United Kingdom

Wife’s Alleged Affair with Top Cop Puts BigLaw Partner on Witness Seat in High-Profile Arson Case

Oct. 21, 2009 clearly was not a good day for Ian Gray. Arriving home from a business trip, the Eversheds litigation head was told by his wife that she was having an affair, and that her lover had been receiving threatening e-mails from an “iangray666,” according to the Daily Mail…

Jan 20, 2011 1:51 AM CST

‘Free’ Office Mgr Allegedly Helped Husband Steal Over $2M from Law Firm

A ‘free’ office manager helped her husband steal over $2 million from a British law firm that funded the couple’s lavish lifestyle, reports the BBC News. A Leeds Crown Court jury found Simon Morgan, 50, guilty of six theft counts. His wife, Ann, 55, wasn’t fit to stand trial for…

Jan 13, 2011 1:12 AM CST

Is Web Shame Game Too Tough on Some Defendants?

Internationally vilified for tossing a cat into a trash can, in an act captured by a surveillance camera–and then identified after footage was posted online–a British woman was fined about $400 in the animal cruelty case in October. The subject of death threats as well as a multitude of critical…

Dec 28, 2010 4:53 PM CST

Lawyers for WikiLeaks Founder Outraged as Documents Leak About His Own Accusers

Lawyers for the founder of the secret-revealing WikiLeaks website are expressing outrage about a new development in the Swedish sex case in which their client–who has not been charged–is being sought for questioning. One of the same newspapers that earlier published a stash of confidential United States diplomatic cables obtained…

Dec 20, 2010 11:07 PM CST

Top UK Judge OKs Reporters’ Use of Twitter, Texts & E-Mail in Court

Journalists should routinely be allowed to use Twitter and send texts and e-mail from smart phones from courtrooms while covering legal news, the most senior judge in the United Kingdom said today in a note providing guidance to others. The action by Igor Judge, the Lord Chief Justice of England…

Dec 20, 2010 7:29 PM CST

WikiLeaks Founder Free to Stay at Country Estate Under UK Appellate Decision

A High Court judge in London has denied an appeal by prosecutors seeking to keep WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in jail pending extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges. Conditions of bail, set at about $316,000, require Assange to stay confined in a country house in Suffolk and to wear…

Dec 16, 2010 2:04 PM CST

Filmmaker Michael Moore Posts $20K Bail for WikiLeaks Founder Assange

Filmmaker Michael Moore contributed $20,000 of his own money to help bail WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange out of a London jail where he is being held on Swedish sex crimes charges. Moore is among several “luvvies, lefties and ‘internationally renowned’ backers” helping post bail for Assange, the Daily Mail reports.…

Dec 15, 2010 1:37 PM CST

WikiLeaks Founder Assange Gets Bail in UK, But His Release Is Delayed as Swedish Prosecutors Appeal

In a British court hearing that was live-tweeted, with the permission of the judge, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website was granted bail today. However, the release of Julian Assange, who is being held on an Interpol warrant in a Swedish sex-crime case, has been delayed while Swedish prosecutors…

Dec 14, 2010 8:35 PM CST

Jailed WikiLeaks Founder Put in Segregation, as 1st Individual Is Detained in Hack Attacks

Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denies, through his legal counsel, that he had anything to do with recent hack attacks on organizations perceived as hostile to his website. And he asserts that WikiLeaks is a news publishing site, not a hack site, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News reports. However, the 39-year-old…

Dec 9, 2010 10:58 PM CST

Seeming Hack Attacks Hit Prosecutors, Opposing Counsel & Credit Card Co. re WikiLeaks Case

After news that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being held without bail in the United Kingdom on a Swedish arrest warrant in a sex case, seeming hack attacks hit websites for Swedish prosecutors and the opposing counsel representing his accusers in the sex cases. Mastercard Inc., PayPal and Swiss bank…

Dec 8, 2010 10:57 PM CST

Seyfarth Shaw to Open ‘Hub’ Office in London Led by Norton Rose Employment Chair

Seyfarth Shaw will open a London office next year led by the one-time chair of Norton Rose’s employment law practice. The lawyer, Peter Talibart, is widely regarded as one of the leading lawyers in international employment law, according to a Seyfarth Shaw press release. Seyfarth chairman Stephen Poor says in…

Dec 8, 2010 3:28 PM CST

Law Prof Links Lawyer Regs and ‘Gaping Hole’ in Legal Services for Middle Class

A University of Illinois law professor thinks a change in lawyer regulations could help middle-class defendants who are being targeted in mass foreclosures and debt-collection suits. The answer, says corporate law professor Larry Ribstein, lies in a change in the “stranglehold” of lawyer regulations that prevent innovation and a focus…

Dec 1, 2010 11:30 AM CST

Starting Pay for UK BigLaw Attorneys Down 10% Since ‘09, Bonuses Rise, Says PwC Survey

The top 10 law firms in London have cut starting pay for newly qualified attorneys by about 10 percent this year. In U.S. dollars, at the current exchange rate, they are now getting about $92,000 when they start work, compared to about $100,000 in 2009. But at the same time,…

Nov 29, 2010 5:25 PM CST

Top 20 UK Law Firm to Outsource All Support Staff Work & Bring Local Integreon Office In-House

In what is being billed as a first-of-its-kind move by a top 20 London-based law firm, partners of CMS Cameron McKenna voted this week to eliminate its entire “back office” of some 200 support staff and put a legal process outsourcer in charge of performing this work. While the staff…

Nov 23, 2010 7:28 PM CST

After News of Royal Engagement, Speculation About Royal Prenup

Following today’s news of a royal engagement between Prince William and his longtime girlfriend, Kate Middleton, comes speculation about whether the two will have a prenuptial agreement. Until recently, the advance pacts about how to handle marital assets in the event of a divorce, weren’t considered valid under British law.…

Nov 17, 2010 12:06 AM CST