July 2008 Archives

A LIVERPOOL lawyer is part of the team behind a book awarded a top industry prize.

Dr Digby C Jess, a barrister at Exchange Chambers, co-authored the 2nd edition of "Professional Indemnity Insurance Law".

The book has been awarded the 2008 BILA Book prize by the Trustees of the British Insurance Law Association (BILA) Charitable Trust.

THE internet is playing "an increasingly prominent role in divorce cases," according to Liverpool-based awyers.

They say people are increasingly turning to social networking sites such as Facebook to vent their anger, take revenge or simply set the record straight.

The most recent example came when Lancashire millionaire businessman Gary Dean posted details of his wife's divorce settlement via his own website in a bid to silence local gossips he claimed had branded him ruthless and greedy.

FIA President Max Mosley has won damages of £60,000 (plus legal costs) after he succeeded in his privacy claim against News Group Newspapers.

Last week, the High Court ruled that Moseley's privacy had been infringed by The News of the World who published a video and front page article which showed intimate scenes of Mosley involved in S&M sessions with several professional dominatrices.

HILL DICKINSON'S annual results were announced this month and they show a pleasing rise in fee income of almost 7% and outstanding growth across several of our key practice groups.

Given that we moved almost 600 people into St Paul's Square in the same financial year, and the upheaval that goes with a relocation on that scale, to achieve such growth in these circumstances is a real achievement. It's a firm foundation for moving forwards.

My last blog finished off with me going to the Leadership in Law Firms course at Harvard Law School.

SLOPPY administration by Merseyside businesses is causing a dramatic increase in demand for Company Restoration Orders, corporate city lawyers are reporting.

Companies with poor control of their paperwork and statutory filings are being struck off the Companies House register, according to law firm Brabners Chaffe Street LLP.

Adrian Rogers, associate in the corporate team at the Exchange Flags-based firm, warned that businesses with overdue filings could face a time-consuming and costly procedure if they do not act quickly.

IT'S been less than a month since Merseyside power couple Coleen McLoughlin and Wayne Rooney tied the knot, but I've already heard several media commentators declaring Coleen's decision not to sign a pre-nuptial agreement as a "foolish" mistake - what nonsense.

Coleen is a vivacious and intelligent young woman and her instincts against a pre-nup are entirely correct, not only emotionally but legally.

If, perish the thought, Coleen were ever to find herself in need of financial relief she is better off with the discretion of judges, as based on recent case law she would do very well indeed.

A TRIO of Merseyside's leading solicitors swapped the law for laughs to raise money for charity last week.

The staff at Kirwans Solicitors starred in the "Take a Stand" comedy revue to raise cash for the Liverpool-based Roy Cancer Lung Cancer Foundation.

Simon Gibson, Daniel Stear and John-Paul Dennis took to the stage at the Albert Dock's Baby Blue club on Thursday.

SOLICITORS are updating their anti-money laundering polices and procedures to fall into line with regulations, a Law Society survey has revealed.

According to the legal body, compliance with money laundering obligations is one of the most significant challenges for solicitors in the UK today.

The new Money Laundering Regulations came into force on December 15 last year. They are aimed at stamping out the abuse of solicitors' professional services by money launderers.

A LIVERPOOL intellectual property law specialist has struck a blow for companies suffering from domain name squatting.

Shipley Solicitors, based at Liverpool Science Park, acted for Airline Network in a case against a Texas company that had registered the domain name airlinenetwork.com and was using it to make money from "pay-per-click" advertising links.

The case was heard by a panel of international experts appointed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

I recently attended the inaugural charity dinner at the newly re-opened Midland Hotel in Morecambe with Weightmans' property partner Sian Evans as a guest of Bill Maynard of property developer Urban Splash.

Bill had told me about the project three or more years ago and the concept already caught my imagination then.

To be invited to see the finished product was an absolute delight bearing in mind my Mum and Dad had told me about the Hotel and its former glory having gone on their first dinner date there back in 1958.