There has been welcome convergence in the mortgage lending industry, but isn't it time for a rebalancing of the lender-conveyancer relationship, asks Jonathan Smithers
The requirement to consider proportionality is only one of several changes local authorities will need to comply with under new covert surveillance rules. Ibrahim Hasan reports
Increasingly complex regulation places a heavy burden on charities without achieving the objective of effectiveness, say Jonathan Brinsden and Nicola Evans
The sentencing guidelines on corporate manslaughter have provided welcome clarity but still leave much to the courts' discretion and risk leading to piecemeal developments in the law, says Atiyah Malik
Lawyers are very familiar with the doctrine of unintended consequences, whereby new policies and initiatives bounce back and bite the hand which feeds them. The unintended consequences can arise from the best of motives; drug testing in prison was introduced to combat serious over consumption of cannabis inside: the fact that Class A drugs stay in the body for a shorter time and thus became the custodial drug of choice was in no one's mind when the policy was instituted.
Janet Armstrong-Fox reviews easements, contracts conditional on planning, the new Building Societies Association's Mortgage Instructions and the government's plans to extend the SDLT disclosure regime to some residential property transactions
While West Midlands firms are wary of slow recovery from the downturn, by focusing on specialisation, hiring top legal talent and re-evaluating their structures, they are determined to survive in the new LSA market. Jean-Yves Gilg reports
The fate of over 300 staff at the Legal Complaints Service in Leamington Spa hangs in the balance this week as the High Court considers whether or not they are protected by TUPE.
