Iraq verdict ‘could deter future claims’

dimanche 30 avril 2017

The firm, together with partners Martyn Day and Sapna Malik and solicitor Anna Crowther, deny charges of misconduct relating to the handling of claims against British troops following a 2004 battle in southern Iraq. Allegations that troops had tortured and murdered prisoners taken after the Battle of Danny Boy were dismissed as ’the product of deliberate and calculated lies’ by the Al-Sweady public inquiry in 2014.

Representing the firm, Patricia Robertson QC of Fountain Court Chambers said the case had a wider significance for all solicitors and warned that a finding of misconduct might stop others from speaking up or acting in difficult cases. Day had been convinced that his Iraqi clients were telling the truth when he went public with allegations at a press conference in 2008, she said.

While Day had been ‘sucked in’ by a series of lies, he had made efforts to check their veracity with doctors and the British Army before the conference, Robertson told the tribunal.

Earlier, the tribunal heard that the firm had pursued claims against troops while knowing its clients were members of an Iraqi insurgent militia rather than civilian bystanders.

For the prosecution, Fountain Court’s Timothy Dutton QC said emails in the build-up to the press conference showed Day was ‘alive’ to the possibility the clients were ‘concocting the story to embarrass the British Army’.

‘It was known that their clients might have been lying and might have been members of the [insurgent] Mahdi Army. The risk was that files were being put in the public domain as containing the truth. The risk was that it would cause maximum damage not only to the British Army as an institution, but to British soldiers and their families,’ Dutton said.

Malik was also accused of recklessness in not speaking up to question what was going to be said at the press conference, despite being party to discussions in the build-up. The tribunal heard she was a trusted colleague of Day and could have freely expressed any reservations she had.

Defending the decision to hold the press conference, Robertson said: ‘It is fair to say Martyn Day, in making use of the media, wanted that to be effective and powerful. He says in his experience use of the media to get the message out there does serve a legitimate purpose in flushing out evidence and bringing to bear pressure on the decision makers.’

Prosecution opening statements also referred to a key document held by Leigh Day which the SRA maintains could have undermined allegations of atrocities had it been disclosed ahead of the Al-Sweady inquiry.  

Dutton said that any defence argument that it was overwhelmed by the volume of material would not hold water. ‘If you’re going to embark on international law claims where your documents are going to grow, all the more reason to have a system in place to identify all relevant documents,’ he said.

Robertson told the tribunal that withholding the document, known as the OMS list, was a ‘cock-up that was admitted and much regretted’. But she insisted this was not a ‘silver bullet’ to bring down the entire case and said the Al-Sweady Inquiry had continued for a year after the document was disclosed to it.

Dutton stressed that the SRA was not suggesting Day had been dishonest but that he was ‘pre-disposed’ towards wanting to accept his clients’ account and was not approaching the case with ‘openness and an inquisitive mind’.

In total Leigh Day received around £9.5m in fees from all the claims it brought, the tribunal heard.

The hearing, which is expected to last seven weeks, continues. This week the tribunal will hear evidence from witnesses including Colonel James Coote, who was at the time a major commanding British troops.

All respondents deny wrongdoing.

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Iraq verdict ‘could deter future claims’

How much? Super-exam funding poser

Some firms are considering suspending their graduate recruitment programmes until more information is forthcoming about the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination, the Gazette understands.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority announced last week that all would-be solicitors will be required to take the centralised assessment test from 2020. However many details remain to be finalised.

Kayleigh Leonie, Law Society Council member for Junior Lawyers, said the SRA’s announcement has created uncertainty for firms, law students and trainees. ‘A number of important questions, particularly regarding the funding of the SQE, remain unanswered,’ she said.

 ‘In order for firms to make key decisions regarding the future of their trainee recruitment processes; undergraduate and LPC providers to be able to adequately prepare for the changes required to their current programmes; and individuals looking to qualify as solicitors to make important decisions regarding their career path into the profession, the SRA needs to address these questions as soon as possible,’ she added.

Bryan Scant, chair of the Society’s Junior Lawyers Division, said he fears the proposals could lead to a ‘two-tier profession’.

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How much? Super-exam funding poser

New LSB interim chair

Dr Helen Phillips takes over as interim chair of super-regulator the Legal Services Board today pending the recruitment of a replacement for Sir Michael Pitt. Phillips, whose doctorate is in freshwater biology, is a former chief executive of Natural England.

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New LSB interim chair

Hundreds join civil claims after Ian Paterson conviction

vendredi 28 avril 2017

Lawyers for victims of convicted surgeon Ian Paterson say they are pursuing civil cases for as many as 350 patients.

Ian Paterson

Paterson (pictured) was found guilty today at Nottingham Crown Court of 17 counts of wounding with intent, relating to nine women and one man.

The court heard the breast surgeon needlessly harmed patients in his care, exaggerated cancer risks and claimed payments for more expensive procedures in some cases. He is due to be sentenced next month.

The victims represented a sample of those Paterson treated at the privately-run Little Aston and Parlway hospitals in the West Midlands.

National firm Thompsons Solicitors says hundreds of potential claimants can now begin civil proceedings. To date, the firm states it has secured almost £2m in compensation for 89 NHS patients treated by Paterson at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham and will now started work on a similar effort for private patients.

Linda Miliband, national lead lawyer of the Thompsons medical negligence team, said: ‘We are determined to secure appropriate compensation for every single one of our clients, some of whom found the courage to come forward only as recently as four weeks ago.’

Thompsons has set up a campaign called Patients Before Profits which it says will explore how to close any loopholes about compensation for private patients. 

Spire Healthcare, which ran the two private hospitals, today said that justice had been done.

In a statement, the company said, ‘We would like to reiterate how truly sorry we are for the distress experienced by any patients affected by this case. We can say unequivocally that we have learned the lessons from these events. We commissioned a thorough independent investigation and have fully implemented all of the recommendations.

‘Patient care is our number one priority and our track record for clinical governance is very good. We are committed to further improvements.’

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Hundreds join civil claims after Ian Paterson conviction

Judge queries High Court trial at 'substantial cost' to public

A High Court judge has questioned why a straightforward claim over alleged police mistreatment required a three-week jury trial.

In a postscript to her judgment in Stewart & Anor v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Mrs Justice McGowan said the costs will be ‘very substantial’, with both sides funded by the public directly or indirectly.

The claim at its highest was for just over £80,000 by the end of trial, and McGowan said it related four incidents of ‘simple factual dispute’.

‘The issues to be determined are of great importance to the parties and to the public but it is difficult to see why a jury trial in the High Court was thought necessary to resolve these issues,’ the judge said.

McGowan awarded £5,400 to the first claimant and £5,700 to the second, and she urged interest and costs to be agreed between the parties.

‘It is to be hoped that no further public funds need be spent on a hearing,’ she added.

The claim followed an arrest in June 2010 in which a police officer was alleged to have called one claimant a ‘stupid boy’ and, when the other claimant remonstrated with him, he lost his temper and became aggressive and violent. It was alleged the officer grabbed one around the throat and deliberately pushed the other claimant, who was three months pregnant, in the stomach.

The officer said he used no more than minimum necessary force and that he was met with aggression. He denied making any observations about the claimant being pregnant.

The jury found the officer had good reason to make the stop, but he had failed to identify himself by name or show his warrant card and describe the reasons for a stop and search.

He was cleared of pushing the pregnant claimant and was found to have exerted ‘reasonable and proportionate’ force.

McGowan said the officer had made an unlawful arrest and she criticised search warrants executed following the arrest.

On the issue of special damages, the judge said evidence given by both claimants was ‘totally unsatisfactory’, a factor recognised in the written submissions in which the sums claimed were reduced by 50% from the original claim.

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Judge queries High Court trial at 'substantial cost' to public

Top firms ‘hindered’ by partners’ lack of language skills

Less than a sixth of partners at the UK’s biggest law firms can speak a foreign language - and there is a particular lack of knowledge for emerging market countries a consultancy has claimed. 

According to research by management consultancy Edward Drummond & Co, only 383 of more than 2,500 partners (15%) surveyed said they could speak a foreign language. French was the most commonly spoken with 62% of foreign language speakers citing it as their second language, followed by German and Spanish. 

Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese), Russian and Arabic is spoken are spoken less than one percent of partners.

The findings are based on a sample of 2,552 partners at the UK’s top 100 law firms.

Gareth Ward, partner at Edward Drummond & Co, said a lack of language skills and knowledge of local culture could be a hindrance for law firms looking to grow in key emerging markets. He said that despite the dominance of English, expectations are changing. ‘Being familiar with local languages and culture could give partners a real competitive advantage when looking to establish a client base in an overseas market,’ Ward said.

