December 2008 Archives

JUDGES and magistrates are jailing young offenders at more than three times the rate recommended by experts, according to figures released today.

Of the 3,740 under-18s locked up in 2006/07, youth offending specialists recommended custodial sentences in only 1,077 cases - 29% of the total.

Liberal Democrats said that the official figures, obtained from the Ministry of Justice in parliamentary questions, suggested that judges and magistrates do not have confidence in the non-custodial punishments available to them, such as community service.

A MERSEYSIDE firm won a landmark legal battle yesterday that could mean thousands of former Mersey dockers can claim compensation for asbestos-related diseases.

John Pickering & Partners represented two claimants who argued a government labour group was negligent in not warning them about the lethal dust.

Mr Justice Silber found in the claimants' favour on Friday, awarding them a total of moe than £164,000.

LANCASHIRE solicitors Scott Rees & Co has given a local youth football club an early Christmas present after 30 footballs were stolen.

Scott Rees, which specialises in accident claims, has donated 30 new footballs to Dynamo Rangers FC in Skelmersdale to replace the ones which were stolen from the girls' Under 13s squad a few weeks ago.

Dynamo Rangers' club secretary Caroline Stewart: "Since the balls were stolen, we've had to beg and borrow old footballs which have been a bit past their sell-by date.

FAMILY courts could be opened up to the public and journalists under plans announced in Parliament yesterday.

Expert witnesses who give evidence in family courts should be held up to public scrutiny like those in other courts, Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs.

Mr Straw said it was his "default setting" that the identity of experts should not be kept secret, as he announced an opening up of the family courts intended to make them more transparent and accountable.

A LAWYER served notice on an Australian couple that they had lost their home by using the social networking website Facebook.

The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court approved lawyer Mark McCormack's application to use Facebook to serve legally binding documents to tell the Canberra couple that they had lost their house after defaulting on a loan.

A MERSEYSIDE solicitor is behind a bill aiming to change the law to give unmarried couples more rights if they split up.

The Cohabitation Bill had its first reading in Parliament on Thursday.

Sponsored by Lord Lester of Herne Hill, it is borne out of a campaign run by family law group Resolution, which is chaired by Morecrofts partner Godfrey Freeman.

Andrew Cox on the pitfalls of witnesses giving false statements in civil cases.

THE recent case of KJM Superbikes Ltd v Hinton [2008] is a warning to witnesses who knowingly give false statements in civil cases, and a reminder to solicitors to inform their witnesses of the importance of signing a statement of truth.

Giving false evidence carries grave consequences, and the impact of signing a statement of truth, which must be included in witness statements under the Civil Procedure Rules, should be given close and careful consideration.

In this case, the Court of Appeal allowed contempt of court proceedings to be brought against Mr Hinton.

A MERSEYSIDE law firm say their city centre office has turned into a tourist attraction since they installed a Superlambanana in the front window.

Partners at Brown Turner Ross solicitors bid £6,000 when Superlawbanana and the rest of its flock went under the hammer in September.

It now gazes onto Stanley Street where it is attracting attention from passers by.

A CHESHIRE law firm has red-circled January 12 on their calendar as "Divorce Day".

The first Monday after children return to school after the Christmas break traditionally sees a stampeed of couples filing for divorce.

SAS Daniels are bracing themselves for "thousands" of couples in strained relationships to choose that day to start break up proceedings.

And they are braced for more than ever in 2009.

Here Shelley Hesford explains the reasons why.

A LEADING North West law firm says it is seeing an upsurge in aggressive debt collection techniques among the region's small firms.

Mace & Jones insolvency unit partner Dominic Vincent said small businesses are increasingly being hit with county court claims and insolvency procedures initiated by creditors as a debt collection technique.

Equally small businesses are using the same mechanisms to claw back owed cash.