcement by Donald Brydon, chairman of the Royal Mail, that he is ready to close the group?s final-salary pension scheme if the proposed part-privatisation does not go ahead could be seen either as a threat or a simple statement of prudent management.
Secret evidence: undermining the great traditions of British justice
Posted on June 09, 2009Tomorrow the law lords will hand down their decision on the legality of the control orders regime under which terrorist suspects are detained.
Gary McKinnon, hacker with Asperger syndrome, fights extradition to US
Posted on June 09, 2009A British ?UFO eccentric? accused of hacking into US military networks brought a last challenge in the High Court yesterday against extradition to America on health grounds.
Supreme Court gives go-ahead to Chrysler sale
Posted on June 09, 2009The US Supreme Court has lifted a stay on Chrysler's sale to the Italian company Fiat, ending fears that the American car manufacturer would be forced to liquidate.
Treasury weighs the options for autumn sale of Northern Rock
Posted on June 09, 2009The Treasury has told its investment banking advisers to examine the feasibility of selling Northern Rock, the nationalised lender, back to the City in the autumn, The Times has learnt.
London's Metropolitan Police accused of waterboarding suspects
Posted on June 09, 2009Crime Central: official responses | Cannabis case led to claims | Waterboarding: torture without a trace | Enfield police get new commander | Andy Hayman
Buyers circle Keydata while Revenue seeks unpaid tax
Posted on June 09, 2009Keydata Investment Services, the insolvent investment firm, mis-sold tax-efficient savings products to thousands of individual investors, it emerged last night, as buyers queued to acquire the troubled company.
EU finance ministers clash over reforms
Posted on June 09, 2009Tensions mounted between the EU?s big economies as Alistair Darling was backed by Germany in resisting moves towards pan-European oversight of banks and financial groups.
Omagh damages may prompt legal action against IRA backers
Posted on June 08, 2009The unprecedented victory by 12 relatives of victims of the 1998 Omagh bomb may prompt other legal actions against the backers of the IRA or al-Qaeda by victims? families.
BPP agrees £304m US takeover
Posted on June 08, 2009BPP, Europe?s largest accountancy training company and operator of one of the UK?s leading law schools, said this morning that it had agreed a £303.5 million cash takeover offer from Apollo Global, a US education group.
Families of victims triumph in civil lawsuit over Omagh bombings
Posted on June 08, 2009Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims today hailed their victory in a landmark multi-million pound civil action against four men they blamed for the atrocity in which 29 people died.
Fraudsters jailed over Aviva scam
Posted on June 08, 2009Three convicted fraudsters who successfully conned five directors at Aviva, the insurer, out of a combined £638,000 have been sent to jail, City of London police said today.
How the Real IRA brought murderous mayhem to Omagh on a summer day
Posted on June 08, 2009It was a warm August Saturday afternoon and Market Street in Omagh was thronged with shoppers and tourists. With only one weekend to go before the schools reopened after the summer holiday, many parents had brought their children into town to buy new uniforms.
Opt out or your number?s up for mobile phone privacy
Posted on June 08, 2009The first directory service that claims to be able to find any British mobile phone number is expected to cause a row over privacy when it begins operation next week.
Fertility doctor Mohamed Taranissi awarded libel settlement with BBC
Posted on June 08, 2009The BBC faces a multimillion-pound legal bill after settling a libel battle with one of Britain?s most successful fertility doctors.
Cherie Booth turns mediator to cut legal costs for companies
Posted on June 08, 2009Cherie Booth, QC, and Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice, will spearhead a new scheme today aimed at saving big companies millions of pounds in legal costs by settling disputes out of court.
BBC faces £6m payout in libel case with IVF doctor Mohamed Taranissi
Posted on June 08, 2009The BBC faces a multimillion-pound legal bill after settling a libel battle with one of Britain?s most successful fertility doctors.