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Top firms ‘hindered’ by partners’ lack of language skills

Leigh Day eager to 'do things by the book' on Iraq claims, SDT hears

Relations between lawyers at London firm Leigh Day and now-disgraced Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers became strained over the handling of claims against British troops in Iraq, the tribunal considering charges against Leigh Day heard today. On the fifth day of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing into allegations of misconduct, counsel for Leigh Day said its lawyers had a ‘sustained commitment’ to ensure they had ‘got things right’.

Leigh Day, two of its partners and a solicitor deny a total of 47 allegations of misconduct over its role in bringing claims that British troops ‘mutilated, tortured and killed’ Iraqi civilians in 2004. The subsequent Al-Sweady public inquiry found the claims to be fabricated. 

The solicitors accused are partners Martyn Day and Sapna Malik, and solicitor Anna Crowther. They all deny any wrongdoing.

In the second day of the firm’s defence, Patricia Robertson QC of Fountain Court Chambers revealed several emails between Day and Shiner, who was struck off earlier this year for misconduct. 

Robertson said the emails showed that Day had concerns about Shiner’s conduct with regard to witness statements at the Al-Sweady inquiry. She read emails in which Day repeatedly asked Shiner for a phone call with his counsel to ‘discuss strategy’ and about Leigh Day’s level of involvement. Day was concerned that Leigh Day’s role had been marginalised and that it was effectively being blocked out of the  case.

Day also twice warned Shiner to be careful about arranging referral fees and that he should take advice before agreeing on any. This, said Robertson, was an example of Day's keenness to ‘do things by the book’. ‘He [Day] is not someone without judgment and who ducks sensitive issues,’ Robertson said.

The defence also addressed an allegation surrounding a document -  the OMS list showing that the prisoners detained by British troops were not  civilians but members of the militia group the Mahdi army.

It was hand-written in Arabic and translated on behalf of the firm.  Crowther had typed her own translation but disposed of the original translation, the tribunal heard.  Robertson said this was a ‘de minimis’ error made by an ‘extraordinarily diligent and committed lawyer’.

She added that if every ‘de minimis error’ were to be treated by the SRA as a breach of regulations then the effects would be ‘rather startling’.

‘Inadvertent non-disclosure of documents is not uncommon,’ she said, adding that the disciplinary tribunal could see itself 'flooded with minor issues’ if all such incidents were to be taken as a rule breach.

Robertson added: ‘The SRA wants you to believe that Day went through a period of revisionism but what it actually was a period of self-examination to see what lessons could be learned.’

The hearing, which is expected to run for another six weeks, continues.

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Leigh Day eager to 'do things by the book' on Iraq claims, SDT hears

Women comprise 30% of new partners at Eversheds Sutherland

Six women are among 20 partner promotions at Eversheds Sutherland, the first round of appointments since the transatlantic firm went live in February. Ten of the new appointments are in the UK. 

Across the group, 14 promotions have been made in company commercial, with four in litigation and dispute management, and two in real estate. 

Ten of the new partners are based in the UK, with promotions in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester and Nottingham.

In addition, eight legal directors have been promoted in the UK.  

Lee Ranson

Lee Ranson (pictured), Eversheds Sutherland (International) managing partner and CEO-elect, commented: ’I am very pleased that we are able to reward the hard work, leadership and client commitment shown by colleagues across such a broad geographic spread – this speaks volumes about the strength in depth across the group. We continue to increase our overall proportion of female partners and that remains an ongoing aspiration. In the past week, we were recognised by The Times as a Top 50 Employer for Women for the sixth consecutive year.’

The new UK partners are: 

  • Tom Birchall, Real Estate, Birmingham
  • Gregory Buckley, Litigation & Dispute Mgmt, Manchester
  • Paul Castle, Company Commercial, Leeds
  • James Lindop, Company Commercial, London
  • Elizabeth Marshall, Company Commercial, Leeds
  • Sarah Naylor, Litigation & Dispute Mgmt, Manchester
  • Theresa-Marie Stodell, Company Commercial, Birmingham
  • Matthew Storer, Real Estate, Birmingham
  • Mark Taylor, Company Commercial, Birmingham
  • Ash Woodcock, Company Commercial, Nottingham  

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Women comprise 30% of new partners at Eversheds Sutherland

Justice committee outlines 'unfinished business'

MPs holding the government to account on legal matters have published the extent of their 'unfinished business' - which includes an inquiry into whiplash claims and the small claims limit.  

The House of Commons justice select committee, which, although technically still in existence, has no members following yesterday's prorogation of parliament, said it hopes the programme will be picked up by its successor after the 8 June general election. 

The committee said that parliament's decision to call an early election had brought its busy programme 'to an abrupt conclusion'.  It had 'a number of inquiries in progress at various stages' and 'preparations were well under way for holding specific evidence sessions or making visits in connection with inquiries or other work'. 

To scrutinise the Prisons and Courts Bill, the committee had sought submissions on issues including: the definition of whiplash injuries and the prevalence of claims; whether or not fraudulent whiplash claims represent a significant problem; the impact of raising the small claims limit taking into account a planned move towards online court procedures; and the role of claims management companies in these matters.

It received 80 submissions. 'We anticipate that this body of evidence would facilitate the task of our successor committee should it decide to conduct an inquiry into this topic,' it said.

The committee received more than 40 pieces of written evidence on the system governing the disclosure of criminal records in relation to offences committeed by people when they were under 18. It had held an oral evidence session in March with justice minister Dr Phillip Lee and Christian Papaleontiou, head of the public protection unit at the Home Office.

Arrangements had begun to hold several one-off evidence sessions in the next six months. The committee suggested its successor may wish to resurrect 'any or all' of its plans, which would have included the work of Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) and the Parole Board.

The committee would have heard from the prisons and probations minister on what action the government has taken in response to the committee's report on the treatment of young adults in the justice system.

It would have held an evidence session with the secretary of state of justice 'to consider developments across the full range of her responsibilties' and a valedictory oral evidence session with the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, before his retirement in the autumn.

MPs had also requested information from the government on delays in immigration and asylum tribunals, and on their plans to produce a post-legislative assessment memo in the period up to the end of 2018.

Screen shot 2015 11 19 at 16.49.28

Signing off as committee chair, Conservative Bob Neill (pictured) said: 'We hope this brief report will be of interest to our stakeholders and the wider public, as well as to our successor commmittee in the next parliament, in setting out what plans we had before our work was interrupted by the general election.

'It will be for the new justice committee in the next parliament to decide whether to pick up where we have left off on our inquiries and other work on matters such as prison reform, disclosure of young people's criminal records, Transforming Rehabilitation, and personal injury claims.'

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Justice committee outlines 'unfinished business'

Justice committee work screeches to a halt

MPs holding the government to account on legal matters have published the extent of their 'unfinished business' - which includes an inquiry into whiplash claims and the small claims limit.  

The House of Commons justice select committee, which, although technically still in existence, has no members following yesterday's prorogation of parliament, said it hopes the programme will be picked up by its successor after the 8 June general election. 

The committee said that parliament's decision to call an early election had brought its busy programme 'to an abrupt conclusion'.  It had 'a number of inquiries in progress at various stages' and 'preparations were well under way for holding specific evidence sessions or making visits in connection with inquiries or other work'. 

To scrutinise the Prisons and Courts Bill, the committee had sought submissions on issues including: the definition of whiplash injuries and the prevalence of claims; whether or not fraudulent whiplash claims represent a significant problem; the impact of raising the small claims limit taking into account a planned move towards online court procedures; and the role of claims management companies in these matters.

It received 80 submissions. 'We anticipate that this body of evidence would facilitate the task of our successor committee should it decide to conduct an inquiry into this topic,' it said.

The committee received more than 40 pieces of written evidence on the system governing the disclosure of criminal records in relation to offences committeed by people when they were under 18. It had held an oral evidence session in March with justice minister Dr Phillip Lee and Christian Papaleontiou, head of the public protection unit at the Home Office.

Arrangements had begun to hold several one-off evidence sessions in the next six months. The committee suggested its successor may wish to resurrect 'any or all' of its plans, which would have included the work of Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) and the Parole Board.

The committee would have heard from the prisons and probations minister on what action the government has taken in response to the committee's report on the treatment of young adults in the justice system.

It would have held an evidence session with the secretary of state of justice 'to consider developments across the full range of her responsibilties' and a valedictory oral evidence session with the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, before his retirement in the autumn.

