Lawyer news

• Electra: an election on a flimsy platform

  05-11-2015 22:51
  
  Investment trust Electra Private Equity has performed well. It does not deserve the ‘activist shakeup’ now being inflicted on itElectra Private Equity is an investment trust you wish you’d put a few quid into a long time ago. Even if you had bought just before the financial crisis in 2008, you would have doubled your money by now. And if you had the sense to back the trust the following year, at the bottom of the market, you would have enjoyed a ride from £7 to £36
  
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• Northern Ireland first minister faces PSNI complaint

  05-11-2015 21:25
  
  Peter Robinson challenged over Commons remarks in 2006 that linked businessman Peter Curistan to IRA fundsNorthern Ireland’s first minister, Peter Robinson, is facing a complaint made to the police regarding remarks he made in the Commons about a Belfast businessman, it emerged Thursday night. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is being urged to investigate the remarks made by Robinson when he was an MP nine years ago. They concerned Peter Curistan, whom Robinson claimed, under parliam
  
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• Let doctors use off-patent drugs in new ways | Letters

  05-11-2015 20:36
  
  If passed, the off-patent drugs bill, which has its second reading in the Commons on 6 November, would allow doctors to prescribe existing drugs for new clinical uses, meaning that those which are no longer subject to marketing protection can be licensed by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency). This could have a major impact on the future of medical research and treatments, namely breast cancer prevention. For instance, tamoxifen was historically used as a treatment, bu
  
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• The surveillance bill is flawed but at last we have oversight | Nick Clegg

  05-11-2015 19:45
  
  In government I was shocked by the scale of MI5’s secret database. Its powers are at least now in the openWhen I entered government in 2010, I was the leader of a party that had been out of power for 65 years. There were a lot of things we had to re-learn, and a lot that was surprising and new.When a senior official took me aside and told me that the previous government had granted MI5 direct access to records of millions of phone calls made in the UK – a capability only a tiny handf
  
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• Only 'tiny handful' of ministers knew of mass surveillance, Clegg reveals

  05-11-2015 19:45
  
  Former deputy PM says he was astonished to learn how few cabinet members were aware of scale of UK spies’ reach into lives of British citizensThe majority of the UK cabinet were never told the security services had been secretly harvesting data from the phone calls, texts and emails of a huge number of British citizens since 2005, Nick Clegg has disclosed.Clegg says he was informed of the practice by a senior Whitehall official soon after becoming David Cameron’s deputy in 2010, but
  
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• Free legal advice has grown with aid cuts and court fees, says charity

  05-11-2015 19:24
  
  LawWorks offers free service to most vulnerable and has seen 55% increase in applications, but warns pro bono is no alternative to legal aidDemand for legal advice and support has soared after cuts to legal aid and the introduction of court fees, according to the charity that coordinates solicitors’ pro-bono clinics. A report by the organisation LawWorks, a charity committed to enabling access to justice through free legal advice, shows a 55% increase in applications over the past financia
  
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• Freshfields and HFW censured by takeover regulator

  05-11-2015 19:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  The two law firms advice led to a ‘serious breach’ of conduct, the Takeover Panel has ruled.
  
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• First arrest made under Northern Ireland's new offence of paying for sex

  05-11-2015 19:09
  
  Chief constable reveals man and three women have been arrested in brothel raid as sex worker steps up legal fight to overturn controversial lawA man in Northern Ireland has become the first person in the UK arrested for purchasing sex. The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, George Hamilton, said detectives had detained the man during a raid on a brothel.Speaking to the policing board in Belfast, Hamilton said: “Detectives from our human trafficking team conducted a
  
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• SRA publishes charge sheet for Alan Blacker prosecution

  05-11-2015 13:33 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Blacker, who goes under the name Lord Harley, says allegations will be 'robustly defended'.
  
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• Theresa May’s investigatory powers bill is a step in the right direction | Keir Starmer

  05-11-2015 13:30
  
  The introduction of judicial oversight to surveillance laws should help restore the proper balance of privacy and security – and the trust of all communitiesIn a democracy there will always be a tension between security and privacy. Most people want the police and the security services to have the necessary powers to be able to deal effectively with serious crimes including murder, child sexual exploitation, terrorism and locating missing people. But equally, most people are very uncomfort
  
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• Maghaberry prison in Northern Ireland unsafe and in crisis, say inspectors

  05-11-2015 13:18
  
  High-security facility holding republican paramilitary prisoners most dangerous visited, according to scathing report by UK prison authoritiesA Northern Irish jail holding some of the most dangerous republican paramilitary prisoners is unsafe and unstable, according to a damning report. Related: Dissident republicans in ‘standoff’ at Maghaberry prisonRelated: Lockdown as Northern Ireland prison is searchedContinue reading...
  
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• Gambling addict who stole £14k from PI clients is struck off

  05-11-2015 13:17 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Stewart Costello had arranged the transfer of money to his personal account.
  
