Miners’ solicitors breached code – BBC News
“Solicitors in South Yorkshire deliberately breached a code of conduct to collect £32m in fees from miners’ compensation claims, a tribunal ruled.”
BBC News, 17th February 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: solicitors
Angel & Co (a firm) v Jenkins O’Dowd & Barth (a firm) – WLR Daily
Angel & Co (a firm) v Jenkins O’Dowd & Barth (a firm) [2009] EWHC 46 (Ch); [2009] WLR (D) 9
“When ordering summary enforcement of undertakings given by solicitors to redeem or discharge existing mortgages and charges over property being sold, the court was not required to conduct an inquiry to examine what would have happened had the solicitors performed the undertakings at the time they were given.”
WLR Daily, 20th January 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Jones v Attrill – Times Law Reports
Court of Appeal
“A solicitor was required to notify his client if he had an interest in recommending a particular insurance policy covering conditional fee agreements, if a reasonable person, knowing the relevant facts, would think that that interest might affect the advice the solicitor gave to his client.”
The Times, 16th January 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
SRA launches new consultations as LSA reforms loom – Legal Week
“The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has launched two new consultations in preparation for the next round of reforms under the Legal Services Act (LSA).”
Legal Week, 15th January 2009
Source: www.legalweek.com
Salsbury v The Law Society – Times Law Reports
Court of Appeal
“Absent any error of law, the High Court had to pay considerable respect to the decision of an expert and informed domestic tribunal.”
The Times, 15th January 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Lawyer ‘aided illegal passports’ – BBC News
“A lawyer tried to help criminals get passports by using the identities of dead children, a court has heard.”
BBC News, 13th January 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Drunk judge suspended for kissing lawyer and swearing in court – Daily Telegraph
“A drunk judge had to be escorted from court after kissing a solicitor, swearing at an usher and insulting a prosecutor while ‘fortified’ with brandy, a disciplinary tribunal has heard.”
Daily Telegraph, 13th January 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
C v W – WLR Daily
C v W [2008] EWCA Civ 1459; WLR (D) 4
“There was nothing unreasonable in a simple conditional fee agreement entered into between a claimant and her solicitor when liability had already been admitted by the defendant in the proceedings provided that the parties had made a proper assessment of the inevitably much reduced risk of failure.”
WLR Daily, 7th January 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Jones v Attrill; Hibberd v Michael Jane Hair & Beauty; Tankard v John Fredericks Plastics Ltd (Law Society intervening) – WLR daily
“The purpose of reg 4(2)(e)(ii) of the Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000 was to ensure that a solicitor acted and gave advice independently of his own interest. To determine whether, for the purposes of that regulation, a solicitor had an interest in recommending a particular insurance contract to his client, the test was whether a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts would think that the existence of the interest might affect the advice given by the solicitor to his client, and if so, the interest should be disclosed.”
WLR Daily, 15th December 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
More solicitors to face tribunal over coalminers’ scandal – The Times
“Solicitors across Britain are bracing themselves for further sanctions over the coalminers’ compensation scandal that led to two lawyers being struck off for dishonesty.”
The Times, 13th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Shamed solicitor Jim Beresford plans legal services ‘supermarket’ – The Times
“Jim Beresford aims to bounce back from yesterday’s public humiliation with a multimillion-pound marketing campaign to set up Britain’s first ‘legal services supermarket’.”
The Times, 12th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Struck off: lawyers who milked sick miners for millions – The Independent
“A solicitor who became Britain’s richest lawyer was yesterday struck off after being found guilty of creaming millions of pounds from compensation paid to sick miners. Jim Beresford, 58, and his partner Douglas Smith, 52, were also ordered to pay substantial costs for serious professional misconduct over the handling of personal injury claims made under a compensation scheme for miners suffering coal dust-related diseases and other injuries.”
The Independent, 12th December 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Salsbury v Law Society – WLR Daily
Salsbury v Law Society [2008] EWCA Civ 1285; [2008] WLR (D) 365
“The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal must now take into account the rights of the solicitor under arts 6 and 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It was an overstatement to say that a ‘very strong case’ was required before the High Court would interfere with a sentence imposed by the tribunal but, absent any error of law, the High Court must pay considerable respect to the sentencing decisions of the tribunal.”
WLR Daily, 26th November 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Marco Pierre White loses privacy case – The Times
“Marco Pierre White lost his privacy action yesterday against lawyers acting for his wife who obtained his private documents.”
The Times, 20th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Why solicitors need to keep one step ahead of the law – The Independent
“Keeping up to speed with the latest legal practices is not a matter of choice for solicitors, as Liz Lightfoot explains.”
The Independent, 20th November 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Chef loses privacy claim against wife’s lawyers – Daily Telegraph
“Marco Pierre White’s claim leaves Mr Justice Eady cold as divorce lawyers prepare to dine out on their victory.”
Daily Telegraph, 19th November 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Solicitor accused of aiding ‘bogus’ trade in feudal titles – The Times
“A solicitor was accused yesterday of being at the centre of a dishonest trade in bogus feudal titles sold to Americans and other foreigners.”
The Times, 19th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
SRA comes under fire in Beresfords tribunal – The Lawyer
“The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was accused of ignoring ‘false information’ and holding a ‘biased’ investigation, as the disciplinary tribunal against the coalminers lawyer Jim Beresford continued today.”
The Lawyer, 18th November 2008
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Solicitors accused over ‘dubious deals’ with union official that cost sick miners thousands – The Times
“Britain’s highest-earning solicitor acted dishonestly and with ‘conscious impropriety’ in dealings with a mining union that led to his firm handling thousands of industrial disease compensation claims, a tribunal heard yesterday.”
The Times, 18th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
