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Percentage award – 2
Secretary of State for Education & Skills v Frontline Technology Ltd [2004] EWHC 1563 (Ch) (Patents Court)
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Percentage award – 1
Apotex Europe Ltd and others v SmithKline Beecham plc and others 2004 WL 961028 ChD; [2004] EWHC 964 (Ch)
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Fixed success fees for employers’ liability accident cases
Conditional fee agreement fixed success fees were extended to the estimated 48,000 annual claims brought for accidents at work from 1 October by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No2) Rules 2004 (SI 2004 No 2072), which introduced new CPR rules..
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01 November 2004
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Fixed Costs
£28.00. Published by EMIS Professional Publishing,31–33 Stonehills House, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL8 6PU. Telephone 01707 334823. Fax 01707 335022. ‘Email sales@emispp.com
This book by Kerry Underwood not only deals..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Revised Practice Direction 52
The new Practice Direction that came into force on 30 June was presaged by the Court of Appeal in Scribes West Ltd v Relser Ansalt and another (No 1) [2004] EWCA Civ 835 on 29 June in which it gave guidance on and explanation for the changes. Here..
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01 November 2004
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Solicitors subsiding settlements
According to an item headed ‘Damages boost for miners’ in the Law Society’s Gazette of 23 September:‘Solicitors could sacrifice part of their own fees to fund a minimum compensation payment for ex-miners suffering from..
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01 November 2004
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Civil proceedings order
HM Attorney General v Chitooie [2004] EWHC 1943 (Admin)
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01 November 2004
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Higher rights of audience
Time is running out for two of the three routes by which solicitors may acquire rights of audience in the higher courts under the Higher Courts Qualification Regulations 2000. From 31 October 2005 the exemption route (experience of advocacy in the..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Statistics
‘The Law Society has published its annual statistics for 2003, which make fascinating reading … There are now 116,110 solicitors on the roll, of whom 92,752 have practising certificates and 6,924 were admitted to the roll in 2003. 44.8%..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Referral fees reversal
73.5% of the 20,000 members of the Law Society who voted deplore the Council’s decision to sanction referral fees and call on it to reinstate the ban. This was only a 17% response, and although it is persuasive it is not binding on the..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Banks?
The answer, according to The Lawyer of 27 September, is all the major firms of solicitors. When the Brascan consortium sought to stop Canary Wharf selling off £1.1bn of property to the Royal Bank of Scotland, it was unable to find any City law..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Solicitors Pro Bono Group
‘I was being bullied at work. I didn’t know what to do. In the end it got so bad I couldn’t go to work. Then my troubles really began. With no money I couldn’t afford to live; I thought I would lose my home. I became..
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01 November 2004
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Unmeritorious applications
The guidance on the limited restraint on troublesome litigators given by the Court of Appeal in Bhamjee v Forsdick and others (No 2) [2003] EWCA Civ 1113 has now been incorporated in CPR Parts 3, 23 and 25 with a comprehensive Practice Direction..
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01 November 2004
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Mortgagee out of time
West Bromwich Building Society v Wilkinson and another CA TLR 5 October
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01 November 2004
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Part-time working
From 1 April 2005 all new and existing salaried judicial appointments below High Court level will be suitable for part-time sitting unless the nature of the office or business needs dictate otherwise. At present only district judges and tribunal..
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01 November 2004
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Appeal against own undertaking
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Bell Davies Trading Ltd and another CA TLR 21 September
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01 November 2004
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Freezing order should not have been made
Fourie v Leroux and others ChD TLR 8 October
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01 November 2004
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Gypsies
Chichester District Council v First Secretary of State and others [2004] EWCA Civ 1248
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
‘The Denial of Justice Act’
Lord Goodhart, speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference, said that the effect of cutting the civil legal aid budget to compensate for increased demand on its criminal counterpart had been to strike at the ability of the poorest members of..
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01 November 2004
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Varying post-nuptial settlement
Charalambous v Charalambous CA TLR 7 September
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01 November 2004
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Community of property
Reading and Exeter Universities are embarking on a two-year research project into the European concept of community of property under which marriage or registering a partnership generates a ‘community’ of certain of the couple’s..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
’With some of my worldly goods I thee endow’
Following the decisions in Parlour and McFarlane (23/LL p90) interest has been revived in pre-nuptial settlements. According to the Solicitor’s Journal of 1 October research undertaken by Dawsons show that the UK is one of the few members of..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Family Justice Council
The Family Justice Council was formally launched on 1 July. Its terms of reference are:
promoting improved interdisciplinary working across the family justice system through inclusive discussion, communication and coordination between all..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Pension sharing
R (Smith (Susan)) v Secretary of State for Defence [2004] EWHC 1797 (Admin)
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01 November 2004
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Collaboration
The Collaborative Family Law Group has teamed up with the Solicitors Family Law Association. Collaborative family law, which was developed in the US and Canada, offers divorcing and separating couples a way to negotiate without going to court or..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Property division for unmarried couple
Cox v Jones [2004] EWHC 1486 (Ch)
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Expert’s preliminary report
Jackson v Marley Davenport Ltd CA SJ 1 October; TLR 7 October
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 No 1861)
These provisions came into force on 1 October and introduced new terminology similar to the Civil Procedure Rules. ‘Applicant’ became ‘Claimant’, ‘Originating application’ became ‘Claim form’ and..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
New procedures
New employment laws were introduced by schedule 2 of the Employment Act 2002, which came into force on 1 October.
There is a three-stage procedure for dismissing an employee. First the employee must be told in writing of the reason he is facing..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Disability discrimination
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No 1673) came into force on 1 October. Here is a summary of the main changes:
The small employer exemption that excluded employers with 15 or fewer employees has been..
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01 November 2004
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Illegality defeats discrimination claim
Yakante v Governing Body of Addey and Stanhope School (No 2) CA TLR 28 September
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01 November 2004
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Whistle-blower’s good faith
Street v Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centre CA TLR 6 September
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01 November 2004
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Assault
Richardson v Howie [2004] EWCA Civ 1137
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01 November 2004
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Compensation for highway obstruction
Ocean Leisure Ltd v Westminster City Council CA TLR 2 September
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Access to documents
A new CPR rule 5.4 and accompanying Practice Direction make detailed provision for obtaining access to court documents depending upon whether or not the applicant is a party to proceedings. The only publicly accessible registers at present are at..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Lack of transparency and information
According to the Law Society’s Gazette of 23 September, research conducted by the London Committee of the Law Society’s Commerce and Industry Group reveals that in house counsel are dissatisfied with the manner of billing of law firms...
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Reduction for conduct
Chinwe Cordelia Gil v Aygreen Properties Ltd (in liquidation) and others [2004] EWHC 2029 (Ch) (Companies Court)
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
Refusal of Part 36 offer
I N Newmans Ltd v Richard T Adlem [2004] EWHC 1563 (Ch) (Patents Court)
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004
CFAs - the media fight back
More than a dozen media groups in their response to the DCA consultation paper Making Simple CFAs a Reality complained that solicitors are holding them to ransom in libel claims by abusing Conditional Fee Agreements. Because of the 100% success..
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01 November 2004
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Volume 23 No. 9 - 01 November 2004