Lawyer news

• Record start to 2015 for UK commercial property market - The Lawyer

  09-09-2015 23:24
  Record start to 2015 for UK commercial property market
  The Lawyer
  Increased economic stability saw the UK commercial property market trade a record £30.7bn in the first half of 2015, 10 per cent above the previous peak in 2006. While 55 per cent of investors were domestic, there also continued to be substantial ...en meer »
  

• Kim Davis is out of jail – will she relent and issue same-sex marriage licenses?

  09-09-2015 22:26
  
  Lawyers for the Kentucky clerk have claimed the 10 licenses issued during her time in jail – seven of which were for same-sex couples – are invalid, leaving the matter far from settled. But does she have a legal leg to stand on?Kentucky’s activist county clerk Kim Davis will return to work on Monday with a court instruction to cease preventing marriage licenses from being issued by her office – while experts denied her lawyers’ claims that licenses granted while she
  
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• Women's prospects limited by law in 155 countries, finds World Bank study

  09-09-2015 21:01
  
  Two decades after Beijing declaration on gender equality, women’s economic opportunities and working rights still widely subject to restrictive legislationAbout 155 countries have at least one law that limits women’s economic opportunities, while 100 states put restrictions on the types of jobs women can do and 18 allow husbands to dictate whether their wives can work at all, according to a World Bank report that paints a stark picture of the enduring obstacles women face in achievin
  
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• Kim Davis's deputy clerks give marriage licenses to gay couples in her absence

  09-09-2015 21:01
  
  After six days in jail the Kentucky clerk is expected to resume work by Monday, as one deputy says he will not obey orders to refuse licenses to gay couples againKim Davis’s deputy clerks have been busy since their boss was hauled to jail, issuing 10 marriage licenses, including seven to same-sex couples, her employee Brian Mason said on Wednesday.And if Davis tells him to stop after she returns to work, Mason said he’ll tell her he can’t obey her, and instead must follow a fed
  
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• News of the World email hacking case dropped after time runs out

  09-09-2015 19:10
  
  Former executive and a private eye used by the tabloid will not be charged over allegations of computer hacking after Scotland Yard began investigation too lateA former News of the World executive and a private eye used by the tabloid will not be charged over allegations of computer hacking after prosecutors ran out of time to bring a criminal case.Among those investigated were former NoTW executive Alex Marunchak and Jonathan Rees, a private eye and one time murder suspect whose agency worked e
  
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• Syria drone strike sets low threshold for killing people, says UN official

  09-09-2015 18:19
  
  Prof Christof Heyns says UK’s killing of two British jihadis in Raqqa sets a dangerous precedent as other experts question whether attack was justifiedThe RAF drone strike on British jihadis in Syria lowers the legal threshold for killing people worldwide and sets a dangerous precedent, a United Nations official has warned.In a scathing critique of the military operation over the city of Raqqa last month, Prof Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
  
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• Solicitors free to offer ‘central’ consumer credit

  09-09-2015 18:02 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Firms will be subject to eight pages of SRA rules rather than the hundreds of pages they might have faced.
  
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• Kim Davis won't say if she will block marriage licenses upon returning to job

  09-09-2015 17:38
  
  After six days in jail the Kentucky clerk is expected to resume work by Monday, as one deputy says he will not obey orders to refuse licenses to gay couples againAfter a six-day stint in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis will return to work as soon as Friday to face another day of reckoning.The apostolic Christian, now a symbol of strong religious conviction to thousands across the globe, would not say whether she would allow licenses
  
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• Wales reveals £60m legal services winners

  09-09-2015 17:16 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Firms will provide legal services to public sector in Wales over the next four years.
  
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• Oregon judge against same-sex marriage displayed Hitler photo in courthouse

  09-09-2015 16:36
  
  Vance Day, who is under state ethics review for refusing to marry gay couples, said he put up picture of Nazi dictator to honor second world war veteransAn Oregon judge who refused to perform same-sex marriages is facing multiple complaints in a state ethics investigation, including that he put up a picture of Adolf Hitler in the Salem courthouse, a state judicial commission has said. Related: Oregon judge under investigation after refusing to perform same-sex marriagesContinue reading...
  
