December 2004

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Date posted on UnjustIS

Governments around the world must work together to build early warning systems that can cut death tolls from natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 59,000, U.N. experts say.

Reuters

28 Dec

It is man-made failings that allow natural disasters to wreak havoc

Times

28 Dec

Rogue trader finds enlightenment on the way to court

A former trader at the heart of Australia's largest currency scandal will not hire a lawyer to defend himself against criminal charges, having abandoned capitalism for Buddhism. David Bullen was this week notified that he would face 20 charges in relation to rogue trading that cost the country's largest bank, the National Australia Bank, A$360m (£142m).

Telegraph

22 Dec

Enron legal bills will cost $780m

To investors and staff, Enron is the financial disaster of a lifetime, a harrowing, nerve-racking disaster from which they may never recover. To lawyers, it's a bonanza.

Telegraph

22 Dec

FSA fines entrepreneur for Regus duping

LONDON (Reuters) - The Financial Services Authority has fined entrepreneur Robert Bonnier 290,000 pounds and financial group Indigo Capital 65,000 pounds for lying about owning shares in office rental firm Regus.

Reuters

21 Dec

City expert stole £9m to gamble

AN accountant stole £9m from his City employers to fund an out-of-control gambling habit. Wing Kit Chu, 32, took the money from engineering firm Charter Plc over a five-year period.

This is London

21 Dec

Wills theft solicitor is jailed

A solicitor who stole £630,000 to pay compensation he failed to secure for his clients has been jailed.
Donald Halling, 54, of Central Avenue, South Shields, stole the money from the wills of other deceased clients. He pleaded guilty to 12 forgery and seven theft charges and to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

BBC

21 Dec

Judgement day

As Sir David Clementi delivers his verdict on reform of legal services regulation, Neil Rose outlines the crux of his recommendations. If and when the Clementi review of the regulatory framework of legal services in England and Wales is implemented, lawyers will have to come to terms with a host of new acronyms. Principal among them will be the LSB (legal services board), OLC (office of legal complaints) and LDPs (legal disciplinary practices). MDPs (multi-disciplinary practices) may have to wait, however.

Law Society Gazette

19 Dec

Split capital trust deal nears completion

A RESOLUTION to the split capital investment trust scandal is expected to be announced tomorrow, despite another of the 22 firms involved pulling out of the negotiations. Exeter Fund Managers became the third firm to withdraw from the agreement on Friday, derailing the Financial Services Authority’s plans to conclude the affair before the weekend.

The Scotsman

19 Dec

Lawyer quits over 'odious' laws

A leading lawyer says he will no longer represent suspected terrorists in the wake of the Law Lords' damning verdict on the Government's "odious" anti-terror laws. ""Such a law is an odious blot on our legal landscape..."

This is London

19 Dec

Pensions: the secret rip off

PENSIONS may appear to be rather complex, but in fact the impact of the current crisis is quite straightforward, claims Stuart Neilson, a partner at Glasgow-based solicitors McGrigors. “Either we’re going to have to work longer, or we’re going to have to save more, or else the government is going to have to step in and tax us more [so it can better provide for our retirements],” he argued.

Sunday Herald

19 Dec

Con artist gang jailed after £13,000 scam

A GANG who preyed on elderly people - including a Huddersfield pensioner - have been jailed. The three con artists were trapped after a local newspaper photographer captured them on film after becoming concerned about their behaviour. Alison Layne, Martin O'Keefe and Terence Hodson were locked up at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to obtain money by deception.

IC Huddersfield

18 Dec

Suspects try for freedom after terror ruling by law lords
LAWYERS acting for 12 foreign terror suspects detained without trial will try to get them released on bail within the month after the ruling by the law lords that holding them is unlawful. Preparations are under way for a legal challenge to win freedom for the suspects held in Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons and Broadmoor top security mental hospital.

Times Online

18 Dec

£70m legal challenge over Accident Group

COLLAPSED personal injury firm The Accident Group is at the centre of a £70m legal battle over compensation claims the company's insurers say should never have been made. A Swiss insurance giant has warned up to 700 solicitors across Britain that they could be sued for money paid out over cases that failed under the "no win, no fee" system before the Merseyside-based company went into liquidation.

Crooked lawyer struck off after dodgy plane deal

A crooked lawyer acted as a "cloak of respectability" for businessmen involved in a multi-million pound cargo planes deal. Ian Hutchinson, 56, of Trinity Road, Paddington, allowed his firm's headed paper to
be used to approach airlines and moneylenders on behalf of a group of companies, without having carried out the proper checks.

Hampstead and Highgate Express

Taking care of their own

Why it is so difficult to regulate lawyers and doctors
ASKING a businessman to reform the legal profession is like encouraging a dog to herd salmon: he will be out of his element and liable to get soaked. Sir David Clementi, chairman of Prudential, an insurance company, makes some bold proposals in a report published on December 15th, but the lawyers are having none of it. “David Clementi has never really understood what we do,” says Stephen Irwin, chairman of the Bar Council. “He comes from a different world.”

GM sues Chinese carmaker over design

General Motors has sued a Chinese carmaker for allegedly copying a car designed by its South Korean unit, Daewoo, in a case that will test the local legal system's ability to handle intellectual property theft cases.

Court case exposes Mickey Mouse way of doing things

Almost 10 years ago, Michael Eisner received a memo referring to a “dull but increasingly important subject.” The note to the chairman of Walt Disney from Raymond Watson, a director, raised the issues of corporate governance boardroom independence. “I was urging them to get on with the task,” Mr Watson told the Delaware chancery court this week. He was the latest defendant to testify in an investor lawsuit claiming that Disney's board wilfully neglected shareholders' interests with its brief appointment of Michael Ovitz, the Hollywood talent agent, as group president. Mr Ovitz was hired in October 1995 and fired in December 1996 with a $140m payoff.

