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International Edition

On the bonfire - moves to burn up the UK's competition regime divide lawyers

It looks like it's almost a done deal. Among antitrust advisers, the expectation is that it is only a matter of time before the Government makes good on its proposal to merge the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) with the Competition Commission (CC).
21 minute read

International Edition

Might wasn't right - 9/11's lasting legal legacy

It was probably inevitable from the moment the two aeroplanes struck the Twin Towers a decade ago that the world was about to face a period in which the competing interests of security and liberty – two issues that go to the heart of the law's role in society – would come into prolonged conflict. The former of these interests was dominant in the five years after the attacks as the US and UK pushed on with a legally controversial conflict and ushered in a series of aggressive anti-terrorism measures. In the process, the US often sought to recast terrorism in legal terms applied to war rather than criminal procedures.
3 minute read

International Edition

After the impact - how 9/11 is still affecting the legal market

Just days after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, then Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor kept a longstanding commitment to help dedicate a new building at New York University (NYU) School of Law. She visited Ground Zero first and told her NYU audience: "I am still tearful from that glimpse." O'Connor went on to predict: "The trauma that our nation suffered will and already has altered our way of life, and it will cause us to re-examine some of our laws pertaining to criminal surveillance, wiretapping, immigration and so on… As a result, we are likely to experience more restrictions on our personal freedom than has ever been the case in our country."
7 minute read

International Edition

Weightmans wins new client mandate for regional NHS Trust

Weightmans has won The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust as a new client for its healthcare and corporate practices. The firm won the Trust as a new client through a competitive tender process carried out under a new framework agreement.
2 minute read

International Edition

A stark choice - Government planning reform comes in for criticism

The Government's planning reform has come in for criticism as it attempts to strike a balance between economic growth and localism. Will the new National Planning Policy Framework do the job? Hogan Lovells' Michael Gallimore and Harry Spurr report
9 minute read

International Edition

Relief for English lawyers as Supreme Court backs right to choose arbitrator's nationality

London's position as a global centre for arbitration has been reaffirmed following a Supreme Court ruling that nationality and religion can be used as criteria in the selection and appointment of arbitrators. In a landmark judgment handed down last week, the Supreme Court confirmed that arbitrators are not employees and therefore fall outside of UK equality laws.
6 minute read

International Edition

Does the 'pro-business' US Supreme Court really favour corporations?

The US Supreme Court's recent rulings call into question whether it really favours corporations. Tony Mauro reports
6 minute read

International Edition

United fronts - the legal profession needs a more unified voice

One of the themes emerging from this week's extended look at the sweeping reform of legal aid currently going through Parliament is that lawyers in general struggle to mount effective campaigns for worthwhile shifts in public policy. In the case of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Lawyers aren't that popular on the Clapham omnibus and that kind of painfully complex reform is very difficult to energise debate with. This political reality is why legal aid, despite being a relatively tiny slice of social provision, has seen its budget already curtailed considerably during the last decade – its current £2.1bn level actually peaked in real terms 10% higher back in 2003-04. All this before the Government gears up to knock another £350m annually off the budget via a huge withdrawal of civil legal aid.
3 minute read

International Edition

Under pressure - are the legal aid cuts tough love or political expediency?

The statement issued on 21 June by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was headed: 'Clarke: Plans outlined to reduce reoffending'. Those who read the opening paragraphs of the press notice, and indeed followed through to the middle section, would have understood that his announcement related to what the Government billed as a "radical plan to reduce reoffending".
23 minute read

International Edition

City lawyers size up US-style success fees – but concern grows over legal aid cuts

City law firms are assessing the prospects for using damage-based billing arrangements (DBAs) for complex litigation following the Government's near-wholesale adoption of the Jackson reforms included in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill last week. The bill, which fell in line with previous consultations, is expected to see City law firms experiment with DBAs for high value disputes as demand for alternative billing methods increases.
8 minute read

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