Latest legal news

Social media web site commentators should not be prosecuted for offensive remarks unless they are threatening or incite violence, the head prosecutor in England has recommended. | 13yrs

Starting pay at the largest US law firms has stagnated over the last three years, as research released this week shows the percentage of practices offering more than $160,000 a year has continued to shrink. | 13yrs

A San Francisco judge has hit a Taiwanese technology company with a $500 million fine for its involvement in a massive price fixing deal, matching the highest ever competition penalty in the US. | 13yrs

A leading US legal academic who stood firm against racial segregation in the 1960s has died. | 13yrs

Leading Kenyan lawyers have launched a blistering attack on the country's chief justice, accusing him of interfering in the recent dismissal of a fellow judge. | 13yrs

A Colombian brewery has landed itself in hot water after producing a beer under the 'Duff' brand - taking inspiration from the favoured drink of cartoon character Homer Simpson. | 14yrs

London-headquartered European legal services franchise CMS acted as lead adviser in LGV Capital's high-profile acquisition of Novus Leisure with joint venture partner, Hutton Collins. | 14yrs

A host of US law firms is investigating Citizens Republic Bancorp's $912 million 'stock-for-sale' to Ohio's FirstMerit Corporation of America amid speculation of litigation ambulance chasing. | 14yrs

Italy's top corporations and limited liability companies are to be hit with a new fee to finance the country's competition authority, Rome announced recently. | 14yrs

Applicants to the New York State Bar will have to complete 50 hours of pro bono work to qualify for the local legal profession, after a senior judge unveiled the condition yesterday. | 14yrs

Diversity campaigners are to monitor the ethnic and gender composition of the US legal profession, in a move that follows a bid to prod bar leaders in the country to include the issue in guideline conduct rules. | 14yrs

London-based Linklaters has launched a scheme to boost the role of its women lawyers, the magic circle firm announced yesterday. | 14yrs

Offshore law firm Forbes Hare is to launch in London, the practice announced yesterday. | 14yrs

An HIV/AIDS discrimination claim is set to be the first of its kind to be heard before the European Court of Human Rights, following campaigning by specialists at University College London. | 14yrs

Leaders of Singapore's legal profession are embroiled in a row with a lawyer who claims they have maliciously conspired against him, forcing an extraordinary meeting of the island state's law society in a bid to resolve the dispute. | 14yrs

The Swaziland House of Assembly has called for the president of the country's law society, Titus Mlangeni, and his executive to be gaoled with no option of a fine. | 14yrs

The sedition charges against an Indian cartoonist that sparked a whirlwind of global protest were brought on the opinion of a legal officer despite his subsequent claim that his advice was not final, it was reported yesterday. | 14yrs

Equity partners at the top US law firms have benefited from inflation-busting increases to their drawings over the last two years despite many corporate clients still struggling in the fallout of the worst financial crisis for more than a generation. | 14yrs

UK telecommunications giant Vodafone has confirmed it is taking steps towards settling a $2.2 billion tax dispute in India. | 14yrs