Terror laws in tatters

THE Government was seeking new ways to keep terrorist suspects in prison last night after a law lords ruling devastated the anti-terrorism laws introduced by David Blunkett.

Ordering the lawyers

"Despite being restructured, the General Medical Council was again criticised last week, in Dame Janet Smith's final report on the Shipman case, for being too ready to put the profession's interests ahead of the interests of patients. The legal profession has had a much lower profile, yet ironically it is in much more urgent need of reform."

Saddam sees lawyer for first time

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has had his first meeting with a member of his defence team since he was captured just over a year ago.

Government must free them or charge them, say lawyers

THE Government must act swiftly to charge or release the nine detainees held on suspicion of links with terrorism after the law lords’ ruling, lawyers and civil liberties groups said yesterday.

Charity cash frozen in lottery fraud inquiry

The bank accounts of 30 registered charities were frozen yesterday as the investigation into allegedly fraudulent lottery payments of more than £1m spread out across the charitable sector.

No win, no fee deals 'are failing claimants'

"No win, no fee" deals are failing accident victims and can leave them with little or no compensation after paying hidden costs, according to a report today from the charity Citizens Advice.

Financial services and solicitors

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) will regulate general insurance business from 14 January 2005. The FSA currently regulates only those insurance contracts with an investment element (such as life policies) and, since 31 October 2004, long-term care insurance contracts.

Crooked solicitor struck off

A CROOKED solicitor who helped evil "Snakehead" gangsters to smuggle hundreds of Chinese asylum into the country was struck off last Tuesday. Titus Miranda, 58, ran his firm as a "factory of lies" coaching migrants on how to convince the authorities that they were the victims of religious persecution.

Whistleblowers blow the whistle on poor protection

WHISTLEBLOWERS who seek to expose corruption and mismanagement in Wales are more likely to lose their jobs than receive thanks, according to a group who took their campaign to the National Assembly yesterday.

IC Wales

Papers consider Shipman inquiry

Papers consider the latest report from the public inquiry into the crimes of Harold Shipman - the GP thought to have killed at least 215 patients.

BBC

10 Dec

Businessmen jailed for £1m fraud

THE bosses of a luxury car dealership were yesterday jailed for a £1m fraud. Businessmen Timothy Nikolai, 50, and Stuart Reynolds, 54, were "blatantly dishonest" in conning the money from finance companies when their firm hit difficulties.

IC Wales

10 Dec

Solicitor admits $1.4m fraud

A TASMANIAN solicitor is behind bars tonight after pleading guilty to defrauding investors of $1.4 million. Haydn James Dodge, of Sorell, was remanded in custody after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court of Tasmania to three counts of conspiracy to defraud investors.

GMC in Shipman report spotlight

The work of the General Medical Council is set to come under fire in the latest report from the Shipman Inquiry, due to be published later on Thursday. (What, now, about the lawyers? UJ)

Profession pushes to dilute laundering reforms

The legal profession is making an 11th-hour push to water down tough new regulations in new European money laundering legislation as the controversial directive enters its final stages.

Hollinger implements new code of conduct

Hollinger International, the US publishing group at the centre of fraud allegations surrounding its former chairman Lord Black, has implemented a new code of conduct.

Britain 'Not on Top of Organised Crime'

The man appointed to head the new Serious Organised Crime Agency today acknowledged that Britain’s law enforcement forces were not “on top” of problems like drugs, people-trafficking and international fraud.

The web: let your clients tap into you

A large number of smaller law firms still do not have a website. Margaret Manning reports on how to use this marketing gift horse to the best possible effect. "More than 75 per cent of the law firms listed in the Law Society’s ‘Solicitors Online’ database did not have a related online presence."

Law firms merge into global giant

UK law firm DLA is merging with US peer Piper Rudnick to create a legal empire with the third most lawyers on board in the world.

Equitable Life pensioners face legal setback

Hundreds of Equitable Life pensioners who have seen their retirement incomes slashed by a third have little hope of pursuing legal action after their lawyers failed to secure adequate legal indemnity insurance.

Doing the knowledge

Despite the Financial Ombudsman Service’s growing power in the market, many legal advisers don’t seem to be up to speed. Garon Anthony reports

Law Soc faces £2m bill for complaints handling

The cost to the Law Society of meeting revised complaints handling targets is likely to exceed £2m, it has emerged.

Insurers want people to say sorry with flowers not lawyers

Norwich Union, the UK's largest insurer, will today unveil proposals aimed at tackling the burgeoning compensation culture.

Fraudulent scheme hits pensioners

Brand New Carpet Company Ltd was sham.

Former police officer jailed for fraud

A former police officer's been jailed for seven years after conning hundreds of thousands of pounds from members of his own family.

Legal Developments: Under the microscope

As jurisdictions around the world tighten up their regulations governing fraud in all its forms, those who cross the line are finding that now, more than ever, there is no place to hide. Carolyn Boyle reports

Pair appear over £15m fraud claim

Two people arrested over an alleged £15m fraud ($29m) in the United States may have committed similar offences in Britain, a court has heard.

Government to hike civil court fees

Civil court fees are set to rise from 4 January, it was announced this morning (30 November).

‘Rogues gallery’ websites to expose mystery pursuer

TWIN websites dedicated to exposing corrupt Scottish lawyers were shut down after their internet service provider in the US apparently caved in to legal pressure.

Mass resignation threat by judges

Judges threatened mass resignations unless they were exempted from tighter controls on pensions, it emerged yesterday. The unpredecented threat by "a significant number" to step down from the bench is revealed in an official document buried on the website of the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

Guardian

BBC