The Lawyer

LAW Commission chair Mr Justice Brooke has welcomed a new method for fast tracking non-contentious Bills through Parliament. Called the Jellicoe Procedure, it could reduce the amount of Law Commission-proposed legislation in the pipeline. The first Bill to use it will be the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Mechanisms built in to the procedure […]

THE LORD Chancellor has received 250 applications for positions of district judge from lawyers answering the first ever judicial advertisements in the UK. Another 50 applications for the job of circuit judge on the North Eastern, Wales and Chester and Western circuits have also been received as a result of the advertising campaign. A spokesman […]

The London group of the Association of Women Solicitors is putting the spotlight on the media with a seminar on communication skills. Sue Stapely, head of the Law Society’s press and parliamentary unit and the author of Media Relations for Lawyers, will address the seminar at the society’s council chamber on 7 November. Tickets from […]

Barristers have called for more effective action to combat the “urgent” problem of racial and sexual harassment at the Bar. Speaking last week at a meeting of the Young Barristers’ Committee, Bar chairman Robert Seabrook QC said the problem was “despicable” and “unacceptable” and urged chambers to introduce proper procedures for dealing with complaints. Vivienne […]

COMMERCIAL firms Forsyte Kerman and Saunders Sobell Leigh & Dobin will merge on 1 December. The new firm, Forsyte Saunders Kerman, is the result of merger talks last month (The Lawyer, 27 September) and claims to be the second largest in the West End. It will be based at Forsyte Kerman’s refurbished and expanded offices […]

More than 200 Bar School students are taking part in this year’s mini-sponsorship scheme. Numbers are up on last year when the twinning idea was first pioneered by the Council of Legal Education (CLE). Students are linked to sponsors who have recently completed the year-long course. Christine Rees, CLE information officer, says: “The sponsors give […]

INTERNATIONAL law firm Coudert Brothers has lost 17 lawyers, including five partners, in a walkout from its Paris and New York offices. In a surprise move last week, partner Jean-Francois Carreras left the firm’s New York base to join Parisian defectors Nicolas Sokolow, Patrick Dunaud, Jean-Francois Mercadier and Patricia Elsen. Four of the five have […]

TOP white collar crime specialist Anthony Vernon is leaving City law firm Richards Butler for accountants Price Waterhouse. The highly rated 41 year-old partner joined Richards Butler in June 1992 from Boodle Hatfield. Business development manager Geoffrey Parker says client confidentiality prevents him from commenting on Vernon’s caseload. Parker says no assistants are leaving with […]

LEEDS-BASED Booth & Co has confirmed it is talking to Manchester firm Addleshaw Sons & Latham with a view to a possible merger. Booths’ senior partner, Maurice Cowen, stresses discussions are at “a very early stage” and merger is only one option. But Paul Lee, Addleshaws’ managing partner, says merger talks are not on the […]

Lawyers should be alert to the problems of the mentally disordered when dealing with clients in custody, says charity Mencap. It says lawyers should not hesitate to call in an appropriate adult under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, if they feel a client has difficulty understanding or communicating his or her needs. Mencap […]

* Local authorities are being called on to introduce tough new measures to eliminate the threat of racial violence. A motion passed at the recent Law Centres Federation (LCF) annual general meeting, says the “failure by local authorities to acknowledge the true prevalence and impact of racial harassment and violence” is a serious cause of […]