Shell agrees $15.5m settlement over death of Saro-Wiwa and eight others$
Posted on June 08, 2009Royal Dutch Shell will pay $15.5 million ($£9.6 million) to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of colluding with Nigeria?s former military regime over the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other peaceful anti-oil protesters.
Omagh bombing families face judgment day in their quest for justice
Posted on June 07, 2009Seventy miles separate Omagh from Belfast. This morning it will seem like the longest journey ever taken for the families of victims of the worst atrocity in the Troubles.
Search for Madoff assets pits British and Americans against one another in New York court
Posted on June 07, 2009The British liquidators of Bernard Madoff's phoney fund management business will fight in a New York court tomorrow for the right to seize the convicted fraudster's US assets.
UK faces backlash over 'libel tourists'
Posted on June 07, 2009American politicians are pushing through free speech laws to protect US citizens from libel rulings in British courts that have been accused of stifling criticism of oligarchs and dictators.
Judge rules ceremony with priest was not a marriage
Posted on June 05, 2009A woman whose ?splendid and romantic? wedding took place on a rooftop with spectacular views over a sunlit sea was told today that she was not legally married.
Weird cases: if you don't like this excuse, I have others
Posted on June 05, 2009In civil law, a defendant can raise alternative and even contradictory defences.
Nuclear test veterans win right to sue Government
Posted on June 05, 2009A thousand serviceman who say they suffered ill health because of Britain?s atomic tests in the Pacific in the 1950s won a crucial High Court victory today that paves the way for them to sue the Ministry of Defence.
Leading City lawyer finds his elixir of love in opera
Posted on June 05, 2009Ian Rosenblatt has a problem. He is running a City law firm in the middle of a slump and has just been to the third pitch for an important new client who still won't commit. But that's not what's worrying him. His problem is a three-way diary clash this evening.
New Qatar court will blend legal cultures of West and East
Posted on June 04, 2009If the rule of the law was the theme of last week-end's Qatar Law Forum, its real focus was the emirate's new legal and regulatory framework, aimed at ensuring the fast-growing region takes off in the international business and commercial world.
Judge selection still perceived as unfair
Posted on June 04, 2009Perceptions of unfairnness and prejudice in the selection of judges still widely persist, three years after a new body was set up to modernise the system.
Ex Countrywide chief charged with fraud
Posted on June 04, 2009The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of America's biggest mortgage lender, with fraud and insider trading.
Prime crime: Britain?s animal rustlers
Posted on June 03, 2009In the building that was once Stafford Crown Court, now a museum, there is a long list of convictions from trials held there in the 19th century. Alongside highway robbery and the famous wrongful conviction of George Edalji for horse mutilation (later overturned after a personal campaign by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) are verdicts such as these: 1806 ? William Pritchard: stealing one ewe sheep, guilty...
Madoff sons speak of 'biblical' betrayal
Posted on June 03, 2009One of Bernard Madoff's sons is obsessed with his father's crime and the other is still in shock over the $65 billion Ponzi scheme, according to a new exposé on the convicted fraudster.$
How the rule of law can avoid the world at war
Posted on June 03, 2009The judge who heads Britain?s top court has warned that ?popular emotion? must not subvert the rule of law.
Women used to talk about how little time they had taken off to have children
Posted on June 03, 2009Research today shows that 55 per cent of lawyers might apply to be judges if they could work part-time. This week Sylvia de Bertodano started sitting as a circuit judge. Unusually, she does 80 per cent of a full-time post ? spreading the hours so that she works a full week but takes more holiday...
Lessons for the new court and tribunal in Qatar
Posted on June 03, 2009This is a good time to consider the rule of law in an Islamic context. Last weekend the Qatar Law Forum met to discuss the rule of law, the challenge of globalisation and other related topics. Today, the Societies of Inner and Middle Temple begin a series of public discussions in the Temple Church on the subject of Islam in English Law.
