The High Court has sent a blunt message to litigators that excessive trial bundles are unnecessary and counter-productive. In observations made as part of an administrative court ruling, Mr Justice Holgate said he regretted that he was forced to discuss the ‘inappropriate manner’ the claim was presented. Holgate said the claimant’s firm, Bond Dickinson LLP, had prepared six volumes comprising 2,000 pages of ‘largely irrelevant’ material. The skeleton argument in Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd, R v The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was ‘long, diffuse and often confused’, said the judge. Holgate stressed that the court […]

The law firm representing a former air hostess has voiced its “disappointment” after judges rejected her bid to up a £3.5 million divorce payout to £5 million. Divorce lawyers at Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth say the Court of Appeal decision “leaves the law in a state of flux”. Karen Hart, from Sutton Coldfield, believed she should have received £5 million from her business mogul husband after their 20-year marriage ended. The 61-year-old’s barrister described £3.5 million as the “worst case scenario”. Karen Hart (Image: Richard Gittins / Champion News) She should have got at least half of a family fortune […]

LOUISE Redknapp is looking to divorce footie pundit husband Jamie by Christmas, according to a new report. The Sun revealed how the former girl band star, 42, split from Jamie in July and quit the marital home after the Strictly curse struck their relationship. Jamie and Louise Redknapp are heading to divorce city Louise seems to be enjoying life solo Now insiders close to Louise claim her “new-found independence” is driving her on to formalise the split with a divorce. A source told The Sunday People: “Louise wants to put steps in place to end her ­marriage to Jamie by the end […]

What two factors vastly increase the likelihood of a healthy and happy future for kids after divorce? With the important exception of children who need protection from an abusive or negligent parent, “shared parenting should be the norm for parenting plans for children of all ages, including very young children,” said Linda Nielsen, a professor of adolescent and educational psychology at Wake Forest University. It’s difficult to believe that, in 2017, this even is a question. But statistics show that mothers still are awarded full physical custody of children in more than 80 percent of court-ordered child custody cases. One […]

Pictured: Judge Rosemary Horgan, president of the District Court and Keith Walsh, solicitor, chair of the Law Society of Ireland’s family & child law committee. Photograph: Jason Clarke Photography. Leading family law practitioners from across Ireland gathered at Blackhall Place yesterday for the launch of the Law Society of Ireland’s new handbook, Family Law in Ireland – Code of Practice. Ken Murphy, director general of the Law Society, was joined by award-winning family solicitor Keith Walsh and Judge Rosemary Horgan, president of the District Court, to launch the handbook, which the Law Society said seeks to set new standards for […]

I have always had a poor memory. A blank look sweeps across my face when my family reminisce over childhood experiences. Fear takes over as I prepare to introduce unacquainted friends, desperately searching the outer reaches of my brain to find the name of “the guy whose ear I once chewed off about politics”. Ashamed and flushed, I simply point to the person closest to me whose identity is familiar, and leave it to others to fill in the gaps. That said, I remember 29 March 2003 with great clarity. It was the night my parents told me they were […]

Entertainment More Actor Casey Affleck has finalised a divorce from actress Summer Phoenix after a private settlement. IANS | Updated: Sep 16, 2017, 15:58 IST Actor Casey Affleck has finalised a divorce from actress Summer Phoenix after a private settlement. A judge signed off on his divorce from Phoenix on Friday, according to court documents obtained. The Oscar winner, 40, will pay Phoenix spousal and child support as part of a prearranged confidential settlement. According to previous court documents, they separated in November 2015 after nearly 10 years of marriage and 16 years of being together. They announced their split […]

One week after Equifax Inc. revealed a cybersecurity incident impacting some 143 million U.S. consumers, the credit reporting behemoth is facing legal and reputational repercussions of massive proportions. For a legal department led by corporate vice president and chief legal officer John Kelley III, who seemingly has the last word on company security and compliance matters, the coming months and years are sure to be rife with high costs and what will likely be hard-fought battles to limit the damage done by class action suits. Will Class Actions Survive? Current external troubles for Equifax, which declined to comment for this story, began with […]

 Guest Post by By Michael Sander,[1] Tara Klamrowski, and Rachel Sander Legal analytics can now identify law firms committed to gender diversity by analyzing the gender of attorney appearances. Docket Alarm has done so for the United States Supreme Court and specialized patent courts. The lack of gender diversity is significant, especially in patent cases. Here we highlight firms breaking the mold. More women are entering the legal profession than ever —women now make up about half of all law students and 36% of all licensed attorneys— but these ratios are not reflected at the highest levels of firm positions. Judges […]

Photo: Getty The operators of YouTube-MP3.org, a popular website for turning the audio tracks of YouTube videos into MP3s, have agreed to shut down the site and hand over the domain to the RIAA. This predictable outcome comes after 15 of the world’s largest record companies filed a complaint in a California court. Poor little YouTube-MP3.org never had a chance. It’s actually remarkable that YouTube-MP3.org even survived this long. The website’s sole purpose is enabling users to download audio tracks that they don’t have permission to download. This practice is commonly known as “stream ripping,” and record companies have said […]