Archive

When can you safely terminate a retainer?

Before suspending work for a client who refuses to pay, solicitors must ensure that 'their terms of business clearly provide them with adequate rights to do so, 'say Bernard Livesey QC and Joshua Munro

Stealth tactics: making unfair dismissal worthless

Having found that it could not politically do away with unfair dismissal outright, the government now wants 'to – quietly – make it worthless, says Anya Palmer

High Court blocks plans to split up Conan Doyle house

Legal flaws in council decision to grant planning permission, Cranston J says

Civil conduct | Is mediation worth the money?

The Court of Appeal has stressed that there are legitimate circumstances when mediation ?is not appropriate, but if a party is found to have unreasonably refused to mediate they ?may be penalised on costs, warn John Bramhall and Melissa Jones

Workshop: Beneficial owners and occupiers

When can an occupier claim a beneficial interest in a property ?and what should a potential buyer do to avoid hitting problems? ?John Coulter explains

Tales from practice | Best foot forward

Richard Barr joined the 6,000 walkers on the 2012 London Legal Walk, playing a small part in raising more than half a million pounds for charity. Here is his footsore account of the event

Construction update

Anna Stillman reviews two protocol compliance cases, the severability of adjudicators' decisions and a case in which the court delivered a scathing reproach of a firm's conduct of a claim on a conditional fee arrangement

Road traffic update

From the failure to wear 'a seat belt to cyclists 'riding without helmets, Roger Cooper reviews 'the circumstances where 'a reduction will be 'made on account of contributory negligence