Qatar Law Forum: anyone who is anyone celebrates the rule of law
Posted on June 03, 2009Britain?s senior law lord warned that the rule of law was not a ?luxury item to be stored in a cellar in times of emergency? and judges debated the need for solidarity and speaking out jointly when the rule of law is threatened, be it in Pakistan or Zimbabwe.
Lawyer of the Week: Heather Rogers
Posted on June 03, 2009The barrister Heather Rogers, QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, acted for Private Eye magazine in the Court of Appeal case in which the judges ruled that disciplinary rulings on solicitors can be published. Michael Napier, the former president of the Law Society, lost his battle to seek an injunction against the magazine publishing details of a finding against him.
Rwanda: why Keir Starmer has to act
Posted on June 03, 2009This week a former Baptist church preacher in Rwanda was charged with genocide for his alleged role in the killilngs in 1994. The charge has been brought by Finland. In Britain, meanwhile, the Crown Prosecution Service?s public reaction to the failure of the Rwanda genocide extradition case in April is depressing...
UK companies linked to Iraqi reconstruction fraud inquiry
Posted on June 03, 2009Two British companies have been linked to a multimillion-pound fraud concerning a ?ghost? delivery of equipment to Iraq, as part of a US investigation into how billions of dollars in reconstruction funds went missing.
Debbie Purdy takes assisted suicide case to the House of Lords
Posted on June 02, 2009A woman with multiple sclerosis today took her case to the House of Lords to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
Elitist culture of secrecy must end, says Lord Falconer
Posted on June 02, 2009First Parliament, next the Government. Lord Falconer of Thoroton has warned that the ?elitist culture of secrecy? in government and Whitehall will be next in the firing line of public calls for transparency.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to fight shock-jock Michael Savage's lawsuit
Posted on June 01, 2009Jacqui Smith will not back down against a right-wing American radio DJ who is suing after he was barred from entering Britain.
Chrysler sale to Fiat approved by judge
Posted on June 01, 2009A US bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of most of Chrysler?s assets to a group including Fiat, of Italy, hours before an expected bankruptcy filing by General Motors (GM).
Gordon Brown and Treasury accused on banking crisis
Posted on June 01, 2009A fateful decision 12 years ago by Gordon Brown, egged on by envious Treasury officials, led to the catastrophic failure of UK regulators to anticipate and prevent the banking crisis, according to a former Bank of England director and City grandee.
MPs brought disgrace upon themselves, says Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Posted on June 01, 2009MPs brought the damaging revelations over expenses on themselves by their ?elitist? view that information could be withheld from voters, one of Tony Blair?s former key ministers has told The Times.
Short-selling rules extended by FSA
Posted on June 01, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to extend its policy of forcing investors to disclose their short positions in 32 banking and insurance shares beyond June 30, when it was scheduled to expire.
FSA steps up battle against insider trading
Posted on May 31, 2009The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to increase the firepower of its enforcement division by hiring several lawyers from leading City firms, The Times has learnt.
GM bond deal paves way for Chapter 11
Posted on May 31, 2009The US Government was forced to take a large stake in General Motors (GM) to stop the company being broken up, President Obama said, as the carmaker prepared to make the world's largest industrial bankruptcy filing today.
Court takes child of ?stupid? mother
Posted on May 30, 2009WHEN Rachel celebrated her daughter?s third birthday three weeks ago the little girl was a picture of happiness. Yet for her mother it was a bittersweet occasion.
Mother ?too stupid? to keep child
Posted on May 30, 2009A MOTHER is taking her fight to the European Court of Human Rights after she was forbidden from seeing her three-year-old daughter because she is not ?clever enough? to look after her.
Investors to sue Lloyds chiefs
Posted on May 30, 2009AN ARMY of Britain?s small investors is raising funds to launch a legal campaign against the directors of Lloyds TSB over their decision to rescue HBOS.
