May 2012 Archives

Senior Tories Michael Gove and Theresa May have this week stood at the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics to state on the record that they stand against intervention in the running of the press with new legislation.

Lord Justice Leveson has already hinted that new laws will form the basis of future press regulation after he presents his report to Parliament later this year.

The Leveson Inquiry was convened in the wake of the News of the World 'phone-hacking' scandal and subsequent revelations that police and politicians may have been unduly influenced by the media.

The American law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf became one of the largest legal firms to fail in US history on Monday, after it was finally forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Dewey has been in trouble for some time, and was in the midst of attempting to find a partner to save the business.

However, the firm had been hit by the mass-defection of the majority of its 300 partners, which left it with dwindling incomes and a heavy debt burden which have ultimately forced it to fold.

The Scottish Government has announced that it is to act to lower the legal drink-driving limit as a matter of priority; however, the move has been welcomed with some caution by those campaigning for safer roads who believe that a zero-tolerance approach is the best way forward.

The plans were unveiled by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill who revealed that the limit will be lowered from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg.

The Scottish executive acquired the power to change the drink-driving law in the Scotland Act 2012.

The European Union is set to unveil brand new financial laws on 6 June which will afford national regulators the power to seize failing banks, break them up and impose losses on those who hold their bonds.

The legislation could also oblige member states to bail out struggling banks in other EU countries in a move which could upset some of the Union's more financially stable economies.

The new laws have been prompted by renewed fears that a run on the bank could be about to take place in Greece after they failed to appoint a new executive in their recent parliamentary elections.

Barclays Bank was yesterday told by HM Treasury that it must pay some £500m in tax which it has attempted to avoid paying by using two controversial tax-dodging schemes.

The two schemes involve different mechanisms to avoid tax. In the first, the bank buys back its own debt and avoids paying tax on the balance. In the second, the bank generates tax credits against Authorised Investment Funds when tax was not paid in the first place.

Barclays claim that they believe that both the schemes are consistent with similar schemes run by other high street banks; however, Barclays have been singled out by the Government and 'named and shamed'.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released figures which shed light on the alarming rise in the number of black-market kidney transplantations taking place around the world, with estimates putting the number as high as one every hour.

The trade in kidneys is being fuelled by a global increase in the incidence of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension coupled to a worldwide shortage of legally donated organs.

The expose was published by the Guardian newspaper following collaboration with the WHO.

Michael Woodford, the British businessman who was fired by Japanese electronics giant Olympus Corporation just two weeks after taking up the post, will this week begin a claim for unfair dismissal.

Mr Woodford was promoted from chief operating officer to chief executive in October 2011. However, he was removed just two weeks later, shortly before the company lost 75% of its share price.

The record losses in the Olympus share price were precipitated by suspicions surrounding payments made by the company during various corporate acquisitions dating back to the early 1990s.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband has used a trip to Afghanistan to launch a cross-party campaign to put an end to discrimination of UK armed forces returning home to the UK.

The pledge came after figures were released showing that some 20% of returning service personnel had experienced violence or attempted violence or had received verbal abuse from strangers whilst wearing their uniform.

The survey of service personnel was conducted by Conservative MP Lord Ashcroft. It showed that 18% were refused service in hotels and pubs whilst in uniform and 25% had been refused a mortgage, loan or credit card due to frequent changes of address.

The Co-operative Group has announced that it is to create some 3,000 new jobs in its Legal Services division as part of its expansion after the introduction of the Legal Service Act last year.

Under the new law non-legal businesses are permitted to sell legal services as Alternative Business Structures.

The moniker 'Tesco law' is somewhat misleading, as Britain's largest supermarket chain has so far stated that it has no plans to join the market.

Today is the last day for businesses in the UK to alter their websites so that they request users' permission to use cookies on their computers, following a change in the law prompted by EU legislation.

Cookies are small files which contain data about the website user which the site can access later on.

The data stored in cookies is used to enhance the browsing experience, but can also be passed on to advertisers to help them make their marketing more effective.

