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Pulse UK
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May 23, 2024
AI Isn't Too Dangerous For Lawyers, Master Of The Rolls Says
Lawyers and judges should not be afraid to deploy artificial intelligence, one of the U.K.'s most senior judges has said, calling on legal professionals to embrace the tech and prepare for it to transform their roles in the future.
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May 23, 2024
Ex-Post Office Boss Told Reviewing Cases Would Be Bad PR
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells denied that avoiding becoming "front page news" influenced her decision to limit a review of past convictions based on faulty IT data in her evidence to the inquiry into the Post Office scandal on Thursday.
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May 23, 2024
Legal Services Board Appoints Comms Pro As New Leader
The Legal Services Board said Thursday that it had appointed a communications expert as its new leader to help it guide the legal sector through the "significant challenges" it is facing.
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May 23, 2024
Struck-Off Lawyer Loses Bid To Challenge Contempt Sentence
A struck-off solicitor lost her attempt on Thursday to get a second shot at reviving her appeal against a prison sentence for contempt of court as the appeals court found that she had failed to argue that she had been medically unfit to argue at her first appeal.
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May 30, 2024
White & Case Hires 2 Latham Partners In Germany
White & Case LLP has added two partners from Latham & Watkins LLP with more than three decades worth of experience between them in capital markets to its Frankfurt office.
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May 22, 2024
'Niche' Litigation Funding No Panacea For Access To Justice
Litigation funding remains too "niche" a market to solve the big problem of access to justice in the U.K., according to a study the Legal Services Board published Thursday.
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May 22, 2024
Mishcon's Int'l Arbitration Head Leaves For Littleton Chambers
Littleton Chambers said Tuesday that Mishcon de Reya LLP's head of international arbitration is set to join as silk, as the law firm names his successor to lead the firm's practice.
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May 22, 2024
DLA Piper Beefs Up White Collar Bench With Former SFO Atty
After leaving her government post in March, one of the most senior officials at the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office, Judy Krieg, has found a home at DLA Piper LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office, the firm announced Wednesday.
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May 22, 2024
Solicitor Fails To Nix Fake-Employee Fraud Conviction
A solicitor on Wednesday lost her bid to overturn her conviction for pocketing the salary of a fake employee, with a London appellate court ruling her conviction was not unsafe after the solicitor's counsel had argued the trial judge failed warn the jury a witness' evidence should be handled cautiously.
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May 22, 2024
Employment Law Biz Reprimanded Over 'Misleading' Ad
A British company offering human resources and employment law advice has been reprimanded by the U.K. advertising regulator for sending a misleading marketing letter, with the correspondence appearing to be from a public body.
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May 22, 2024
UK Gov't Calls Elections For July 4 Despite Poor Polls
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday called an early general election to be held on July 4, advancing the electoral timetable even though his Conservative Party lags decisively behind the opposition Labour Party.
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May 22, 2024
Ex-Post Office Boss Didn't Know Business Prosecuted People
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells denied on Wednesday that she knew the organization conducted its own prosecutions, telling the inquiry into its wrongful prosecution of innocent sub-postmasters she became aware of the power to prosecute only several years after she joined.
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May 22, 2024
Aspiring Judge Can't Reopen Race Bias Case
An Asian-British solicitor has failed to persuade an employment tribunal to reconsider his race discrimination claims against a High Court judge who dismissed his application because he filed his request too late.
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May 22, 2024
Travers Smith Carves Out AI Biz From Legal Tech Arm
Travers Smith LLP said on Wednesday that it has spun out a new artificial intelligence business from its legal technology arm that it expects will form one single system for lawyers to access and create a variety of AI tools.
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May 21, 2024
Russian Litigants Abandon UK Courts As Sanctions Bite
The number of Russian litigants using London's commercial courts has collapsed in the past year amid tightening sanctions on individuals and businesses tied to the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine, a report published Wednesday said.
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May 21, 2024
Attys With AI Skills Command Pay Bumps In The US, UK
Lawyer job listings that require artificial intelligence skills carry a wage premium of up to 49% higher in some markets, according to a report released Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Eversheds Sutherland Closing Berlin Office After A Decade
Eversheds Sutherland International said Tuesday that it will close its office in Berlin by the end of 2024 after a "strategic review of its German business."
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May 21, 2024
Claims Biz Sues Bankrupt Law Firm For PPI Referral Fees
A claims processor has asked a London court to recoup £663,000 ($843,144) from an insolvent law firm based on a previous ruling, arguing that its payment obligations existed years before it folded.
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May 21, 2024
13 Clyde & Co. Lawyers Defect To Kennedys In Madrid
Kennedys has hired 13 lawyers including a trio of insurance partners from Clyde & Co. LLP for its Madrid office, with the firm intent on strengthening its footing in one of Europe's key arenas.
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May 21, 2024
Post Office Official Told MP About IT Bugs Ahead Of Report
A former Post Office senior official conceded she was the "bearer of bad news" by ensuring an MP was told of bugs in the IT system used to wrongly prosecute innocent people, as she gave evidence to an inquiry Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Lawyer Suspended For Misconduct Toward Junior Women
A solicitor was suspended from legal practice for two years on Tuesday and hit with costs of £85,000 ($108,000) after a disciplinary tribunal held a private hearing over allegations of sexually motivated and inappropriate conduct toward multiple junior female employees.
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May 21, 2024
CMS Becomes First 'Foster Friendly' UK Firm With New Policy
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP said on Tuesday that it has introduced a new policy committing it to support staff who are foster carers, becoming the first U.K. law firm to receive a "Foster Friendly" accreditation.