MPs had also requested information from the government on delays in immigration and asylum tribunals, and on their plans to produce a post-legislative assessment memo in the period up to the end of 2018.

Screen shot 2015 11 19 at 16.49.28

Signing off as committee chair, Conservative Bob Neill (pictured) said: 'We hope this brief report will be of interest to our stakeholders and the wider public, as well as to our successor commmittee in the next parliament, in setting out what plans we had before our work was interrupted by the general election.

'It will be for the new justice committee in the next parliament to decide whether to pick up where we have left off on our inquiries and other work on matters such as prison reform, disclosure of young people's criminal records, Transforming Rehabilitation, and personal injury claims.'

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Justice committee work screeches to a halt

International outcry as China sentences human rights lawyer

A secret Chinese court has convicted a prominent human rights lawyer on charges of subverting state power and sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for four years. Li Heping, who in 2008 received the Council of Bars and Law Societies in Europe’s annual human rights award, was one of at least 200 rights lawyers and activists detained in July 2015 and among four lawyers still in detention.

According to the Associated Press news agency, the suspended sentence by a court in the eastern city of Tianjin means that Li should now be released – but could be arrested and jailed at any point. The trial was held behind closed doors on Tuesday because the case involved state secrets, the court said.

Li became well known internationally for defending the Christian churches and advocates for free speech. His wife (wife) has said authorities subjected him to torture, including electric shocks.

This week an international group of legal bodies, including the International Observatory of Lawyers in Danger, sent a letter to Guo Shengkun, minister for public security, raising concerns about Li and harassment and surveillance on his family. The letter noted that ‘Information has been reported about sustained surveillance and continued threats that are imposed respectively on Ms.Wang Qiaoling, wife of detained lawyer Li Heping and on Ms. Li Wenzu, wife of detained lawyer Wang Quanzhang.’

CCTV cameras have been installed in front of their home and that they are followed wherever they go, intimidated by the police, constantly surrounded by unidentified men and threatened with being taken away, the letter states. 

‘Attempts to ostracize and to crush the lives of relatives of detained lawyers is of great concern to us. In addition, we remain also preoccupied with the health condition of lawyers who remain detained since July 2015.’

In his message of thanks to the CCBE for its award – which he was unable to collect in person – Li wrote: ‘Human rights abuses should be punished all over the world. All the lawyers and Human Rights defenders should work together towards an increasingly fair justice, a more human civilization,and progress. As a person, I know how weak the force of a person is, but I strongly believe that, through joint efforts of all people, human rights protection will grow much stronger in the future.’

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White-collar crime clampdown gets green light

New measures to curb white-collar crime are on the statute book, after being included in the wash-up of legislation rushed through before the general election.

The Criminal Finances Bill, which hands law enforcers new powers to seize the proceeds of crime and combat corruption, received royal assent as parliament was prorogued yesterday.

The Criminal Finances Act 2017 creates unexplained wealth orders requiring suspects to explain the sources of their wealth; and new criminal offences for corporations which fail to prevent staff facilitating tax evasion. It extends disclosure orders to cover money laundering and terrorism finance, and the civil recovery regime to encompass gross human rights abuses violations overseas.  

Nationalcrimeagency

There are legal protections for the sharing of information between regulated companies and law enforcement agencies are given more time to investigate suspicious transactions.

Opinion is divided among solicitors specialising in corporate crime about whether the outgoing government went far enough, with some alleging a climbdown and others bemoaning a new burden on business.

The Digital Economy Bill and National Citizen Service bill also received royal assent yesterday.

The former includes measures to ease planning rules to boost infrastructure and better enforce direct marketing laws. It also creates civil penalties for online pornographers who do not verify the age of their customers.

A slew of other measures affecting the legal sector, including those contained in the aborted Prisons and Courts Act, were abandoned when Theresa May called an election for 8 June.

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Campaigners call for hate crime equality

Political parties are being urged to commit to equal legal protections for all communities that face hate crime in this year's general election manifestos.

Campaign group Galop has written a joint letter today with 75 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) allies to party leaders to commit to a full review of hate crime laws.

The letter states: 'The current two-tier system gives lesser protections to people targeted because they are LGBT or disabled people compared with laws focused on race and faith hate crime. The current outdated laws send a message that some groups are less worthy of protection than others, which undermines the confidence of victims in the law.'

Latest hate crime statistics published by the Home Office show 62,518 offences recorded by the police in 2015/16 in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor - up 19% on the 52,465 hate crimes recorded in 2014/15.

Of those recorded in 2015/16, 7,194 were sexual orientation hate crimes, 3,629 were disability hate crimes, and 858 were transgender hate crimes.

The Law Commission, publishing a report on hate crime in 2014, said an 'enhanced sentencing regime' applicable to cases where hostility is established, is a potentially powerful weapon. The judge declares in open court that the offender's sentence has been increased because the hate element has made the offence more serious. However, this regime was 'underused and no adequate record is made of cases where it has been applied', the commission said.

It recommended a full-scale review of 'aggravated' offences, and how such offences are formed and operate.

Today's letter states: 'One problem with English and Welsh laws is that homophobic, transphobic, biphobic and disability hate crimes have a lower maximum sentence than race and faith hate crime.

'That means courts can only give a sentence a quarter as long for some types of anti-LGBT and disability hate crime compared with their race or faith equivalents.

'It also means that it is often not properly documented on the criminal records of those found guilty of anti-LGBT and disability hate crimes. That prevents courts, prisons and probation services from identifying and challenging the prejudice driving repeat offender's behaviour.'

The group welcomed a current review of Scottish hate crime law.

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Clifford Chance to close Thailand base

Clifford Chance is set to close its Bangkok office and at the same time end its association in Indonesia, the magic circle firm revealed today. 

Instead it will concentrate its Southeast Asia practice in the more stable jurisdiction of Singapore, where it already has an office.

The Bangkok office, which opened in 1996, will be wound down over the next 12-15 months, the firm said.

At the same time it has ‘mutually agreed’ not to continue its three-year long association with Linda Widyati and Partners (LWP) in Jakarta, Indonesia. According to the firm this coincides with LWP’s lead partner Linda Widyati’s decision to retire after more than 25 years.

Geraint Hughes, regional managing partner, said: ‘Concentrating our south east Asia resources and capability in our existing regional hub in Singapore, investing in systems and innovation that will further enhance our service to clients, and using leading local law firms in each jurisdiction, ensures we are best equipped to respond to this demand.’

The firm has 26 lawyers, including three partners, working in Bangkok. A decision has not been made as to what will happen to those individuals.

Hughes added: ‘Our people in Bangkok are talented individuals who have worked hard for our clients. We are very grateful to them for their service and contribution to the firm. We will provide them with our full support as we make these changes.’

Managing partner Matthew Layton, said: ‘Our strategy is based on leading positions in the most important financial and commercial centres. In Asia Pacific, we have a phenomenally strong platform and see huge opportunities for further development of our southeast Asian practice, including in Indonesia and Thailand, from our existing successful hub in Singapore.’

Clifford Chance was one of a spate of international firms to open offices in Bangkok in the 1990s but the country, which has a civil law tradition and courts operating only in the Thai language, remains a challenge for England and Wales firms.

The firm has been operating in Singapore for more than 35 years and was one of the six original firms to receive the country's qualified foreign law practice licence in 2008. This allows the firm to advise on a range of international and Singapore law in permitted practice areas. 

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Quindell owner waits on £53m Slater and Gordon claim

Australian firm Slater and Gordon has yet to bring legal proceedings against the owner of Quindell despite threats to do so, company documents show. 

The firm outlined last year that it had sought independent opinion from a barrister who said there was a prospect of success in a case against Watchstone PLC.

The claim, related to the firm’s £637m acquisition of the Quindell professional services division two years ago, would be likely to have a value of £53m.

However in its annual report to the London stock exchange, Watchstone revealed that as yet no proceedings have been brought.

The company said it will defend any claim ‘robustly’, but since proceedings have not been issued then disclosure of key evidence (if any exists) in support of the merits or quantum of a claim cannot be enforced.

Watchstone has retained £50.12m in a joint escrow account until the expiration of the warrant period or settlement of the claim.

At the time of the acquisition, it was reported that the disposal of the division involved around 53,000 noise-induced hearing loss claims.

Watchstone confirmed that to date, no deferred consideration has been paid, and it remains in ‘active dialogue’ on a number of matters including the performance of the claims, to which deferred consideration is due.

Watchstone also told investors that the Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was launched in August 2015 into historic matters, remains ongoing and the company continues to co-operate fully with it.