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned Conservative backbenchers that he intends to follow through a policy to allow gay marriage.

The policy has come under threat after the Tories' and the Lib Dems' battering at the local elections earlier this month. The poor results have fuelled speculation that David Cameron may attempt to retreat on some of the coalition's more controversial legal reforms, in a bid to appease angry Tory MPs.

However, speaking out in favour of the policy, Mr Clegg has warned his Conservative coalition partners that it will be a case of "how, not whether" gay marriage will be legalised.

A controversial report recommending reforms to UK employment law released yesterday has generated mixed reactions from politicians and commentators.

The report conducted by Conservative-backer Adrian Beecroft was commissioned to find ways to free up British business from the dreaded 'red-tape' in a bid to boost employment and get the economy moving forward again.

The report includes proposals to shorten the consultation period for redundancies from 90 days to 30 days and to place a cap on compensation for loss-of-earnings for those dismissed for discriminatory reasons.

The Prime Minister David Cameron once told a fellow MP that the mere thought of it made him feel "physically ill" but yesterday the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that the UK will need to relax its blanket ban over prisoners' voting rights.

The ruling came in the case of Scoppola v Italy.

Mr Scoppola was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 for murdering his wife after an argument over a broken mobile phone.

The Energy Secretary Ed Davey yesterday unveiled the Government's strategy for energy security for the next generation.

The Energy Bill revealed yesterday was announced in last month's Queen's speech, and is purportedly designed to ensure that UK homes and businesses receive an uninterrupted power supply to 2030 and beyond, whilst attempting to meet strict targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The bill includes a range of measures designed to induce inward investment into energy infrastructure, with the UK thought to need over £100bn to keep the lights on in the coming decades.

As the nation gears up to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee next weekend, businesses up and down the country are scratching their heads over their employees' right to the extra bank holiday, scheduled for Tuesday 5th June.

Amidst the confusion, lawyers and HR experts have been busy publishing their legal advice for employers.

The most salient point is that employees have no legal 'right' to the extra day off unless it is written into their employment contract. Similarly employers are not obliged to offer extra pay unless such a provision is made in the employment contract.

The Supreme Court yesterday commenced its hearing of a seven-year legal battle concerning the status in England and Wales of bankruptcy orders made abroad.

The law as it stands is that a bankruptcy order made abroad in the US, for example, is not enforceable in the UK unless there is a separate action brought in a UK court.

The Supreme Court is hearing the conjoined cases of Rubin v Eurofinance and New Cap Re.

The Government has been accused of being "obsessed with money" by the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association after a survey revealed that nine out of ten barristers are prepared to strike over proposed changes to the criminal justice system.

Max Hill QC addressed fellow barristers on Friday at the Criminal Bar Association annual dinner at Middle Temple Hall, painting a bleak future for the profession.

"Criminal barristers are facing heartache, depression and personal bankruptcy caused by the wanton failure of central Government to shore up the Legal Services Commission in such a way that they might pay us in reasonable time for concluded cases," he said, referring to the shocking delays in payments since the LSC took over barristers' pay from Her Majesty's Courts Service last April.

Scottish Conservatives have urged their counterparts across the EU to challenge the policy of minimum alcohol-pricing to establish whether it is compliant with EU laws on free trade.

The call comes despite the Scottish Conservatives backing the SNP Government's proposals, which could see a minimum 50p per unit price implemented north of the border.

The proposal is due to be put to a final vote on Thursday this week, and is widely tipped to become law.

The UK Government has stated that it will insist on tougher legal requirements than those required by the latest EU legislation on the subject.

The EU Directive on Animal Testing was drafted in 2010 and the UK has until 2013 to implement the proposals. However, in many cases the existing UK rules are more stringent than those required by the EU Directive.

The Government's stance on animal testing has been welcomed by animal-rights groups, but the RSPCA has expressed disappointment that they have not gone further.

The BBC, BskyB and a range of other media organisations yesterday won a High Court case against a series of police orders demanding that footage from the evictions at Dale Farm be handed over as possible evidence.

