Legal News

MPs oppose Attorney-General reforms

Posted on June 24, 2008
Proposed powers for the Attorney-General to halt prosecutions on national security grounds or to stop fraud investigations are condemned by an influential committee of MPs today.

Law Lords anonymity ruling takes first casualty

Posted on June 24, 2008
The first major murder trial to be hit by last week’s law lords’ ruling on witness anonymity was halted at the Old Bailey today.

Ashar Qureshi: 'I like the gamesmanship of corporate law'

Posted on June 23, 2008
I really don’t like my carbon footprint right now. With most of the recent major activity taking place in emerging markets, I’ve spent a lot of time on planes this year. Depa, the first true entrepreneurial IPO to come out of Dubai, was a highlight, as was the London Stock Exchange listing of Lucky Cement, which marked the return of the Pakistani capital markets after the political turmoil earlier this year...

The cases that changed Britain: 1955-1971

Posted on June 23, 2008
Part one: The cases that changed Britain: 1785-1869 | Part two: 1870-1916 | Part three: 1917-1954

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In court today: drink-driving coach driver Leslie Weinberg to be sentenced

Posted on June 23, 2008
Aylesbury Crown Court

The cases that changed Britain: 1916-1954

Posted on June 22, 2008
Part one: The cases that changed Britain: 1785-1869 | Part two: 1870-1916

European Commission calls for transparency from lobbyists

Posted on June 22, 2008
Companies, consultancies and non-governmental organisations are being asked to disclose how much they spend lobbying European Union policymakers, under new rules that come into force today.

Government to revisit issue of witness anonymity

Posted on June 21, 2008
The government is examining ways to allow anonymous evidence in court cases, in the wake of this week's Law Lords ruling that defendants have a right to know who is in the witness box.

Sheikh’s £40m claim hits Barclays

Posted on June 21, 2008
A SENIOR member of the Qatari royal family has thrown Barclays’ fundraising efforts into jeopardy after raising legal claims against the bank over an alleged €50m (£40m) fraud.

Girlfriend arrested in missing Bayou fraudster case

Posted on June 20, 2008
Suspicions that convicted hedge fund fraudster Samuel Israel III faked his suicide deepened yesterday after his girlfriend was arrested for helping him to disappear.

City law firms feel the crunch as Howard Kennedy plans to cut 50 jobs

Posted on June 20, 2008
Howard Kennedy has become the latest UK law firm to fall victim to the credit crunch with the launch of a redundancy programme threatening up to 50 jobs.

EU raids Unilever in price-fix investigation

Posted on June 20, 2008
Four of Unilever's European offices have been raided by antitrust inspectors on suspicion of price-fixing.

City lawyer had ‘alternative personality’

Posted on June 19, 2008
A City lawyer suing her former bosses for £19 million was using an alternative personality when she successfully interviewed for another job while suffering from a serious mental illness, an employment tribunal was told yesterday. Gill Switalksi, 51, former head of legal affairs at Foreign & Colonial (F&C), was able to convince a senior executive at a rival asset manager that she was “full of energy and drive” despite her poor mental health, an expert witness said...

The UK's best law schools

Posted on June 19, 2008
Cambridge is the best university in the UK for studying law, according to the latest edition of The Times Good University Guide.

The cases that changed Britain: 1870-1916

Posted on June 19, 2008
Read the first part of The cases that changed Britain: 1785-1869

In court today: judgment on challenge by Abu Hamza

Posted on June 19, 2008
High Court

Former banker vows to reveal all as American officials ask whether UBS aided tax tricks

Posted on June 19, 2008
A former UBS banker pledged yesterday to reveal all about the internal culture of the Swiss bank in a move that could help American authorities with their investigation into whether it helped US clients to hide money from the taxman.

Former Bear Stearns fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin arrested by FBI

Posted on June 19, 2008
FBI agents arrested two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers at their homes yesterday, the first Wall Street executives to be formally charged by the US Government in relation to the credit crunch.

Shami Chakrabarti threatens to sue Andy Burnham over ‘slur’

Posted on June 19, 2008
A Cabinet Minister could face legal action by Britain’s leading human rights campaigner over allegations that he smeared her by making suggestive remarks about her relationship with David Davis.

Northern Rock considers legal action against former board

Posted on June 18, 2008
Northern Rock has confirmed that its new bosses have launched an investigation into whether legal action can be taken against the now-nationalised bank’s former board.

The Water Cooler

Posted on June 18, 2008
* Judges won a battle with the Ministry of Justice over their 2.5 per cent pay award this week. The MoJ had proposed 2 per cent, saying anything more would be at the expense of other priorities and was not needed for “recruitment, retention, motivation or morale”...

The cases that changed Britain: 1785-1869

Posted on June 18, 2008
It is a question to excite the repressed student in every lawyer: which cases have most shaped British law over the past 200 years?

Lawyer of the Week: Saimo Chahal

Posted on June 18, 2008
Saimo Chahal, a partner at Bindmans LLP, acts for Debbie Purdy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has won permission for a High Court challenge to clarify the law on assisted suicide. Ms Purdy wants her husband, Omar, with her when she has an assisted suicide in a country where it is legal, but he may be prosecuted when he returns to Britain...

Law lords reject plans to protect witnesses from gang retaliation

Posted on June 18, 2008
A key government plan to crack down on Britain’s gang culture by granting anonymity to threatened witnesses was in disarray last night after top judges ruled that such protection could make a trial unfair.

In the City: all go at Inner Temple

Posted on June 18, 2008
In and out

Jail is no place for the average prisoner

Posted on June 18, 2008
The controversy surrounding prison population is not going away. Only last week the most up-to-date statistics revealed that we are still locking up more women than in the past, and over the past 25 years there have been significant increases in inmate numbers, not only in England, but across industrialised nations...

Times Law Reports: from bottled snails to cannibalism

Posted on June 18, 2008
Times Archive | The cases that shaped modern British law: read the original law reports

‘I owe a lot to luck and serendipity’

Posted on June 18, 2008
Think of Clifford Chance and think of the world’s largest law firm, £1 million-a-year partners and revenue last year of £1.3 billion. But these days the “magic circle” giant rings less obvious bells — with, for instance, death-row cases and other pro bono work, public inquiries and social welfare.

Times Online Archive's 200 years of legal drama

Posted on June 18, 2008
“1832 — August 3, William Jobling, for the murder of Nicholas Fairless. The body was gibbeted on Jarrow Slake on August 6, and at night on the 31st it was stolen and secretly disposed of by some persons unknown.”

Northern Rock chief ponders legal proceedings

Posted on June 18, 2008
Ron Sandler, the executive chairman of Northern Rock, is examining the conduct of the troubled bank's former board to see if they could be sued for compensation.

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