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• Duke Street writes down £30m Parabis investment

  05-11-2015 13:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Talks continuing about selling elements of the alternative business structure.
  
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• Duke Street writes down £21.4m Parabis investment

  05-11-2015 13:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Talks continuing about selling elements of the alternative business structure.
  
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• UK ranked best EU country for start-ups - The Lawyer

  05-11-2015 12:30
  UK ranked best EU country for start-ups
  The Lawyer
  The UK is the best place within the European Union to start a business, a new report has found. The Prosperity Index, an international study of wealth and happiness, found that the UK is one of the leading economies for start-ups globally. It was also ...en meer »
  

• UK Takeover Panel Criticizes Credit Suisse, Law Firms on Creation of Bumi - Wall Street Journal

  05-11-2015 12:24
  Wall Street Journal
  UK Takeover Panel Criticizes Credit Suisse, Law Firms on Creation of Bumi
  Wall Street Journal
  LONDON—In a rare event, the U.K.'s Takeover Panel publicly criticized investment bank Credit Suisse Group AG CS -0.85 % and law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Holman Fenwick Willan LLP for breaching U.K. code of conduct rules in the ...en meer »
  

• Judge slashes clinical negligence costs bill by two-thirds

  05-11-2015 11:37 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Firm had claimed more than £32,000 after case settled for £3,500.
  
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• Gove says he wants to see prison numbers fall - Politics live

  05-11-2015 11:10
  
  Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen 10.10am GMTThe Ministry of Justice has not got a text of Michael Gove’s speech. He was speaking off the cuff, although a transcript may be available later.But the Howard League posted the highlights on Twitter. Here they are.Standing room only as Michael Gove speaks to the Howard League.Gove: We are entering a new era of talking about crime and punishment and rehabilitation.Gove: When we look at those who find th
  
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• Proportion of rape reports leading to charges falls sharply

  05-11-2015 09:21
  
  Just 12% of rape reports led to charge or summons in 2014/15 in England and Wales compared with 17% in previous 12 monthsThe proportion of rape reports to police that led to a charge fell sharply in 2014/15, according to new official figures.In England and Wales 12% of reported rapes, where the alleged victim was an adult, led to a charge or summons. In the previous 12 months the figure was 17%. The rate is almost double when the alleged victim is a child, with 23% of reported rapes resulting in
  
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• Why do the police still tell women that they should avoid getting raped?

  05-11-2015 08:00
  
  Nobody is really expecting women in Clapham to venture out only in groups, armed with rape alarms and baseball bats. But advice not to walk alone and to be on guard could be doing more harm than good“Women warned after Gainsborough assault.” “Police warn women walking alone after riverside incident.” “Serial sex attacker strikes again as ninth victim is assaulted and police warn women to be on their guard.” “Police issue warning to women not to walk or t
  
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• Call to regulate private car park penalties after supreme court battle

  05-11-2015 03:47
  
  AA demands legal limits on infringement charges handed out by companies after chip shop owner losses appeal over £85 charge for overstaying in free slotMinisters are being urged to regulate enforcement of parking in private car parks after a chip shop owner who was charged £85 for overstaying in a two-hour free slot by about 50 minutes lost a supreme court fight.Barry Beavis, 47, who runs the Happy Haddock in Billericay, Essex, complained that the charge imposed by management company
  
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• Call to regulate private car park fines after legal battle

  05-11-2015 03:47
  
  Motorists’ groups demand limits on charges after chip shop owner loses supreme court appeal over £85 charge for overstaying in free slotMinisters are being urged to regulate enforcement of parking in private car parks after a restaurant owner who was charged £85 for overstaying in a two-hour free slot by about 50 minutes lost a supreme court fight.Barry Beavis, 47, who runs the Happy Haddock in Billericay, Essex, complained that the charge imposed by the management company Park
  
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• Mass snooping and more – the measures in Theresa May's bill

  05-11-2015 01:18
  
  Summary of the main provisions of the 299-page draft of Theresa May’s investigatory powers bill, which seeks to implement the first ‘comprehensive’ British surveillance law of the digital ageThe home secretary used the bill’s publication to avow – officially acknowledge for the first time – that successive British governments repeatedly signed off “secret directions” to phone and web companies to hand over large volumes of personal communications d
  
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• CMCs not as bad as the public think, says Legal Ombudsman

  05-11-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Lower than expected complaints levels reported by industry watchdog.
  
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• San Francisco voters reject proposition to restrict Airbnb rentals

  05-11-2015 00:55
  
  In a result that was closer than expected, 55% of voters rejected the proposal, which would have reduced the number of days owners can rent out properties Airbnb has claimed “a victory for the middle class” in San Francisco after voters rejected proposals to restrict short-term vacation rentals.The campaign over Proposition F, or the “Airbnb initiative”, represented a characteristic split between San Francisco’s wealthy tech community and its tradition of vibrant co
  
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