Overall Watchstone posted a group operating loss of £20.9m for the year ending 31 December 2016 . In 2015 the losses were £15.1m. The figure does not include the £50m held in escrow.

Group chief executive Indro Mukerjee noted in the report that during his 20 months with the company he could ‘confidently say that, with the rather broad set of things to do, there has never been a dull moment’.

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Quindell owner waits on £53m Slater and Gordon claim

Female BAME defendants 'overwhelmed by legal jargon'

jeudi 27 avril 2017

Many female black, Asian and minority ethnic defendants caught up in the criminal justice system find the legal process 'confusing and jargon-loaded', according to a report that will feed into the findings of a government-sponsored probe into potential racial bias.

Agenda, an alliance of 70 voluntary sector organisations campaigning to help women and girls at risk, says many of the BAME women it spoke to for its report, Double Disadvantage, felt there had not been an opportunity for their stories and circumstances to be taken into account during their trial.

According to the report, published this week, 18% of female prisoners are BAME compared with 14% of the general population. For every 100 white women sentenced to custody at the Crown court for drug offences, 227 black women receive custodial sentences.

Respondents were asked to what extent they felt they had adequate advice from their lawyer about whether or not to plead guilty or not guilty, and whether they were aware of the potential sentencing discount for a guilty plea.

One respondent told the alliance: 'I think especially if you are first arrested and if it is like a serious crime and you're given a duty solicitor they don't really have the time to sit and explain things to you. And it can be overwhelming and then you've got the emotions of being scared and everything else.'

Many women felt comments made by judges were dismissive of their circumstances. Some felt the judges had been prejudiced towards them.

The report states that one woman described how she felt the jury in her case had been encouraged to find her guilty because she was a foreign national and she would be deported if given a sentence of over 12 months. Another woman felt she had been given a high sentence compared with others for a similar crime to 'set an example'.

Agenda says: 'These experiences suggest two possible issues - either sentences are unfair or sentences are fair but the reasoning behind them is not properly understood. Either way this lack of trust in the system is a problem.'

The report was commissioned to feed into barrister and Labour MP David Lammy's independent review of possible racial bias in the criminal justice system.

David lammy

Lammy (pictured) said: 'I have been to prisons, courts and communities up and down the country to gather evidence to inform my review. As part of this I have frequently heard accounts of disproportionate sentencing for minority ethnic groups, who receive longer prison terms than white offenders.

'The findings of the Double Disadvantage research published [this week] again highlight this as a worrying trend, and one which includes BAME women.

'I will be exploring these repeated patterns further before making my final report and recommendations to the prime minister this summer.'

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Female BAME defendants 'overwhelmed by legal jargon'

Female BAME prisoners 'overwhelmed by legal jargon'

Many female black, Asian and minority ethnic defendants caught up in the criminal justice system find the legal process 'confusing and jargon-loaded', according to a report that will feed into the findings of a government-sponsored probe into potential racial bias.

Agenda, an alliance of 70 voluntary sector organisations campaigning to help women and girls at risk, says many of the female BAME prisoners it spoke to for its report, Double Disadvantage, felt there had not been an opportunity for their stories and circumstances to be taken into account during their trial.

According to the report, published this week, 18% of female prisoners are BAME compared with 14% of the general population. For every 100 white women sentenced to custody at the Crown court for drug offences, 227 black women receive custodial sentences.

Respondents were asked to what extent they felt they had adequate advice from their lawyer about whether or not to plead guilty or not guilty, and whether they were aware of the potential sentencing discount for a guilty plea.

One respondent told the alliance: 'I think especially if you are first arrested and if it is like a serious crime and you're given a duty solicitor they don't really have the time to sit and explain things to you. And it can be overwhelming and then you've got the emotions of being scared and everything else.'

Many women felt comments made by judges were dismissive of their circumstances. Some felt the judges had been prejudiced towards them.

The report states that one woman described how she felt the jury in her case had been encouraged to find her guilty because she was a foreign national and she would be deported if given a sentence of over 12 months. Another woman felt she had been given a high sentence compared with others for a similar crime to 'set an example'.

Agenda says: 'These experiences suggest two possible issues - either sentences are unfair or sentences are fair but the reasoning behind them is not properly understood. Either way this lack of trust in the system is a problem.'

The report was commissioned to feed into barrister and Labour MP David Lammy's independent review of possible racial bias in the criminal justice system.

David lammy

Lammy (pictured) said: 'I have been to prisons, courts and communities up and down the country to gather evidence to inform my review. As part of this I have frequently heard accounts of disproportionate sentencing for minority ethnic groups, who receive longer prison terms than white offenders.

'The findings of the Double Disadvantage research published [this week] again highlight this as a worrying trend, and one which includes BAME women.

'I will be exploring these repeated patterns further before making my final report and recommendations to the prime minister this summer.'

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Female BAME prisoners 'overwhelmed by legal jargon'

Defence warns of 'chilling effect' of guilty verdict at Leigh Day tribunal

Human rights lawyer Martyn Day was convinced his Iraqi clients were telling the truth when he went public with allegations against British soldiers, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today.

Day, senior partner at London firm Leigh Day, returned from a ‘harrowing’ set of interviews with five apparent victims of brutal treatment at the hands of the army, and jointly led a press conference a month later.

Representing Day, Patricia Robertson QC of Fountain Court Chambers, said the Ministry of Defence had settled 300 claims related to misconduct by soldiers. The firm was being prosecuted on the basis of eight out of 950 claims it had brought overall.

Robertson, from Fountain Court Chambers, said the case had a wider significance for all solicitors and warned that a finding of misconduct might stop others from speaking up or acting in difficult cases.

Setting out the defence, Robertson said there was no ‘agenda’ on the part of accused solicitors Day, Sapna Malik or Anna Crowther to ‘do down the army’. She added that those involved in proceedings had in fact represented service men and women and their families and had taken a ‘great deal of satisfaction’ from that work. 

On the subject of the 2008 press conference, Robertson cautioned the tribunal against applying hindsight to whether Day was acting improperly in believing his clients' accounts of mistreatment by soldiers following the Battle of Danny Boy in southern Iraq in May 2004. 

She said Day had been ‘sucked in’ by a series of lies from Iraqi civilians but that he had made efforts to check their veracity with doctors and the British Army before the conference jointly held with Public Interest Lawyers’ director Phil Shiner.

‘What you are seeing is somebody responsibly addressing their mind to what judgments they are making and arriving at conclusions that are certainly within the bounds of what is reasonable,’ said Robertson. ‘You cannot [now] predict the outcome simply by picking out points seen as inconsistencies.’

Robertson said a successful prosecution would have a ‘chilling effect’ on lawyers and their willingness to act in difficult cases or speak out in matters of public importance.

‘This case does raise fundamental issues about the role of the solicitors as against the role of the court or tribunal and what lawyers can and cannot say about controversial cases they handling.’

She accused the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which is prosecuting, of ‘mission creep’ by widening its investigation and urged the tribunal not to ignore the ‘highly charged political context’ in which the claims were originally made.

On the issue of a document not disclosed for nine years that undermined the claimants' claim that they were innocent civilians, Robertson this was a ‘cock-up that was admitted and much regretted’. But she insisted this was not a ‘silver bullet’ to bring down the entire case and said the Al-Sweady Inquiry into the allegations had continued for a year after the document was disclosed.

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Defence warns of 'chilling effect' of guilty verdict at Leigh Day tribunal

Bar calls for Brexit CJEU clarification

The Bar Council has said the government should clarify how it intends to pursue its future relationship with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), claiming a white paper on its break away from EU law only ‘scratches the surface’ of the problem. 

In response to the Department for Exiting the EU’s Great Repeal Bill White Paper, the bar body said domestic courts’ future relationship with the EU will be ‘complex and nuanced’.

For example, the bar council said the white paper does not deal with the possibility of UK courts making references to the CJEU post-Brexit ‘in proceedings concerning a factual situation governed by EU law arising pre-Brexit.’

Although admitting that this is a ‘rather technical point’ the bar  body said whatever provision the bill makes ‘might not prevent the CJEU from finding other routes to assuming jurisdiction over things taking place in the UK during the period when the treaties remain applicable’.

It added that there will ‘presumably be a need to provide for the domestic consequences of any dispute-resolution mechanism between the UK and EU appearing in the withdrawal agreement and likewise in any future agreement for the new relationship’.

The council said it is preparing a paper on the CJEU which it says it hopes will provide more opportunity to contribute to the government’s thinking on matters.

The council added that it is concerned that specific safeguards recommended by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution are not ‘watered down into vaguer ministerial assurances’ and should be clearly written into the text of the bill.

