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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

Walkers—Muriel Marseille

Walkers—Muriel Marseille

Ashurst's Chief Risk Officer joins Walkers

Excello Law—John Osborne

Excello Law—John Osborne

Northern family lawyer John Osborne joins Excello

mfg Solicitors—Rebecca Rogers, Kennedy Langley & Victoria Griffiths

mfg Solicitors—Rebecca Rogers, Kennedy Langley & Victoria Griffiths

Trio of promotions announced at Kidderminster law firm mfg Solicitors

NEWS
A sole director can conspire with their own company for the purposes of the tort of unlawful means conspiracy, the High Court has ruled in a judgment with potentially wide implications for business disputes
The Court of Appeal has reinforced that domicile depends on intention rather than residence alone, in a significant post-Brexit ruling on cross-border financial remedy claims
The Chancery Division's long history comes to an end this autumn as it is reborn as the Business and Property Division, prompting questions over whether the shake-up is really necessary
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) continues to show that failing to disclose regulatory issues can attract harsher consequences than the original misconduct itself
Rejecting a generous settlement can prove an expensive mistake, as two recent high-profile cases demonstrate
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