Rick Kordowsky who is the publisher of the website “Solicitors From Hell” has been forced by the High Court to remove his web site from the web after the Law Society brought court action against him.

Mr Kordowski has been sued for Libel on at least 17 seperate occasions and has £170,000 in outstanding judgements against him.
Personally I can see the logic behind a site that helps consumers pick the best solicitor, most suited to their needs, however this did not seem to be the reason that “Solicitors From Hell” was launched, just the name is antigonistic and was always likely to garner only negative comments.

There always will be clients who after instructing a solicitor will not appreciate the processes involved, however much their solicitor explains it, and will consider them to be a poor solicitor. There will also always be clients on the losing side of a case who will blame the solicitor what ever the merits of the case.

Legal complaints should be directed to the Legal Ombudsman, a Goverment body set up for exactly that purpose.

People throughout the investigations world and beyond will pay tribute to the memory of Zena Scott Archer one of the best known and most popular characters in the world-wide investigation network who sadly passed away on Sunday 06th November 2011.

Zena was the first and for many years, the only female to have held the office of President of the World Association of Detectives an organisation in which she participated for almost her entire career as an investigator. Zena commanded huge respect and admiration not just from the WAD but from every corner of life and her influence will live on.

But as one of her humble successors, as President, I am certain in stating that Zena’s greatest influence, if not allegiance and affection was towards The Association of British Investigators, for which not only did she hold its highest office in 1981 but worked tirelessly for many years after as its Welfare Officer and International Liaison Chairman and of course, to the end, Zena was one of The Association’s Trustees to the Benevolent Fund.

Zena achieved great notoriety, not just for being one of the very few female Professional Investigators in the world, but also for her charm, intellect, compassion and of course her unrivalled investigative skills. Zena was a very popular subject for the media much because of her anecdotal explanations of activities as an investigator.

Whilst a very sincere person in business, Zena was nonetheless extremely sociable and could often be seen partying at all national and international gatherings of investigators, as shown in this picture taken by me in 1992 in Bern, Switzerland, with her two greatest friends, now also departed, George Pulley (also ABI Past President) and Werner Sachse (also WAD Past President).

Zena will be missed by all and her passing is a great loss to the profession but in particular The Association who will forever keep her memory at the forefront of its activities not least guaranteed by the bequest of the much coveted Zena Scott Archer Investigator of the Year Award.
Tony Imossi
President
Association of British Investigators

Senior Liberal Democrate MP’s Tom Brake and Mike Crockart who sat on the comittee stage of the bill that is due to cut £350m from the legal aid budget have proposed a series of amendments to the bill, they are supported by the Lib Dem deputy leader, Simon Hughes.

It is believed that their maybe a lot of backbench support for these amendments, and may be the first signs of a significant spilt between the two parties of the coalition on this subject.

Brake stated that “This is not officially sanctioned. This is party backbenchers making it clear that they have strong views about aspects of this particular bill as it relates to legal aid, and setting down a marker over these issues with the government.

“We have misgivings about the impact on access to justice although the fundamental need to cut the legal aid budget is not one we are disputing. But there is scope for giving ground on some of the more controversial saving proposals.”

These amendments include;
• Ensuring that legal aid is preserved for claimants who need to take a case for clinical negligence

• Making legal aid available earlier to those at risk of losing their house to repossession

• Keeping “no win, no fee” arrangements and “after the event insurance” for those who wish to take privacy or defamation cases. The family of Milly Dowler were able to bring their case against News International through such means

• Removing proposals that could subject those arrested to being means tested before they are entitled to legal advice

• Preserving legal aid for those who need to appeal to tribunals against decisions that affect their entitlements to welfare benefits

• Preserving legal aid for immigration cases involving disputed reunions with family members who are abroad.

Read More by going to the article in the Guardian.

Yesterday, whilst waiting for a client to ring I parked up near the Roman Fort in the Castlefield area of Manchester and started compiling a report on the laptop. All fairly ordinary so far.  I then noticed a load of teenagers “free running” and although not quite at the standard of the adverts seen a last year on the TV they were entertaining, and did a good job of distracting me.  The call then came in and I was summoned to my clients office.