Safeguards proposed include that powers to enact delegated legislation will be used only 'so far as is necessary to adapt the body of EU law to fit the UK’s domestic framework’ and 'to implement the result of the UK’s negotiations with the EU’.

Finally, the Bar Council also stressed the need to take note of the ‘great deal’ of environmental law that is derived from the EU.

‘It is not clear how it intends to treat future changes to EU environmental law beyond the point of exit from the EU,’ the council said.

It added: ‘To that end, we consider that the white paper could have been clearer on what is or is not to be treated as “EU- derived law” as time progresses and what the approach will be to future changes to EU law which might affect that “EU-derived law” beyond the point of exit from the EU.’

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'Stressful' uncertainty over legal aid cuts will continue until June

The criminal defence community faces an anxious wait to find out if it has to absorb further legal aid fee cuts, a practitioner group has confirmed.

After contacting the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency, the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association says the government will not issue its response to consultations on reforming graduated fee schemes for advocates and litigators until after the 8 June general election.

In a statement on its website, the association said: 'We appreciate that these periods of uncertainty are stressful for members and we will continue to oppose any further cuts to legal aid.'

General election guidance issued two days after the prime minister's announcement of the election states that, during an election campaign, the government retains its responsibilities to govern, ministers remain in charge of their departments and essential business must carry on.

'However, it is customary for ministers to observe discretion in initiating any action of a continuing or long-term character,' the guidance adds.

'Decisions on matters of policy, and other issues such as large and/or contentious commercial contracts, on which a new government might be expected to want the opportunity to take a different view fom the present government, should be postponed until after the election, provided that such postponement would not be detrimental to the national interest or wasteful of public money.'

The ministry’s consultation on reforming the advocates' graduated fee scheme (AGFS) closed on 2 March. The scheme pays criminal defence advocates legal aid for representing those accused of crimes in the Crown court.

The consultation paper stated that the current scheme 'relies too heavily' on pages of prosecution evidence (PPE), served by the Crown Prosecution Service, as a means of deducing how complex individual cases are and, therefore, how much a defence advocate should be paid. It also relies on the number of witnesses to help determine the fee to be paid.

The new scheme would introduce a 'more sophisticated system' of classifying offences, based on the typical amoung of work required in each case. However PPE will continue to feature in drugs and dishonesty cases. It would also 'unbundle' several elements of the graduated fee.

The ministry's consultation on reforming the litigators' graduated fee scheme (LGFS) closed on 24 March.

The ministry proposes to reduce the threshold for pages of prosecution evidence (PPE) from the current cap of 10,000 pages to 6,000 pages. The ministry also wants to cap court appointees’ costs at legal aid rates.

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European court rules against film piracy devices

Europe’s top court has ruled that multimedia players that allow viewers to watch films and TV shows that are available illegally online through their television sets could constitute copyright infringement.

Yesterday’s judgment in Stichting Brein said the sale of such multimedia players is a communication to the public under the EU’s InfoSoc Directive.

The case centred on one man’s business but will set a wider example for other types of similar multimedia players.

Netherlands-based anti-piracy group Stichting Brein brought the case and targeted a one-man business ran by a man referred to as Mr Wullems. Wullems sells various models of a multimedia player online under the name ‘filmspeler’ [filmplayer].

According to the court, he installed open source software on the devices that enabled files to be played through a ’user-friendly interface, via structured menus’.

He also installed ‘add-ons’ that allowed users to watch streaming websites. However, some of the movies, series and live sports broadcasts on those sites were made available by third parties without the copyright owners’ consent.

The CJEU contested that the ‘filmspeler’s own advertising claimed that the multimedia player made it possible to watch material available on the internet without the consent of the copyright owners’.

Wullems was initially taken to the District Court of Midden-Nederland. That court then sought clarification from the CJEU whether simply selling the boxes infringed copyright under the directive.

In its judgment, the CJEU said the aim of the directive is to establish a ‘high level of protection for authors’ and that as a result the ’concept of “communication to the public” must be interpreted broadly’.

The communication at issue covers all persons who could potentially acquire that media player and have an internet connection, the court said. It added: ’Thus, that communication is aimed at an indeterminate number of potential recipients and involves a large number of persons.’

Late last year the Court of Appeal upheld a decision to fine a pub landlord in Wales who had used a foreign satellite card to broadcast Premier League games and just last month, the City of London Police’s specialised Intellectual Property Crime Unit arrested five people across the UK suspected of selling and distributing multimedia boxes.

Adam Rendle, a senior associate at international firm Taylor Wessing, said the decision will make it easier for rights holders to take action. ‘Such boxes pose a significant challenge which the audio-visual industry is addressing,’ he said.

Rendle added: ’The decision continues the CJEU’s much criticised approach to communication to the public but provides copyright owners with a powerful right to use against defendants who do not originate infringing sources of content but derive value from enabling access to it.’

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Scots review legal regulation over fears consumers are 'exposed'

The Scottish Government this week instituted a legal services review that could emulate England and Wales in taking complaints-handling away from the legal profession.

The government announced a wide-ranging review that will ‘modernise’ laws underpinning the legal profession’s current regulatory system.

Ministers say they are concerned the current regime is not fit for purpose and has not kept up with developments in the legal services market, with worries in particular that processes for complaints about solicitors are too slow and complex.

The review will look again at whether the Law Society of Scotland should be responsible for investigating complaints about the conduct of its members.

It may also re-examine the conditions associated with creating alternative business structures in Scotland. These were permitted in October 2010, but must still be majority-owned by solicitors and/or other regulated professionals such as accountants or surveyors.

The existing system for handling complaints was created by the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 which established the independent Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. This body decides if the complaint relates to the service provided or the conduct of a solicitor and whether the SLCC or the Law Society of Scotland – or both – should investigate the matter.

Annabelle Ewing, minister for community safety and legal affairs, said: ‘Members of the public must be able to have confidence in the service they get from their solicitor. While this happens most of the time, I have been listening carefully to concerns that the current regulatory system in Scotland may leave consumers exposed and does not adequately address complaints.’

The review, led by non-lawyer Esther Robertson, currently chair of the NHS 24 helpline, will consider changes required to protect consumer interests and promote a ‘flourishing legal sector’. Ewing said the proposals will ensure the regulatory framework is ‘proportionate’ for legal firms.

Robertson added: ‘I hope we can simplify the current complaints process to maximise consumers’ confidence in the system.’

The review is expected to report back with proposals by the end of 2018.

Any recommendation to take complaints handling away from the profession would echo the work done in England and Wales through the Legal Services Act, which led to the creation of the Office for Legal Complaints.

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Iraq firm 'failed to examine concerns about bribes', tribunal hears

Lawyers overseeing claims for Iraqi civilians against the British Army failed to respond to suggestions bribes may have been paid, a tribunal has heard.

Leigh Day partners Marth Day and Sapna Malik both received emails which contained the word ‘bribe’ in relation to payments made for helping clients to explain their cases.

The SRA told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that it was not alleged any bribes were in fact paid or authorised, but that experienced lawyers should have investigated what payments were actually being made.

The tribunal heard that Leigh Day was required to pay expenses such as passport costs and reimbursing clients for lost earnings when they travelled outside Iraq to outline their claims to legal representatives. The payments were handled by an intermediary. 

Timothy Dutton QC, prosecuting, said Malik received one email from a colleague which used the word ‘bribes’, and the solicitor responded to urge her to be careful how such phrases would look to outsiders.

Dutton said: ‘If [Malik’s] state of mind was ‘I never believed these were bribes’, she would have said ‘what are you talking about? We never pay bribes and these were properly vouched for payments’.

‘What she didn’t want was that language to get into the hands of the Ministry of Defence [the defendant in the claims].’

The tribunal heard on an earlier occasion that Day had received an email from Public Interest Lawyers director Phil Shiner, working alongside Leigh Day on the claims, to say there were concerns payments looked like bribes.

Dutton added: ‘A solicitor in Mr Day’s position receiving such an email, if acting properly, would say ‘just a minute, I am not prepared to authorise payments which may be disguised bribes’.

Earlier in the day, the tribunal heard Leigh Day was involved in an unlawful referral payment to a third party. The firm paid an introducer £50,000 for claims, but half of that money was paid from Public Interest Lawyers.

However, PIL and its director Shiner were prohibited from paying for referrals because their part of the Iraqi civilians’ claim was publically funded.

Leigh Day was also said to have made arrangements with a third party to pay a percentage of success fees secured, which were not allowed under SRA rules. In total, Leigh Day paid £1.6m to an individual for referrals, with a further payment due when the claims were settled.