The travellers based at Dale Farm in Essex were evicted amid violent scenes last October.

At the time several news organisations had set up to film, including Independent Television News, Channel 5 and others. All the outlets joined forces to oppose the police disclosure orders.

The Crown Prosecution Service yesterday dramatically revealed that they would not oppose the appeal of Sam Hallam against murder charges which have seen him serve seven years in prison.

He was told on Wednesday that he would be released from prison with immediate effect.

Mr Hallam, 24, was jailed in 2005 for the murder of Essayas Kassahun, a trainee chef. He was just 17 years old at the time, and stood accused of being part of a baseball-bat-wielding gang who attacked and killed Mr Kassahun in East London.

At a speech at the London School of Economics this week, Lord Justice Sumption, the latest addition to the judiciary of the Supreme Court, said that he believes that the state will be held to account more often than it has done in the past.

Commentators are taking his assessment seriously: judges at Supreme Court level really do have an influence on the way the law develops in the United Kingdom.

His speech gives us the first idea of his political persuasions. He is one of the few judges in recent decades to have been appointed to the UK's highest court without having previously held a full-time judicial post.

The legal sale of prescription drugs by middlemen from UK distributors to other EU markets is prompting drastic shortages of key medicines, and could yet force the Government to review the law.

The all-party Pharmacy Group has just announced the findings of a six-month review into the issue and has concluded that the Government is putting EU free-trade law ahead of patient safety.

The group has called for an unequivocal message from law makers that UK patients come first ahead of free and fair trade.

Studying abroad for a year as part of your undergraduate legal education could open doors to internships and possible training contracts according to some law undergraduates currently on the Erasmus exchange programme.

The scheme places students from one European University at another for a year, and aims to breed cultural and social integration across European states, as well as producing more rounded graduates in a variety of subjects, including law.

Kiera Taylor is a law student at Kent University currently studying at the University of Copenhagen.

On Thursday 24 May we will be running a free online webinar promoting effective website strategies for client generation, and would like to invite solicitors to attend. It will be presented by Daniel Batten, one of our most experienced consultants.

It will run for about 30 minutes and will cover:

• Internet usage statistics
• How to get the most from your legal website, including;
• SEO strategies and techniques
• Website design principles
• Why content is so important for converting visitors
• A short Q&A session

For more information and to register, please visit www.lawyermarketinguk.co.uk/firmsite-webinars

Places are limited to ensure we have an appropriate amount of interaction with attendees, so if you're interested please register now. You will receive a reminder email 15 minutes before the webinar starts.

A woman who was abused on the social-network site Facebook has launched a landmark legal action against her tormentors in a case which could have wide ramifications for online conduct.

Nicola Brookes is taking legal action against Facebook to reveal the details of those who posted abuse on their site by setting up a fake profile using her name and details and using the rogue site to send explicit messages to underage girls, prompting taunts that she was a paedophile.

If successful, she has said that she will use the information to launch a private prosecution against her online tormentors, referred to in computer jargon as 'trolls'.

The Attorney General Dominic Grieve has warned internet users that the law will crack down on abusers posting on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in the same way as it would should such activity take place in the street.

The warning came after a series of high-profile cases involving postings made on micro-blogging sites. In one case a student who mocked football star Fabrice Muamba after he collapsed and nearly died in a game was jailed for 56 days for a racially aggravated public-order offence.

In another, a blogger who threatened to force excrement through the letterbox of a local councillor was handed 80-hours' community service.

One week ago the Chancellor George Osborne claimed that signing up to the latest EU reforms of the banking structure would leave him looking like "an idiot". However, with further discussions on the subject timetabled this week, it seems that he may be ready to soften his stance.

The UK objections centre on French and German desires to alter the way the Basel III capital requirements are implemented in European banks.

Basel III is an internationally agreed set of rules designed to ensure that banks keep enough cash in reserve to protect themselves from a downturn in the market.