Weird cases: bored juror goes missing
Posted on May 29, 2009Some trials are sensational, but jurors cannot always rely on getting a stimulating case to hear. Grant Faber, a juror in Oregon, recently left the case he was hearing at lunch time and did not go back in the afternoon because, as he told police when they later apprehended him, he was ?extremely bored? in court.
Briton Robert Tringham charged over $7 million Ponzi scheme$
Posted on May 28, 2009A Briton faces 170 years in jail after being charged in the United States over a $7 million ($£4.39 million) investment fraud.
Child court chief Anthony Douglas is called to account by judge
Posted on May 28, 2009The head of the children?s court agency was summoned by a judge yesterday to explain ?deplorable and entirely unacceptable? case delays after the Baby Peter scandal.
Cafcass improving under Anthony Douglas but still fails children
Posted on May 28, 2009Since the day it opened its doors nine years ago, Cafcass has barely been out of the line of fire. The service, set up by Tony Blair, represents the views of children in the family courts in both public law cases, such as care or adoption proceedings, and private law, including custody battles.
Eversheds profits plunge 27 per cent as downturn bites
Posted on May 27, 2009Eversheds, the national law firm, today announced a 27 per cent drop in profit per equity partner in the first sign of how major law firms are struggling as a result of the economic crisis.
Six arrested in FSA insider dealing probe
Posted on May 27, 2009Five men and one woman were today arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into suspected organised insider dealing, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said.
Partner profits at Lovells down 12%
Posted on May 27, 2009Partners' profits at Lovells, the UK's fifth-largest law firm, fell 11 per cent last year despite revenue increasing to £531 million as a result of the weak pound.
Jack Straw defends virtual courts after trial at police station
Posted on May 27, 2009Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, was in court yesterday ? to defend his plans for ?virtual courts?, under which thousands of defendants will lose their right to have a courtroom hearing.
£15,000 Times fine proves the need for reform of an indefensible law
Posted on May 27, 2009The decision of the Divisional Court (Lord Justice Pill and Mr Justice Sweeney) last Friday to fine Times Newspapers £15,000 for a report in this newspaper about a jury?s verdict in a manslaughter case strengthens the campaign for reform of an indefensible law of contempt of court.
Should Britain import the US method of dealing with fraud?
Posted on May 27, 2009The headlines in these pages this week that ?City police warn of huge rise in fraud cases? was accompanied by the astonishing report that the number of reported frauds has risen by 64 per cent in the past year ?with people from all walks of life falling victim?.
Would you want to know if a Ouija board decided your case?
Posted on May 27, 2009It seems trite law that the secrets of the jury room, however compelling, must never be revealed. The British have a penchant for locking away in the closet distasteful truths about much loved institutions ? whether jury deliberations or Liberal politicians.
Lawyer of the Week: Jocelyn Cockburn
Posted on May 27, 2009Jocelyn Cockburn, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, acts for Catherine Smith, whose son Jason died of heatstroke while serving in Iraq in 2003. The Court of Appeal?s landmark ruling confirmed that the Human Rights Act 1998 can apply to British troops, even on the battlefield...
Sikirat Agbaje appeals to Lords over £7,000 Nigerian divorce payout
Posted on May 27, 2009An elderly woman left almost penniless in a divorce dispute is to go to the highest court in a challenge that will test London?s reputation as ?divorce capital of the world?.
FSA punishes third Morgan Stanley trader
Posted on May 26, 2009Sources in Morgan Stanley today insisted that there was no systemic problem on its trading floor in London as the third trader in two weeks was banned from working in the City for dishonest behaviour.
Shell in court over death of Nigerian activist
Posted on May 26, 2009Shell, one of the world?s biggest oil companies, will go on trial tomorrow over allegations that it was complicit in the execution of a well-known Nigerian environmental activist and author.
Why Qatar will be the place to be this weekend
Posted on May 26, 2009This weekend chief justices and other top judges from across the globe descend on Doha in Qatar along with bankers, regulators, academics and lawyers. The topics of debate will be the rule of law in the context of globalisation as well as the regulation of financial markets, trade and finance co-operation and international dispute resolution.