Martyn Day, Sapna Malik and solicitor Anna Crowther all deny wrongdoing, as does the firm. The tribunal hearing continues.

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Iraq firm 'failed to examine concerns about bribes', tribunal hears

Solicitor struck off for distributing indecent images of children

mercredi 26 avril 2017

A solicitor who was sent to prison after admitting to distributing indecent images of children has been struck off.

A judgment published by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal this week states that Richard Pietrowski has also been ordered to pay costs totalling £1,951.50. Pietrowski was a sole practitioner at Richard Pietrowski & Co in Guildford.

The charges, brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, were not contested as Pietrowski had already pleaded guilty in court.

Pietrowski, who appeared on the roll as Ryszard Witold John Pietrowski, was jailed for 20 months at Guildford Crown Court last year.

The 61-year-old pleaded guilty to the distribution of indecent images of a child and three charges of making indecent photographs of a child.

Last year, the SRA said it had shut down Richard Pietrowski & Co following the conviction. According to the firm’s website, it offered ‘expert advice and representation in legal matters within various disciplines’.

Pietrowski was not represented at the hearing and the tribunal considered the case as an agreed outcome.

‘In committing serious offences, and by virtue of his conviction, he had breached principle 2 and principle 6 as he had failed to act with integrity and failed to behave in a way that maintains the trust placed in him,’ the tribunal stated.

It added that the offences were serious and took place over a period of time and were such that the respondent had taken advantage of vulnerable children.

Woking firm Buglear Bate & Co helped Pietrowksi in his correspondence with the SRA and acted for him on a pro bono basis. Robin Horton, counsel for the SRA, said partner Bruce Buglear had ‘stepped in to help’ in what he said was ‘the best traditions of the profession’.

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Regional solicitors facing financial hardship turn to charity

London may be home to the biggest concentration of practising solicitors, but a greater proportion of solicitors living outside the capital seek support in times of crisis according to figures released by a legal charity today.

SBA The Solicitors’ Charity (formerly known as the Solicitors Benevolent Association) was set up nearly 160 years ago, and has published for the first time an overview of those it supported last year.

The charity helps former and current solicitors in serious financial need as a result of illness, accident, redundancy or other adversities by providing grants and interest-free loans, career transition support, and welfare benefits and debt advice.

A regional breakdown shows that 17% of beneficiaries were from the south west, 14% were from the north west, 10% were from the east, 7% from the East Midlands, 6% from Yorkshire and Humberside, 5% from the West Midlands, 4% from Wales, and 2% from the north east.

London was home to 19% of beneficiaries despite accounting for 40% of practising solicitors according to the Law Society’s 2015 annual statistics report. A further 15% of last year’s beneficiaries lived in the south east; the Society’s statistics show that 15% of practising solicitors were in the south east.

Tim Martin

Explaining the decision to publish the figures, SBA chief executive Tim Martin (pictured) said: ’While it’s critically important to maintain the absolute confidentiality of everyone who approaches [the charity], it’s also clear that we hold a unique set of data about the people who need our help.

’Over time, we will be able to monitor and measure any changes in trends and this will enable SBA to continue to meet existing needs as well as identify emerging issues.’

The average age of new applicants last year was 49. The youngest beneficiary was 29, the oldest 101. 

Nearly seven in 10 solicitors who approached the charity had health issues. The most prevalent was poor mental health. However, the charity says there was a ‘noticeable incidence’ in the number of those dealing with a sudden cancer diagnosis, either for themselves or a spouse.

Just over half of beneficiaries were sole practitioners or had worked in small firms. Two in 10 were from larger or City firms. 

Black, Asian or minority ethnic solicitors accounted for 17% of beneficiaries.

At the start of the year, criminal and personal injury specialists made up the majority of applications. However, by the end of the year requests from those working in property, civil litigation, family and housing law increased.

The figures are based on a sample group of 167 solicitors, former solicitors and family members whose funding application last year was approved.

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Leigh Day ignored client's violent reputation to 'keep him sweet'

Lawyers handling claims against British soldiers ignored concerns about the lead client in order to ‘keep him sweet’, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today. 

In the third day of its hearing into allegations of misconduct over claims against British troops in Iraq, the tribunal was told that human rights firm Leigh Day had learned from a trusted intermediary as long ago as 2008 that its client Khuder Al-Sweady was suspected of violence and intimidation.

But senior partner Martyn Day and his colleague Sapna Malik did not raise the issue further and failed to carry out an investigation into individual clients. Al-Sweady's claims were eventually found to be fabricated. 

Timothy Dutton QC, representing the Solicitors Regulation Authority which is prosecuting the firm, Day and Malik, said the intermediary’s concerns were dismissed as ‘symptomatic of him vying for control of the clients’.

Dutton said: ‘The real reason these matters were not investigated [is that] Martyn Day said it would be difficult if not impossible to run the claims without Al-Sweady. He needed Al-Sweady to bring the claims and lost sight of his professional obligations.’

Al-Sweady was described as being the ‘best way into’ the other claims as well as being the lead client, with the firm’s response ‘symptomatic of efforts to keep him sweet’.

The tribunal earlier heard the firm had inadequate systems for keeping important documents and knowing of their significance.

Dutton said solicitors involved in the claims were ‘grotesquely and very seriously negligent’ in not appreciating they had in their possession a key document, and he noted this conduct amounted to a breach of duty. He added it was ‘undisputed’ there were failures in identifying which documents were most relevant, and it was only when the SRA became involved that the firm carried out a proper search and the document was discovered.

Dutton added: ‘[Leigh Day] makes the point the documents on their files grew and grew… that is no answer at all either in [criticism of] document management systems or failure to share.

‘If you’re going to embark on international law claims where your documents are going to grow, all the more reason to have a system in place to identify all relevant documents.’

The tribunal also heard about the alleged involvement of solicitor Anna Crowther in the case. Crowther is charged with harming the reputation of the profession and failing in her professional duties over her disposal of a hand-written translation of a list of detainees which had been written in Arabic.

Crowther, who was approaching five years’ qualified, had typed her own translation, keeping the original Arabic-language document, but destroyed the original translation a day before officials from the Al-Sweady Inquiry were due to assess files.

Dutton said Leigh Day had argued that Crowther’s inexperience could explain away her mistake, but he insisted: ‘The public expects you to discharge your duties fully and one can’t say ‘I’m too junior to have appreciated the significance of what I’m doing’.

All respondents deny misconduct. The hearing continues.

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Leigh Day ignored client's violent reputation to 'keep him sweet'

Reed Smith announces agile working for (almost) all

Global firm Reed Smith today became the latest City business to announce ‘agile’ working, under which lawyers will be free to decide whether to come to the office. Personnel will be allowed to meet their goals 'where, when and how they see fit', London managing partner Andrew Jenkinson said. 

A statement from the firm said the policy follows a consultation with partners and business heads. Under the new regime 'individuals will be able to take a more ad-hoc approach to varying their hours and/or location. The policy will provide a great way to balance the need to deliver excellent client service as part of an effective and collaborative team, and provide individuals with flexibility regarding how they work.'

However all personnel taking advantage of agile working will have to agree with their partner, practice group leader or line manager in advance, the statement said.

Conceding that agile working has limits, the statement said: 'The policy will not apply to those who are undergoing training or require face-to-face supervisory time, or those required to perform on-site facilities roles. Furthermore, agile working will not be appropriate when learning a new role, meeting a client or colleague in person, or when the type of work is of such a confidential nature that it is important to benefit from the security of Reed Smith’s premises.'

'We recognise that while there will be occasions where agile working is not the best solution, with excellent communication and strong judgment, much can be achieved,' Jenkinson said. 

Reed Smith ihas more than 1,700 lawyers in 27 offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. 

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CMS sets pace with 27% of promotions women

International firm CMS today set a new benchmark for the promotion of women to senior poisitions by announcing that females make up 27% of 2017 partner promotions. In all, the firm, which is due to combine with Nabarro and Olswang next week, appointed 48 partners across 26 offices globally; 13 are women. 

Earlier this week, magic circle firm Clifford Chance announced that 17% of its 2017 partner promotions are women while Allen & Overy managed just 8%.

Penelope Warne CMS

Penelope Warne (pictured), senior partner of CMS UK, said: 'Providing opportunities for progression for all our employees is a key priority for our business. The broad range of countries and practice and sector groups in which the promotions have taken place is testament to the strength and confidence we have in our global business. We are delighted to welcome our 48 new partners and congratulate them on this significant achievement.'