The European Union's law on carbon trading is set to have a major impact on small aircraft-operators and private owners, according to aviation law experts.

The scheme, which is designed to place the EU at the forefront of global efforts to reduce carbon output over the next few decades by as much as 80%, will see companies forced to pay for the amount of CO₂ they produce through a credit trading system.

The scheme is already highly unpopular with the major airlines, who claim that the system will mire them in increased costs and a massive burden of bureaucracy.

Prison officers have been threatened with legal action for holding protest meetings after some 400,000 public sector employees took to the streets of Westminster to complain about austerity measures and pension changes taken by the Government.

Off-duty police officers, university lecturers and border-control staff joined teachers and nurses in walking up Millbank to the Houses of Parliament.

Meanwhile protest meetings were taking place at 80% of the country's prisons according to the Prison Officers Association (POA). They said that they would continue until they were called off by the union's national executive.

The Government has used this week's Queen's speech to announce plans to use the next parliamentary session to bring in new libel laws. The new defamation bill aims to abolish jury trials, curb online defamation and reduce so-called 'libel tourism'.

The amendments are being welcomed by many, who say that UK libel law is out of date and too expensive.

Lord Mawhinney is the chairman of the joint Commons and Lords committee on the draft defamation bill.

Victor Willis, the policeman from the band The Village People has won a ruling in a California court which entitles him to claim royalties for dozens of the band's hit songs.

The band was made famous in the late seventies and early eighties by their camp disco classics which included 'Y.M.C.A' and 'Go West'.

Willis won a battle to claim partial ownership of dozens of tracks after a California judge ruled that he could terminate a decades-old publishing deal. The judgment allows Willis to earn royalties on the songs, which for years had been paid to a publisher.

The disgraced private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed after it was revealed that he had hacked the telephone messages coming out of Clarence House, has told the Supreme Court that it is 'completely wrong' to suggest that he is in any way protecting his former employer.

Mr Mulcaire is fighting an order stating he must reveal who at the News of the World instructed him to intercept voicemails on behalf of the paper.

He denied that his action to defend the order was motivated in any way by a desire to defend his former employers or to protect former colleagues at the paper.

The Queen takes to parliament later today to deliver her speech at the State Opening of Parliament.

The speech, which contains details of the legislative programme for the next parliamentary session is widely tipped to offer a much reduced programme of new laws, with the 'squeezed middle' looking unlikely to gain any favour after the recent news that the economy did indeed dip into a second recession in the first quarter of 2012.

The Prime Minister and his deputy were in Essex yesterday, to promote a strengthening of their coalition government, and pledge a fresh commitment to jobs and growth in the wake of the dismal financial outlook.

Comparison websites, which have multiplied in recent years to bring consumers the benefit of comparing like-for-like products in markets including insurance and mobile phones, have been panned by a new report which shows that they are routinely discriminating against disabled users.

The reports contents, if proven, demonstrate that in many cases the companies may even be breaking the law.

The new report is by AbilityNet, a charity which surveys the web to assess the accessibility of popular websites for disabled users. The charity also helps disabled users to get the most from their online experience.

Two hundred UK-based staff at US law firm Dewey and LeBoeuf are waiting to hear of their fate after the firm's catastrophic meltdown across the pond put all their jobs in jeopardy.

A crisis-management team is now discussing the options for the London office of the international firm which is based in the City. The team, headed by London managing partner Peter Sharp, is considering a range of options including partnering with a rival, winding up the LLP in the UK or entering administration.

Dewey employed 110 lawyers in London at the end of March this year, including 35 partners, and also employed 85 support staff.

Some of the UK's top judges have been invited to Qatar as it bids to become a world-leading arbitration centre, in direct competition with London.

The most senior member of the English judiciary, Lord Judge, and the president of arbitration centre Qatari International Court are among an attaché of senior judges attending an event in Doha to discuss the rule of law.

Qatar is looking to boost its reputation in a number of key areas after it successfully bid to hold the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In addition to developing its legal services sector, it is also investing heavily in media development and markets and holding events designed to encourage foreign investment in the Gulf State.

