Aim-listed law firm Gateley has acquired tax specialist Capitus April 11, 2016 Share price in Gateley rose today after the Aim-listed law firm snapped up Capitus, a tax incentives adviser. Capitus, which Gateley has purchased for £2.7m in shares and cash in what is its first acquisition since listing on the exchange, raked in revenues of £1.4m and an operating profit of £593,000 for its year ended June 2015. Gateley, [...]
Legislation is now too long for parliament to read properly, and it’s threatening the status of the rule of law April 8, 2016 A fundamental principle of law could be under threat because of the increasing length of new legislation. A report out today by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) warns that the number of clauses in new legislation has doubled since the 1960s, putting the rule of law – essentially the idea that nobody is above the law [...]
Wikileaks goes on tweeting bender, accuses everyone from George Soros to the US government of being behind Panama Papers leak April 7, 2016 It's no secret Wikileaks is pretty put out by the fact it wasn't the one to leak the Panama Papers. The organisation, which has been behind some of the biggest whistleblowing data leaks over the past few years, has spent much of the past week making it known how disgruntled it is, with tweets like "WikiLeaks didn't lead [...]
Lawyer for the Serious Fraud Office urges courtroom not to overcomplicate Libor and to focus on the issue of honesty April 5, 2016 A lawyer representing the UK’s fraud squad in the latest Libor trial today urged a courtroom not to mystify Libor and instead focus on the defendants’ dishonesty. In his opening argument for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), James Hines QC told those at the trial of five former Barclays bankers that “the most important element of [...]
US court agrees BP civil settlement for Deepwater Horizon oil spill April 5, 2016 A US court signed off on BP's civil settlement for $18.7bn (£13.2bn) relating to the Deepwater Horizon incident late last night. BP has agreed to pay damages to the United States government as well as the Gulf States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The payments have been staggered so some will be payable as late [...]
Panama papers law firm founders begin damage limitation April 5, 2016 The founders of the law firm at the centre of the Panama papers tax evasion scandal have begun damage limitation, calling the investigation a "media witch hunt". In an interview with the Financial Times, Mossack Fonseca founder Ramon Fonseca said the disclosure was undermining legitimacy of offshore companies. Fonseca blamed hackers, and adding that in the [...]
HM Revenue & Customs heaves deep sigh, promises it’s looking into the Panama Papers April 4, 2016 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has said it will "closely examine" data it receives from the so-called Panama Papers leak, and vowed to act on it "swiftly and appropriately". In a statement following a massive leak last night of papers from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which purport to reveal how some of the world's [...]
Want to find out what your salary will be like when you enter corporate law? These are the City’s best-paying law firms April 4, 2016 Lawyers: we all know they're better paid than the rest of us, but just how much can you expect to earn if you join one of London's big-hitting firms? What's surprising is that new research suggests firms in the so-called Magic Circle – the group of London's most elite law firms – aren't necessarily the [...]
Libor scandal round 3: It’s crunch time for the UK’s fraud squad as it heads to court for the third UK Libor trial April 3, 2016 The Serious Fraud Office is gearing up for a crunch trial today as it heads to court in the latest instalment of the Libor rigging saga. The under-pressure fraud squad's war on financial misconduct will continue at Southwark Crown Court, with the trial of five former Barclays bankers accused of US-dollar pegged Libor rigging. The SFO will [...]
Bar Standards Board gains approval to license Alternative Business Structures March 30, 2016 Legal eagles, here's an acronym game to entertain you on your commute home: LSB BSB ABS OMG! For those who require a more detailed explanation, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has today approved the Bar Standards Board's (BSB) application to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures (ABS). An ABS, which were introduced under the Legal Services [...]