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QualitySolicitors secures trial to supply legal services to Nisa stores

Law firm network QualitySolicitors has clinched a deal to provide legal services to ubiquitous High Street brand Nisa, it announced today. 

The network will provide bespoke legal services for the 1,300 small business owners who run food and drink stores across the country. The arrangement will be tested for an initial three months and if successful will be turned into a long-term contract.

The announcement is a piece of good news for QualitySolicitors after a spate of defections from the brand, which has 100 member firms across England and Wales.

Nisa is a member-owned organisation with an annual turnover of £1.3bn. Stores trade under their company names or one of the company brands including Nisa Local, Nisa Extra and Loco.

During the trial Nisa members will have the opportunity to contact a QualitySolicitors partner firm local to their area, who will be able to provide advice on areas of law such as employment law and commercial transactions relevant to their business. In addition, Nisa members will also be offered ongoing business advice after one-to-one introductory meetings with their local QualitySolicitors firm.

Nisa says the trial was arranged because of similarities in the organizational structure of both companies and the overlap in their respective regional footprints.

Rachel Bamforth, head of legal and company secretary for Nisa, said: ‘We look forward to working with QualitySolicitors during the trial and are excited to see what benefits the service can bring to our members.’

Ighodaro Edokpolor, a partner at Hounslow-based QS Orion, added: ‘This is really exciting news for both my own legal practice and my QualitySolicitors colleagues across the country. We are proud to be at the forefront of making legal services more accessible to greater numbers of people.’

The QualitySolicitors network was founded in 2010 and the outlook was initially optimistic, with a surge of new firms joining and a tie-up with retailer WH Smith.

But that link was dropped soon after, and firms have regularly announced their departure from the network over the past two years.

The Nisa venture is indicative of the company’s new outlook to ensure there is less emphasis on advertising and brand awareness and more effort to win contracts with clients who want to work with local firms.

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Targets 'with teeth' needed to improve judicial diversity

mardi 25 avril 2017

Unpopular decisions must be taken to address the lack of diversity in the judiciary, which is still dominated by ‘white and privately educated men’, a human rights group has said.

Although important steps have been taken to improve diversity, Justice said progress has been too slow and interventions, to date, insufficient.

Its third report on the demographic make-up of the judiciary, states that few countries - only Armenia and Azerbaijan amid Council of Europe members - have lower proportions of women in their judiciary than the UK.

The report focuses on the senior judiciary, specifically the structural barriers faced by women, BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] people and those from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The group says the Supreme Court illustrates the ‘diversity deficit’: Lady Hale is the only female justice, all the justices are and have always been white; none is from a disadvantaged background. The UK Supreme Court ‘continues to be an aberration among the leading common law jurisdictions, with Australia, New Zealand and Canada approaching gender parity on their highest courts’, the report says. 

Recommendations to improve diversity include introducing targets ’with teeth’ - targets for selection bodies, with monitoring, transparency and progress reporting to the justice select committee being the ‘teeth’.

The group also recommends establishing a senior selections committee, talent pools for each court, an external review of selection processes and a talent management programme. Junior lawyers could take up an ‘entry level’ position in the tribunal system or on the district bench to ‘stand a meaningful chance’ of being promoted to the senior judiciary.

Andrea Coomber

Justice director Andrea Coomber (pictured) said: ’We realise that some of the measures recommended in this report will be unpopular with some, but if the long-standing issue of lack of diversity is to be genuinely addressed then those at the most senior levels must accept that difficult and perhaps unpopular decisions will have to be taken to deliver a more diverse judiciary.’

The report is being unveiled at an event in London this evening, where the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, will speak.

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Leigh Day: solicitor admitted non-disclosure of key list was 'inexplicable'

Human rights lawyer Martyn Day admitted his firm’s failure to disclose a key document earlier was ‘inexplicable’, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today. Day, senior partner of London firm Leigh Day, told the Al-Sweady Inquiry into allegations of abuses by British troops that he could not say why the firm had held onto the document – known as the OMS list – for nine years.

The tribunal heard that a translation of the one-page document written in Arabic was made after it came into the firm’s possession in 2004. The list linked detainees represented by Leigh Day in claims against the British Army with members of the insurgent Mahdi Army, and was accepted as being hugely damaging to the case.

Timothy Dutton QC, for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said the document was of ‘obvious importance’ and that an experienced and highly skilled lawyer would have been expected to read it.

‘If he [Day] had been paying sufficient attention to his files he would have read the document,’ said Dutton. ‘The conclusion one draws is he was not paying sufficient attention to the files and never properly read the OMS detainees list.

‘The alternative explanation is that Mr Day did read the document but in a frame of mind where he did not appreciate its significance.’

Dutton stressed the SRA was not suggesting Day had been dishonest but that he was ‘pre-disposed’ towards wanting to accept his clients’ account and was not approaching the case with ‘openness and an inquisitive mind’.

Sapna Malik, a partner at Leigh Day, was in possession of the list during fact-finding trips to Syria and Turkey, but she denied she could have spotted its significance earlier than 2013.

The tribunal heard the firm recorded 1,400 hours in preparation time for its claims against the Ministry of Defence and Dutton said the failure to review documents was ‘very serious’.

He cited an internal email sent within Leigh Day which said the non-disclosure was ‘potentially the most damaging issue’ it faced and showed a ‘total failure to control’ how cases were being handled.

The tribunal hearing continues. All respondents deny wrongdoing. 

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Leigh Day: solicitor admitted non-disclosure of key list was 'inexplicable'

Clifford Chance promotes 24 to partner - but only four are women

Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today announced the promotion of 24 lawyers to the partnership - 
though just four of them are women.

The promotions, which are worldwide and include six London-based lawyers, demonstrate the firm’s ‘continued investment in areas valued highly by its client base’, a spokesperson said.

Addressing the fact that 83% of the promoted group were men, a firm spokesperson said one of its key long-term priorities is to improve the gender balance in the partnership. Earlier this month, the Gazette reported that magic circle rival Allen & Overy, had promoted just two women to partner out of a cohort of 24 lawyers.

Clifford Chance said its eventual aim is to have women make up at least 30% of the firm’s partnership. Since 2012, the percentage of women in the global partnership has risen from 15% to 19% and the London partnership is now 21% women.

Matthew Layton, managing partner, said: ‘Our new partners are characterised by their commitment to excellent service, to supporting the firm in pursuing our collective goals, and to the development of their teams. I am delighted to welcome them to the partnership and look forward to working alongside them as their careers go from strength to strength.’


The promotions will take effect from 1 May 2017.

The London-based partners are: James Bole, Owen Lysak, Timothy Cleary, David Robson, Matt Taylor and Jonathan Kewley.

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Clifford Chance promotes 24 to partner - but only four are women

Super exam reaction: Profession calls for 'clarity'

The profession has given a mixed response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans to introduce a single qualifying assessment for would-be solicitors and called on the regulator to ensure the new regime maintains high standards.

The SRA revealed today that it intends to press ahead with its plans to introduce the solicitors qualifying examination (SQE) to replace the LPC and GDL qualifications. 

At a press briefing in London, the regulator admitted that there had been ‘resistance’, most notably from academic institutions.

Nottingham Law School today emerged as one such critic.  Head of legal development Helen Hudson told the Gazette: ‘We remain concerned about the impact this will have on equality and diversity. The SRA has produced no evidence that the SQE will reduce the cost of qualification for students and no indication of how much students will have to pay to sit the SQE.

She added that the announcement comes ‘as no great surprise’, as ‘It was clear from the outset that this was the favoured approach and despite widespread opposition from stakeholders, including practitioners and legal education providers, the SRA has not wavered.’

However two of the country's biggest law schools, BPP and University of Law, said the plans would give training providers and law firms a chance to be more 'innovative’ in how they train students.

Professor Andrea Nollent, vice chancellor and chief executive at The University of Law, said the SQE posed a ‘unique opportunity’ for innovation and improvement to legal training. Peter Crisp, dean and chief executive of BPP, predicted that the changes may cause firms to ‘radically change’ the way their business is resourced.

'Apprenticeships could now become one of the major ways in which people qualify and the onus will be on training providers to ensure that any SQE programme will be every bit as rigorous as that undertaken by entrants to the profession who have followed other routes to qualification,’ Crisp said.

Caroline Pearce, chair of the training committee at the City of London Law Society, cautiously welcomed what she described as ‘improvements’ to the proposals.

‘Whilst in principle, a centralised set of examinations is a sensible approach, we still have reservations about standards, the methods of examination and whether the narrower syllabus will produce solicitors who are properly trained in the law that they need to be able to practice effectively in today’s world,’ Pearce said.