New England manager Roy Hodgson has praised his legal team, who worked into the night to secure him a four-year contract worth an estimated £3m a year.

His legal team are based at firm Russell Jones and Walker (RJW), and were headed by lawyer Paul Daniels who heads the firm's sports law department and Paul Gilroy QC, an employment law specialist who works under retainer for the League Managers' Association.

RJW have also represented Everton's David Moyes and Aston Villa's Alex McLeish.

UK Chancellor George Osborne has been praised by some EU lawyers and analysts for his stance on a new 700-page draft finance law which is currently being negotiated in Brussels.

EU finance ministers sat well into the night on Wednesday and into Thursday morning to discuss the proposals which are aimed at implementing globally agreed 'Basel III' capital requirements for European banks.

The sticking point for Mr Osborne concerned UK proposals which would allow individual nations to impose stricter capital requirements on banks on a case-by-case basis, without the need to seek approval from EU decision-makers.

Bosses at the high-street discount clothing store, Primark, have announced that they are to take legal action against an Iranian clothes store which has just opened on one of the main shopping streets in Dubai.

The store boldly displays the Primark logo, in the same Primark blue, and opened without any permission from the international clothing brand.

The Iranian businessman behind the store is Yaqoub Hatami. He and four partners opened the store, claiming that they have never heard of Primark, and that the matching logo and livery was pure coincidence.

Two recent rulings by the UK's highest court have left employers wondering where they stand on age discrimination and contractual terms.

The first of the two cases concerned a solicitor, Leslie Seldon. Mr Seldon was a partner in a small local firm. He sued his employer under age-discrimination legislation after they enforced a clause in the partnership agreement which stated that he must give up his position after the passing of his 65^th birthday.

The second case heard by the Supreme Court concerned Terence Horner. Mr Horner is a former police officer, working as a legal adviser to the Police National Legal Database.

Scottish MPs have agreed that the law relating to the setting of a minimum price per unit of alcohol will include a clause allowing it to be repealed after six years if the policy fails.

The so called 'sunset clause' was negotiated into the legislation by Conservative MSPs as a bargain for gaining their support for the deal, which has now passed the second stage of parliamentary approval.

Under the proposed plans, retailers in Scotland will be obliged to sell alcohol for a minimum price per unit. The hope is that the law will result in a price rise for the cheapest forms of alcohol, including cider which is often sold in high strength and in large quantities for relatively low cost.

A Russian oligarch is suing the renowned auction house Christie's after claiming that they sold him a 'fake' painting for £1.7m in 2005.

The painting in question is Odalisque and was believed to be the work of Russian artist Boris Kustodiev. The painting was bought at an auction in 2005 by Viktor Vekselberg, 56, who is head of Renova Group and worth an estimated $12bn.

Counsel for Mr Vekselberg, Henry Legge QC, claims that the painting cannot be by the artist as the signature on it was signed several years after his death, and as a result they believe that their client is due a refund.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that the British Olympic Association (BOA) lifetime ban for athletes convicted of cheating with drugs is unlawful, in a move that could see sprinter Dwaine Chambers and cyclis t David Millar compete for Great Britain in London this summer.

The CAS was asked to rule on whether the BOA policy was consistent with the policies of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in a case which the BOA were widely tipped to lose.

In a statement, the CAS said: "The (BOA) by-law is a doping sanction and is therefore not in compliance with the WADA code. The CAS confirms the view of the WADA foundation board as indicated in its decision."

A survey looking into how businesses have been affected by new bribery legislation implemented last summer has revealed that fewer than one in five has cut levels of corporate entertaining.

The survey also shows that sales for private boxes at Royal Ascot are up 17%, suggesting that the hospitality market remains buoyant.

The survey suggests that the fears of many about the impact of the new laws appear to have been unfounded. Prior to the implementation of the legislation last summer, commentators had suggested that the new laws would hinder UK firms in their bid to compete with rivals from abroad who are subject to less stringent anti-corruption legislation.