The family firm. It has such a reassuring sound, redolent of values of client care handed down through the generations, and the energy of youth brought under the careful supervision of wisdom. The very best traditions of the local small firm, a foundation...
On the naughty step
On the naughty step this week is Susan Orton, a conveyancing assistant at Harold G Walker in Bournemouth, at which her husband was a senior partner. Mrs Orton made away with £79,655 from the firm's client account over 2 years, after blowing £30,000 from the...
Butterfingers
In what must be probably the worst experience a paralegal could ever have, Penny Wadsworth has inadvertently caused the collapse of a 5 defendant, £100,000 drugs trial [Guardian Report]. The 'Kennington Rastafarian Temple' trial had been running for 4 weeks...
Badness in courts, of courts and of law lecturers
A quick outline of a busy news day... The Court of Appeal says that (some) provisions of the Legal Services Commission's Unified Contract are unlawful, specifically the most sweeping of the unilateral amendment clauses. The judgment is pretty devastating,...
Ooops – disproportionate strike-out
A certain amount of amusement has been circulating around London housing firms at the Court of Appeal judgment in London Borough of Southwark -v- Onayomake [2007] EWCA Civ 1426 (Bailii link, or link to WLR case note here, but may only be briefly freely...
Honest Guv, it's a genuine da Vinci.
I am once more indebted to Victorian Maiden for noting the arrest of a senior partner in the recapture of the Madonna of the Yardwinder, violently lifted from Drumlanrig Castle four years ago. Calum Jones of HBJ Gateley Wareing in Glasgow, a specialist in...
Busted
In one of the least surprising brassiere related decisions ever by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Daniela Scotece has been struck off the roll. Ms Scotece, an erstwhile criminal defence solicitor at the Nottingham Johnson Partnership, was convicted in...
Hyman and Doughty Street
Doughty Street Chambers have a press release on their front page about Bruce Hyman. It reads: There have been several false press reports that Bruce Hyman, a barrister who has pleaded guilty to an attempt to pervert the course of justice, was a member of...
Coming soon – Hyman, the Prison Diaries
So Bruce Hyman got 12 months for perverting the course of justice, thanks VM for the details. The Beeb has a photo of Hyman looking furtive, as well he might. That may be longer than other media people have received for looking at child porn, but I have to...
Nemesis and cab ranks
I am indebted to Victorian Maiden (QC) at Ruthie's Law for the news that Bruce Hyman is to be sentenced tomorrow, 19 September. He may make history as the first barrister for 800 years to be sent to prison for perverting the course of justice. Hyman's...
The summer of dodgy lawyers continues.
An extraordinary tale in today's Observer. Bruce Hyman, a practising barrister, has pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice. The full story is at the link, but what apparently happened was that Hyman, representing a client in a family...
It's always the conveyancers you have to watch…
Not content with passing off 'he was discussing insurance in my office' as an alibi for an alleged offence of abduction and extortion by a client in 2005, Shahid Pervez, a Scottish ex-conveyancer now convicted of perverting the course of justice, also fell...