Police chief Colin Port risks career by refusing to return child abuse data
Posted on May 26, 2009A chief constable could face jail and an end to his 35-year police career for defying a High Court order to return computers suspected of holding a huge collection of child abuse images to a controversial expert witness.
Policeman is cleared by IPCC over Jean Charles de Menezes inquest
Posted on May 26, 2009A police surveillance officer who admitted deleting some of his notes during the inquest into the shooting by police of Jean Charles de Menezes was cleared of ?deliberate deception? yesterday.
Harry Rednapp lawyer takes on the police again over search warrant
Posted on May 26, 2009The lawyer who has put a police chief?s job on the line over a search warrant is the same man who represented Harry Redknapp in his successful claim over a dawn raid on his home.
Third Morgan Stanley trader is sanctioned
Posted on May 26, 2009A senior trader at Morgan Stanley in London who cheated seven institutional clients was banned for an unspecified period yesterday from working in the City, the third trader at the bank to be outlawed in a fortnight.
City police warn of huge rise in fraud cases
Posted on May 25, 2009Fraud is soaring during the recession and must be made a police priority, the senior officer heading the national drive against economic crime said.
Rockefeller impostor to plead insanity in daughter abduction trial
Posted on May 25, 2009An impostor who passed himself off as a Rockefeller in America for 15 years is to plead insanity when he goes on trial today accused of snatching his London-based daughter.
CBI calls for urgent reform of pensions legislation to let companies repair shortfalls
Posted on May 25, 2009Britain?s recession-hit companies risk being dragged down by their retirement obligations unless they are given more time to tackle ballooning deficits in their final salary pension schemes, according to the CBI. The employers? lobby group is calling on the Pensions Regulator to intervene urgently and give companies at least 15 years to repair the shortfalls in their pension schemes, rather than the present ten.
Hammer and tongs row at Good Hair Day
Posted on May 23, 2009THE entrepreneur who co-founded the GHD hair-care products company is involved in a legal row with a private-equity firm that owns 40% of the business.
Council uses terror law to spy on shirker in shower
Posted on May 23, 2009A LOCAL council has used surveillance powers designed to catch terrorists and prevent serious crime to check how long a member of staff spent in the shower.
Third man in fraud inquiry flies into UK
Posted on May 22, 2009City of London Police are poised to interview a third man in connection with an allegedly fraudulent investment scheme that led to losses of up to £250 million for investors.
The Times fined £15,000 for contempt of court
Posted on May 22, 2009Two High Court judges fined The Times yesterday for contempt of court in revealing how the jurors in a manslaughter trial reached their verdict.
Law should be changed to increase transparency of juries
Posted on May 22, 2009Research on how real juries decide cases is illegal. That is a bizarre and unsustainable law in the age of openness. Taxpayers fund more than 800,000 juror sitting days a year: why should we not be allowed to discover how juries operate?
Weird cases: dodging jury service
Posted on May 22, 2009Serving on a jury is an important civic duty. In America, however, about half of all people summoned do not serve or get excused duty. Most people seeking an excusal fill out the application form politely but Erik Slye from Gallatin County, Montana, took a different approach.
Analysis: is eBay?s victory good for consumers?
Posted on May 22, 2009The High Court ruling in favour of eBay in a case brought by L'Oreal could reduce barriers to trade and make branded goods more easily available to consumers.
eBay not liable for L'Oreal fakes sold in UK
Posted on May 22, 2009Ebay won another important legal victory this morning when the High Court ruled the internet auction group is not legally accountable for the sale of counterfeit L?Oreal cosmetics on its UK website.
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My grandmother-in-law came to US for a short visit on a visitor visa for tourism. Due to some complications we had to take her to hospital in emergency. She was in hospital for 13 days & had a pacemaker put in. My granny
Having collections experience for over ten years, I can say that you are in no w...
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