News in brief – October 2014

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LORD CHANCELLOR ACTED ‘UNLAWFULLY’ IN LEGAL AID CONSULTATION

Kingsley Napley and 11 KBW last month acted for the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association and the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association in their successful challenge against the Lord Chancellor’s failure to disclose the contents of two reports during the legal aid reforms consultation process. The Treasury Solicitor instructed Blackstone Chambers’ James Eadie QC and Fraser Campbell, and 4 New Square’s Richard O’Brien on the case.

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‘There will be uncertainty’: partners discuss consequences of Scotland voting ‘no’

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Scotland’s ‘no’ to independence last month returned confidence to the markets with a spike in sterling and share prices of FTSE 100-listed Scottish companies.

The legal profession breathed easy too as while independence would have signalled a surge of work over the first few years, long term the outlook was tied to uncertain economic fortunes.

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BSB enforcement report shows improvements with disciplinary action doubling as body appoints new board members

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With the Bar having long been slower to change in a post-Legal Services Act environment compared to its solicitor counterpart, its regulator, the Bar Standards Board, has published its annual report on the body’s enforcement activities noting improved performance. The barristers’ regulator has further shaken up its governance and appointed three new board members.

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A better Judiciary to realise Turkey’s potential

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 MARKET VIEW – LITIGATION 

Mehmet Gün, senior partner at Gün + Partners, examines the difficulties facing the Turkish judiciary and how essential a first-class justice system is to Turkey’s progress

In the 1980s, Turkey undertook significant liberalisation of its national economy. Since then, liberalisation has increasingly become a pivotal part of the international economy. Between the 1980s and 2000, Turkey learnt some very important lessons in the form of economic crises and was saved by International Monetary Fund programmes.

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‘We have dodged huge expense and uncertainty for businesses’: early partner reaction as Scotland says ‘no’

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Scotland voted no to independence yesterday by a wider margin than many had expected, providing certainty to a legal market which has been hampered by the possible large-scale upheaval.

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Short-term boom but long-term questions loom for lawyers if Scotland votes to go it alone

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Michael West finds mixed feelings on independence from Scotland’s bloodied legal profession

It’s long been a hoary cliché to say that uncertainty is good news for the legal profession but it is hard to escape the conclusion that the uncertain prospect of a momentous vote on Scottish independence this month would be very good news for local lawyers… in the short term.

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Will $50bn Yukos award lead states to pull out of international arbitration treaties?

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The landmark Yukos decision has forced governments to consider the consequences of entering into international treaties that allow foreign investors to take disputes to arbitration. With the likes of Indonesia and South Africa having already torn up agreements, Russia having withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty that gave the Yukos shareholders jurisdiction and India mulling an exit from bilateral investment treaties, could the $50bn award lead more states to withdraw their consent to arbitration?

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Breathing space for MOJ as Court of Appeal orders OpCotton trial to resume

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In a verdict that gives the Ministry of Justice at least a temporary reprieve in its legal aid battle with the Bar, the Court of Appeal today (21 May) reversed the Crown Court’s ruling that the ‘OpCotton’ serious fraud trial should be stayed after the defendants failed to find any barrister prepared to represent them on reduced legal aid rates.

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Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling brought in on landmark ‘Opcotton’ legal aid appeal

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The Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling has been brought in on today’s (13 May) landmark appeal challenging a Crown Court decision to stay a high value publicly funded serious fraud trial, after the defendants failed to find any barrister prepared to represent them on reduced legal aid rates. Continue reading “Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling brought in on landmark ‘Opcotton’ legal aid appeal”

CMS junior partners to pay up to £50k in response to HMRC shake-up

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CMS Cameron McKenna has called on its fixed-share partners (FSPs) to make a substantial contribution of capital in light of HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) recent overhaul of the way partnerships are taxed.

Members of the junior partnership that fall into band one of the firm’s four-tiered remuneration structure have been asked to contribute around £35,000 to £50,000 each. With 90 partners in this bracket, this means a total capital investment of up to £4.5m.

A partner at the firm told Legal Business: ‘The firm doesn’t necessarily need the money – it’s not a call for borrowings or to meet debt requirements. It’s a call to even out the capital positions across the various levels of the partnership. People were not necessarily happy taking on more borrowings but it hasn’t caused any ructions across the junior partnership.’

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