Katy is The Lawyer’s Horizon editor. Returning to The Lawyer after a three-year break in 2020, Katy initially covered litigation and the Bar and was the publication’s senior writer between 2014 and 2017.
Government proposals to spend less time with the family wins legal approbation The creation of a single family court will trigger mass investment in the family judiciary under fresh proposals put forward by senior family division judge Mr Justice Ryder last week. Family lawyers welcomed the report, Judicial proposals for the modernisation of family justice, […]
Litigation funder Burford has appointed Time Inc associate general counsel Melissa Sobel to help manage the company’s investment portfolio. It comes at the funder, which is listed on Aim, unveiled an 18 per cent rise in turnover at its half-year point to $13.6m. The company said Sobel, who was lead counsel for Time Inc publishing […]
The Court of Appeal is to welcome four new appellate justices next term after the latest round of promotions by Downing Street. Of the four new Lord Justices of Appeal, three have climbed the judicial ladder via the Queen’s Bench Division (QBD). The appointees are: Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, currently deputy chair of the boundary […]
A 39 Essex Street silk accused of VAT fraud has withdrawn his membership of the set in the face of criminal charges against him. Rohan Pershad QC was charged with VAT fraud last week (26 July 2012). He will appear in Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Thursday (2 August) to face charges that he “knowingly” […]
Lincoln’s Inn set 4 New Square has expanded its costs practice with the addition of two 39 Essex Street barristers, Robert Marven and Benjamin Williams. The set said the pair would join a team led by Nicholas Bacon QC and Roger Mallalieu. Williams has been involved with some of the biggest costs battles in the […]
The ARP is on its way out and law firms are becoming more commercial, which should make renewals less fretful In brief The 1 October renewal period for solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance is fast approaching. Underwriters are predicting a turbulent year as the Assigned Risks Pool (ARP) is phased out, bring about increased competition and […]
Civil Procedure (1) Barber; (2) Jangra; (3) Ceng Overseas Ltd (a company registered in Cyprus) v (1) Rasco International Ltd; (2) Rassouli-Elchin Ayaz Mustafa, unreported. Judge Thornton QC. 28 June 2012 An interim payment was ordered in respect of a judgment against a partnership that was in the process of being wound up, notwithstanding the […]
North West personal injury firm Edwards Hoyle has revealed its most bizarre personal injury claims from the last year. The firm has been instructed in cases involving an elderly man who was injured when his mobility scooter spontaneously combusted; a woman who was trapped in the doors of a lift for 15 minutes and a […]
39 Essex Street silk Rohan Pershad QC has been charged with a £600,000 VAT fraud. Pershad is charged with deliberately failing to declare VAT payments to HM Revenue and Customs on services he billed for between 1 June 1999 and 24 September 2011, the CPS said in a statement today. He is charged with a […]
The tide is turning on the bar’s reliance on solicitors for referrals Traditionally, the bar has relied on litigators as its route to market. The recession, however, has brought a power shift in that relationship, with City lawyers increasingly looking to the bar for referrals. The bar’s Public Access Rules came into force in 2004, […]
ArbitrationLatvian Shipping Co v Russian People’s Insurance Co (ROSNO). [2012] EWHC 1412 (Comm). Field J. 1 June 2012 The court had jurisdiction under CPR r.3.1(7) or its inherent jurisdiction to set aside an order granting leave to appeal against an arbitration award on points of law under the Arbitration Act 1996 s.69.Judgment accordinglyFor the claimant […]
With London 2012 just days away, Katy Dowell examines the legal wranglings needed to get some athletes to the starting line When the participating athletes arrive in London’s East End for the Olympics later this week they will have access to some of the country’s leading litigators and barristers. Never has the presence of the […]