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• We need better palliative care, not assisted dying | Zara Aziz

  09-09-2015 16:00
  
  As the assisted dying bill receives its second reading in parliament, the risk of causing harm far outweighs any potential benefitsWhen I first started out as a junior doctor on the wards, it was all about defying death. As doctors, we are taught to save lives or alleviate suffering through our medical expertise, but not to end lives. Those of us who were on the “crash” team would run like the wind as soon as our bleeps signalled a cardiac arrest. The most senior member of the attend
  
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• Facebook's new digital assistant 'M' will need to earn your trust

  09-09-2015 15:20
  
  Just like Siri and Cortana, M will be fuelled by your personal data – this trust it expects must be earned and backed up by rulesFacebook’s announcement that it is testing a digital assistant called “M” means that each of the “big five” technology companies is now in the digital assistant game. Facebook M joins Apple’s venerable Siri app, along with Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. Even Amazon has the Echo, a voice-activated internet of things a
  
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• Linklaters to allow e-signatures on legal documents

  09-09-2015 14:54 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  New technology will enable clients to sign documents via their smartphones, tablets or desktops.
  
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• Lawyer who witnessed killing lands in the dock

  09-09-2015 14:48 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Law Society expresses concern at treatment of Egyptian lawyer and women’s rights activist Azza Soliman. 
  
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• Firm sorry for partner’s ‘misogynistic’ LinkedIn email

  09-09-2015 12:39 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Charlotte Proudman complained after being sent an email complimenting her ‘stunning picture’.
  
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• Syria drone strike: former DPP questions legal justification

  09-09-2015 11:27
  
  Lord Macdonald refers to timing of strike that killed two British Isis members in August and asks for more transparencyLord Macdonald, the UK’s former director of public prosecutions, has questioned the legal justification for the drone strike on two British Islamic State fighters said to have been plotting terror attacks in the UK. He pointed out the events that were reported to have been targeted passed off peacefully before their deaths. Related: Drone strikes, right or wrong? What the
  
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• More firms report strong trainee retention rates

  09-09-2015 10:56 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Majority of latest newly qualified solicitors will be based in London.
  
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• Why is our justice system failing vulnerable people? | Mary O’Hara

  09-09-2015 08:00
  
  Many people with mental health problems and learning disabilities find contact with the police and courts ‘shocking and overwhelming’ – yet funding for support they need is under threat“At one point I practically lived in police stations,” says Melissa Cunningham, whose youngest child, Pete, began stealing electronic equipment at 18 and was repeatedly arrested. “We kept saying [to justice professionals] that he’s got problems and that he doesn’t un
  
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• One lawyer’s crusade to defend extreme pornography | Edward Docx

  09-09-2015 07:00
  
  Myles Jackman is on a mission to change Britain’s obscenity laws. For him, it’s more than a job, it’s a moral callingOne evening in the late autumn of 2008, Andrew Holland returned from holiday to discover that the front door to his home in Wrexham had been smashed in. Thinking he had been burgled, he phoned the police. They came straight round – and arrested him.By day, beneath the lawyerly suits that strain to contain him, he wears Batman socks; by night, he wears Batma
  
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• Amal Clooney in Maldives meets jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed

  09-09-2015 05:14
  
  Human rights lawyer says she will attend meetings with government on his behalf, with high court hearing due to be held over terrorism conviction The international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has met with the jailed former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed – who was convicted of terrorism in a case that has drawn international criticism – a day before a key high court hearing.Nasheed, the Maldives’ first democratically elected leader, was ousted in 2012 for orderi
  
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• Is it legal for Australia to bomb Syria? Five facts you need to know

  09-09-2015 04:41
  
  The Abbott government has confirmed Australia will join US-led airstrikes in Syria. But are there any domestic or international legal ramifications for extending our role in the Middle East conflict?The Abbott government confirmed on Wednesday that it plans to extend airstrikes into Syria against Islamic State targets. The national security committee met on Tuesday to approve a plan to conduct the aerial operations. Related: Australia to accept an extra 12,000 Syrian refugees and will join US-le
  
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