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01 August 2014 / Tim Heywood
Issue: 7617 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Knowledge is power

How well informed is your firm, asks Tim Heywood

The legal profession rightly prides itself on its deep technical expertise and the sound professional judgment it can bring to the variety of business challenges faced by clients.

It also applies tried and tested ways of handling information, be that sensitive commercial information supplied by a client (perhaps the details of a proposed merger or acquisition, or a new consumer product) or its own information (the information derived from that deep technical expertise) such as know-how; templates and other specialist materials.

Information (or rather the value that can be derived from the conscious process of managing, protecting and exploiting information) lies at the very heart of successful legal practice. That much is surely a “given”.

Information is a valuable asset to the firm and so, naturally, all firms manage and control their information effectively at all times and extract maximum commercial value from it.

Because lawyers are also bound by a professional duty of confidence, and that duty is inculcated into us during the training

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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