Football was lucky in 1985. Both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were born but not immediately signed up by Manchester United. A wide breadth of legislation received assent embracing areas of landlord and tenant, companies, insolvency, surrogacy arrangements, child abduction, enduring powers of attorney at al. Walter Merricks, for whom collective proceedings and Mastercard had yet to form into a dream, and who had spent around three years exposing in the NLJ what was going on at various institutions, including the Law Society, ceased his column. Among his disclosures had been the departure from the Society in controversial circumstances of its last secretary of the professional and public relations department, and the withdrawal of a former MP from his application to succeed. So where had Merricks gone? To the Law Society. For dinner? No, as assistant secretary-general, heading the communications and law and practice directorate divisions,
Archive: Civil way: 24 February 2023
Stephen Gold discovers a criminal poet, Clerkenwell solicitors cut up rough over PACE pay, & the NLJ gives the thumbs up to Spider Woman
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Flint Bishop—Charlotte Harris
Sheffield expansion continues with appointment of commercial property partner
Browne Jacobson—Paul Duggan
Browne Jacobson strengthens banking and finance practice with latest partner appointment Paul Duggan
Ward Hadaway—Chris Piggott
Employment partner joins Ward Hadaway
NEWS
The Law Society RFC Festival of Sport returns next month, bringing together legal and financial services professionals for one of the sector’s largest annual sporting events
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners
Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.
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