‘We look forward to the SRA providing more specifics of the SQE syllabus and assessment methods. We encourage the SRA to give more information as soon as possible.’

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Super exam reaction: Profession calls for 'clarity'

SQE: Profession cautiously optimistic but 'clarity needed'

The profession has given a mixed response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plans to introduce a single qualifying assessment for would-be solicitors and has called on the regulator to ensure the proposed regime continues to meet high standards.

The SRA revealed today that it intends to press ahead with its plans to introduce the solicitors qualifying examination (SQE) to replace the LPC and GDL qualifications. 

At a press briefing in London this morning, the regulator admitted that there had been ‘resistance’, most notably from academic institutions.

Nottingham Law School today emerged as a vocal critic. 

Head of legal development Helen Hudson told the Gazette: ‘We remain concerned about the impact this will have on equality and diversity. The SRA has produced no evidence that the SQE will reduce the cost of qualification for students and no indication of how much students will have to pay to sit the SQE.

She added that the announcement comes ‘as no great surprise’, as ‘It was clear from the outset that this was the favoured approach and despite widespread opposition from stakeholders, including practitioners and legal education providers, the SRA has not wavered.’

However two of the country's biggest law schools, BPP and University of Law, said the plans would give training providers and law firms a chance to be more 'innovative’ in how they train students.

Professor Andrea Nollent, vice chancellor & chief executive at The University of Law, said the SQE posed a ‘unique opportunity’ for innovation and improvement to legal training. Peter Crisp, dean and chief executive of BPP, predicted that the changes may cause firms to ‘radically change’ the way their business is resourced.

'Apprenticeships could now become one of the major ways in which people qualify and the onus will be on training providers to ensure that any SQE programme will be every bit as rigorous as that undertaken by entrants to the profession who have followed other routes to qualification,’ Crisp said.

Caroline Pearce, chair of the training committee at the City of London Law Society, cautiously welcomed what she described as ‘improvements’ to the proposals.

‘Whilst in principle, a centralised set of examinations is a sensible approach, we still have reservations about standards, the methods of examination and whether the narrower syllabus will produce solicitors who are properly trained in the law that they need to be able to practice effectively in today’s world,’ Pearce said.

‘We look forward to the SRA providing more specifics of the SQE syllabus and assessment methods. We encourage the SRA to give more information as soon as possible.’

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SQE: Profession cautiously optimistic but 'clarity needed'

Leigh Day 'alive' to chance Iraqi clients were lying, tribunal told

Human rights firm Leigh Day and its senior solicitors went ahead with an explosive press conference – alleging British soldiers’ part in torture and killings – to ensure publicity and without sufficient checks on the claims, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard today.

On the second day of a seven-week hearing it was alleged that senior partner Martyn Day entered a ‘joint enterprise’ with Public Interest Lawyers director Phil Shiner to hold the conference in February 2008. The conference followed weeks of planning and correspondence to clarify exactly what would be said and what the impact was going to be.

Day and Shiner then recklessly endorsed a series of the most serious allegations made by Iraqi civilians without making checks about their veracity or of the people making them, the tribunal heard.

Timothy Dutton QC, from Fountain Court Chambers and representing the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said Day’s emails to Shiner in the build-up showed he was ‘alive’ to the possibility the clients were ‘concocting the story to embarrass the British Army’. But the conference went ahead nonetheless, and Dutton told the tribunal that Day and Shiner went beyond what they could prove in order to ‘ally’ themselves with the clients they represented.

‘The sole interest of Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day, attracting maximum publicity and a furore, is an explanation as to why these two solicitors expressed themselves in these term,’ said Dutton. ‘The risks were obvious. There were serious risks involved – it was known the allegations were extremely serious [and] and the allegation was being put forward that the British Army was involved in the worst massacre for many decades.

‘It was known that their clients might have been lying and might have been members of the [insurgent] Mahdi Army. The risk was that files were being put in the public domain as containing the truth. The risk was that it would cause maximum damage not only to the British Army as an institution but to British soldiers and their families.’

Dutton cast doubt on the preparatory work leading up to the press conference. He said Leigh Day had taken no evidence from doctors who carried out post mortem examinations on dead Iraqis, made no checks with Iraqi courts on the background of their clients and failed to check on the claims with either the armed forces or authors of reports about the Iraq conflict. The tribunal heard yesterday that Leigh Day pursued the claims despite knowing the clients were members of a hostile Iraqi militia.

Dutton pointed out that the BBC Panorama programme, which investigated the British Army’s conduct in Iraq, opted not to support the most serious allegations against soldiers, instead saying the claims had been endorsed by lawyers representing the civilians.

In terms of checks, the SRA alleged that the solicitors proceeded on the basis of their ‘own interpretation’ of photographs of injuries to Iraqi clients.

Dutton added: ‘[Day and Shiner] are lay people, they are not experts in this field and they didn’t have medical evidence. The only evidence which one might call medical evidence as to the injuries in the photographs was Mr Shiner apparently showing his wife a photograph – she answered that she was no expert.’

Dutton said the SRA’s case did not rely on the successful prosecution of Shiner earlier this year, but as this was a joint press conference the tribunal would have to find either that Shiner’s tribunal decision was wrong, or that there was some ‘factual distinction’ with Day.

As well as Day, Leigh Day partner Sapna Malik was also accused of recklessness in not speaking up to question what was going to be said at the press conference, despite being party to discussions in the build-up. The tribunal heard she was a trusted colleague of Day and could have freely expressed her reservations about the content if she had them, but instead she had appeared to endorse the prepared text.

All respondents deny misconduct. The hearing continues.

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Leigh Day 'alive' to chance Iraqi clients were lying, tribunal told

London's legal eminence will survive Brexit, LCJ insists

Brexit will not harm London’s status as a centre for dispute resolution, the lord chief justice has assured Chinese colleagues. In a speech to the National Judges College in Beijing earlier this month and circulated by HM Judiciary today, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd took English contract law as an illustration of why Brexit will have ‘no effect on London’s key strengths’. 

’Brexit has no effect, unsurprisingly, both because the common law is used by nearly 30% of the world’s legal jurisdictions and because English contract law has at its centrepiece respect for parties’ intentions, as has the Commercial Court in London,’ he said.

’That English contract law is well-established, well-understood and freely circulates contributes to its being a law of choice; and in terms of arbitration, the law of choice for 40% of all global corporate arbitrations. English contract and commercial law remains as the UK’s “national treasure”.’

He said the government has made clear that measures will be put in place to ensure the recognition of jurisdiction clauses and the enforcement of judgments after the UK leaves the EU.  

’London’s Commercial Court is and will remain the ideal commercial court for litigation. London remains and will remain to the fore as a centre of international dispute resolution,’ he assured colleagues.  

Lord Thomas also used his speech to promote his plan for a Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.

The new body’s objective is to build on and develop a more systematic and common approach to the provision of dispute resolution, to keep commercial dispute resolution up to date and to see that the law and legal framework is developed in a way that supports international trade, international commerce and the international financial markets. ’All will benefit’, Lord Thomas said.

He announced that the forum’s first conference will take place in London next month. 

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London's legal eminence will survive Brexit, LCJ insists

Truss tight-lipped on plans to promote legal services post-Brexit

The government continues to give little away about the global law summit it is working on to promote the UK's legal services overseas post-Brexit, despite announcing that it would be held in the spring.

Taking questions in the House of Commons on the effect leaving the EU will have on the justice system, justice secretary Liz Truss told MPs this morning that four of the four of the top 10 global law firms are based in the UK.

She said: 'We have huge opportunities to promote English law, Scots law. We are working on a global Britain legal summit to bring together leading figures in the industry to promote what we do overseas.'

No date was given despite Truss telling the House of Commons in January that the summit would be held in the spring 'to promote the fantastic capabilities we have in the law'.

The summit, should it happen in spring, which technically ends on 21 June, would be the second legal summit hosted by the UK in just over two years. The first took place in London in February 2015, marking 800 years since the Magna Carta was sealed. 

Truss also assured MPs this morning that the government is seeking a 'smooth and orderly exit' from the EU.

She said: 'Legal certainty is fundamental to this, as is laid out in the Great Repeal Bill white paper. We will bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice so that our courts will be the ultimate arbiters of our law.'

Mutual enforceability of judgments and civil judicial cooperation is 'very important' and are priorities in the Brexit negotiations, Truss stressed.

As well as highlighting the importance of family law cooperation, the government is working closely with the Home Office on criminal justice cooperation, she added.

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Truss tight-lipped on plans to promote legal services post-Brexit