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How Best to Manage your Lawyer
How Best to Manage your Lawyer - Every business, no matter how large or how small, leaves a “legal footprint” – so if you operate without any legal advice at all, you do so at your peril!
Dr Bawa-Garba Successful in Appeal Against Erasure
In a judgment released today, the Court of Appeal has quashed the decision of Ouseley J that Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba be struck off the medical register.
Trust Matters
“Trust Matters”. These are the bywords of the Charity Commission for its recent report on public trust in charities, issued in July.
Case law update: Multiple Defendants and QOCS
The lead Judgment in Cartwright is a barrier for successful Defendants who wish to recover the costs of defending personal injury claims. Lord Justice Coulson upheld the Cost Judge's decision that that sums payable under a Tomlin order by D1 to the Claimant were not covered by CPR r.44.14(1). On that basis, the successful D2, Venduct, could not recover their legal costs from the damages paid by D1 to the Claimant under the Tomlin order. Unfortunately for Defendants, settlements reached under CPR r.36 are not covered by the QOWCS regime either.
Gig economy: informal and flexible – but who has what rights when it all goes wrong?
In the recent judgment in Pimlico Plumbers Ltd and another v Smith [2018] UKSC 29, the Supreme Court ruled that a plumber who paid tax as a self-employed contractor was a worker with rights to bring Employment Tribunal claims outside the contract. Jean Sapeta explains why and what it means for you.
New Sentencing Guidelines for Manslaughter Published
The Sentencing Council has this week published definitive guidelines for those convicted of manslaughter offences in England and Wales.
Supreme Court Approves Withdrawal of Artificial Feeding and Hydration in Cases of Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness
In a landmark judgment this week, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the law does not require hospitals or clinicians to seek the Court’s approval before withdrawing feeding support from patients with prolonged disorder of consciousness.
Landmark Supreme Court judgment on withdrawing clinically assisted nutrition and hydration
Hempsons acted for the successful CCG and NHS Trust in today's Supreme Court judgment on when an application to Court is needed to withdraw clinically assisted nutrition and hydration
Trustees – Understand & Improve your Governance – Ian Hempseed to speak at Sheffield Law Society event
Sheffield & District Law Society are hosting a talk for charity Trustees where Hempsons' Ian Hempseed will be speaking. The aim of the talk is to help charity trustees understand their responsibilities and the demarcation of roles between them and the Chief Executive.
Bawa-Garba: the gross negligence manslaughter story latest
A summary of the Dr Bawa-Garba case so far; Should a Doctor’s Gross Negligence Manslaughter conviction lead to automatic erasure from the GMC Register?
Being Paid to Sleep? Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake
In Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake the Court of Appeal has determined that workers who “sleep in” at their workplace are not entitled to receive national minimum wage for periods when they are asleep. This is because time spent asleep in this way is properly characterised as time when an employee is ‘available for work’ rather than time when they are actually working.
Full Steam Ahead On Changes To The Deprivation Of Liberty Safeguards
The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill was published on 4 July 2018. It aims to give effect, with some changes, to the scheme of Liberty Protection Safeguards recommended in the Law Commission’s Report: Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty (2017).
NHS hospital consultant surgeon with unblemished record summarily dismissed even though no gross misconduct
The consequences of summary dismissal from a professional role for misconduct are grave and life disrupting – the abrupt loss of a hard won high status career and earning capacity, possible referral to a Regulator (GMC etc) and intense personal distress.
How to avoid a GMC referral
There is probably nothing anyone can do to entirely eliminate the risk of a GMC referral. Sometimes, it is down to just plain bad luck. It is certainly often nothing to do with your abilities as a doctor, and that’s important to remember if you are unlucky enough to receive the dreaded GMC letter.