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May 20, 2024
Arbitrator In $14.9B Malaysia Case Can't Nix Contempt Ruling
Embattled arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa has lost an appeal challenging his conviction in Spain for contempt of court after he ordered Malaysia to pay $14.9 billion to the heirs of the last sultan of Sulu in an unusual, high-stakes arbitration stemming from a 19th-century land deal.
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May 20, 2024
Barristers Blast Lack Of Data As Remote Hearings Decline
The Bar Council on Monday reported a "significant and steep decline" in the number of remote court hearings taking place since the peak of COVID-19 and condemned the "staggering" lack of data available to assess their effectiveness.
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May 20, 2024
Collapsed Firm Escapes Fine For Making Unapproved Claims
The solicitors' watchdog for England and Wales on Monday waived a £65,300 ($83,000) fine for a shuttered law firm that submitted claims without clients' approval, scrapping the penalty to safeguard the outfit's creditors.
Expert Analysis
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Pitfalls Lawyers Should Avoid When Correcting Their Mistakes
When solicitors make mistakes that cause prejudice to their clients, they will need to carefully consider whether they should try to fix their mistake, as trying to put things right may expose them to potential regulatory action, says Andrew Pavlovic at CM Murray.
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Translating The Plan For English-Language German Courts
The German Ministry of Justice is aiming to do away with the mistakes of the past and overhaul the German civil procedure in order to accommodate English-language disputes, but the success of these proceedings will depend very much on factors that the proposal does not address, say Jan Schaefer and Rüdiger Morbach at King & Spalding.
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A Breakdown Of The SRA's Proposed New Fining Powers
Thanks to the Solicitors Regulation Authority's pending new fining framework, which includes guidance on unsuitable fines and a fixed penalties scheme for low-level breaches, firms can expect to see more disciplinary findings leading to an SRA fine rather than referral to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, say Graham Reid and Shanice Holder at RPC.
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Russian Bank Ruling Clarifies UK Sanctions Regime
The recent U.K. High Court judgment of PJSC National Bank Trust v. Mints, a case brought by two Russian banks, is significant in clarifying that the U.K. sanctions regime does not deprive designated persons of their fundamental common law right to bring a claim in an English court, despite their assets being frozen, says Zoe O’Sullivan KC at Serle Court.
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Preparing For EU's Pay Gap Reporting Directive
An agreement has been reached on the European Union Pay Transparency Directive, paving the way for gender pay gap reporting to become compulsory for many employers across Europe, introducing a more proactive approach than the similar U.K. regime and leading the way on new global standards for equal pay, say attorneys at Lewis Silkin.
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Has The Liberalization Of Legal Services Achieved Its Aims?
Although there is still some way to go, alternative business structures are now an increasingly prominent feature of the legal services landscape, and clients can expect greater choice, improved quality and more manageable costs, as was intended by this shake-up of the profession's regulatory frameworks 15 years ago, says Dana Denis-Smith at Obelisk Support.
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How Overseas Property Verification Poses Risks To Attorneys
The recently launched register of overseas entities, requiring verification of foreign owners hoping to purchase U.K. property, could expose attorneys to criminal prosecution, professional negligence claims and reputational damage if they do not complete these checks to the required standard, which nevertheless remains murky, says Harriet Holmes at Thirdfort.
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What To Expect From UK's New Economic Crime Bill
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency bill, if passed, will reform aspects of Companies House and strengthen government anti-money laundering efforts, but it is also raising questions about how new information sharing requirements will affect businesses, say attorneys at Signature Litigation.
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A Trusted Cybersecurity Framework Is Imperative For Lawyers
The recent increased risk of cyberattacks has a number of profound implications for law firms, and complying with government guidance by embedding a cyber-savvy culture and adhering to a security framework will enable lawyers to add extra layers of defense and present their clients with higher levels of protection, says Marion Stewart at Red Helix.
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Opinion
Law School Admissions Shouldn't Hinge On Test Scores
The American Bar Association recently granted law schools some latitude on which tests it can consider in admissions decisions, but its continued emphasis on test scores harms student diversity and is an obstacle to holistic admissions strategies, says Aaron Taylor at AccessLex.
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New FCA Listing Rules May Start Regulatory Shift On Diversity
Listed companies that fail to meet new Financial Conduct Authority rules for minimum executive board diversity currently risk reputational damage mainly through social scrutiny, but should prepare for potential regulatory enforcement actions, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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What UK Professional Regulation Looks Like In A #MeToo Era
Two recent rulings from U.K. courts and tribunals reveal the increasingly shifting line between professional misbehavior and bad actions that would previously have been considered outside the scope of professional regulators, says Andrew Katzen at Hickman & Rose.
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How Immune Are State Agents From Foreign Courts?
The ongoing case of Basfar v. Wong is the latest to raise questions about the boundary between commercial or private activity and the exercise of sovereign authority that shields state agents from foreign judicial scrutiny — and the U.K. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in the matter will likely bring clarity on exceptions to the immunity doctrine, say Andrew Stafford QC and Oleg Shaulko at Kobre & Kim.
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Opinion
Justice Gap Demands Look At New Legal Service Models
Current restrictions on how lawyers structure their businesses stand in the way of meaningful access to justice for many Americans, so states should follow the lead of Utah and Florida and test out innovative law firm business models through regulatory sandboxes, says Zachariah DeMeola at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.
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Opinion
New NJ Fed. Rule On Litigation Funding Should Be Welcomed
The District of New Jersey's new local civil rule on litigation funding disclosure has faced exaggerated criticisms when it is a logical extension of the current practices in many U.S. jurisdictions, leads to greater transparency for the parties and the court without unduly burdening the parties, and is a positive development particularly in product liability cases, say attorneys at Dechert.