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International Edition

Fountain Court QC exits for Keating Chambers

Fountain Court has seen its second silk departure this year, with Veronique Buehrlen QC leaving the set to join Keating Chambers. Buehrlen left Fountain Court last week after 20 years at the chambers. She was called to the Bar in 1991 and took silk last year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Weil names City partner as firmwide international arbitration head

Weil Gotshal & Manges has named London disputes partner Juliet Blanch as firmwide head of international arbitration. Blanch, who joined Weil last year from the City office of McDermott Will & Emery, has replaced Guillermo Aguilar-Alvarez, who left Weil at the end of 2010 to join King & Spalding in New York.
2 minute read

Legal Week

Weil names City partner as firmwide international arbitration head

Weil Gotshal & Manges has named London disputes partner Juliet Blanch as firmwide head of international arbitration. Blanch, who joined Weil last year from the City office of McDermott Will & Emery, has replaced Guillermo Aguilar-Alvarez, who left Weil at the end of 2010 to join King & Spalding in New York.
16 minute read

International Edition

NHS Litigation Authority reports 58% hike in clinical negligence costs

The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) paid out £257m in legal costs relating to clinical negligence claims during 2010-11 – a 58% increase on the previous year's figure of £163m. The organisation's latest annual report shows costs to claimant clinical negligence lawyers saw the biggest increase - growing 61% year-on-year from £121m to £195m over the period.
2 minute read

International Edition

Thornton v Telegraph Media - libel, malice and a failed 'offer of amends' defence

On 26 July 2011 Mr Justice Tugendhat handed down a reserved judgment after the trial in Thornton v Telegraph Media Group. The claimant was successful and a total award of damages for libel and malicious falsehood of £65,000 was made. The case is notable for a number of firsts. It is first libel trial of the year and the first one involving the publisher of a national newspaper since the Mo George case in April 2009. It is the first case in which an "offer of amends" defence has been overturned by a finding of malice. Finally, the case also appears to be the first in which a court has awarded general damages for malicious falsehood.
11 minute read

International Edition

Simmons brings in one partner each for City and Milan bases

Simmons & Simmons has made two partner hires, strengthening its London corporate practice and its Milan litigation team. The firm has hired Travers Smith counsel Caroline Murphy as a partner for its London corporate practice and brought in Hogan Lovells partner Cristina Pagni in Italy. Murphy, who has worked with clients including Bridgepoint Capital and 3i, becomes the fourth partner in Simmons' London private equity team. Prior to joining Travers in 2006, Murphy was general counsel at furniture retailer Habitat, becoming the first person to hold the position when she left Clifford Chance in 2004.
2 minute read

International Edition

Relief for English lawyers as Supreme Court backs right to choose arbitrator's nationality

London's position as a global centre for arbitration has been reaffirmed following a Supreme Court ruling that nationality and religion can be used as criteria in the selection and appointment of arbitrators. In a landmark judgment handed down last week, the Supreme Court confirmed that arbitrators are not employees and therefore fall outside of UK equality laws.
6 minute read

International Edition

Rape trials: what needs to change?

Last week I was asked to take part in a radio programme featuring a discussion which I was told was about 'Rape trials: What needs to change?' I couldn't go as, ironically, I was in court making a prosecution speech in a rape. It occurred to me that the title was a loaded one, especially when three out of five rape trials result in conviction. These statistics, released by the Crown Prosecution Service, tend to suggest that, broadly speaking, rape trials are being conducted fairly. I was also told that the producer wanted to look at what has changed since Baroness Stern's review and recommendations.
4 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents faces £10m negligence claim from former client

Pinsent Masons has been hit with a negligence claim of more than £10m from a former client. Construction contractor Shepherd Construction has launched a claim in the High Court alleging that negligent drafting of contracts by Pinsents left the company liable to repay subcontractors when one of its clients went into administration.
3 minute read

International Edition

Matrix QC becomes first Sikh High Court judge in new appointments

Matrix Chambers' Rabinder Singh QC has been appointed as a High Court judge alongside three further appointments to the Queen's Bench Division (QBD). Singh, who will take up his new position from October this year, will be the first Sikh judge to sit on the High Court Bench. He was one of the founding members of Matrix in 2000 and was called to the Bar in 1989 before taking silk in 2000.
2 minute read

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