Expert Witness Legal News – page 18

Think twice before re-enforcing your shed windows with wire mesh. You could end up in court!

Hart Brown Partner Marek Bednarczyk looks at how far we can go in protecting our property and whether we have a Duty of Care to burglars

Just recently there has been national press coverage on the subject of shed owners being warned by the Police that wire mesh on windows could hurt burglars. Understandably, law abiding citizens who have been the target of such burglaries are exasperated and dismayed at the thought of being sued by burglars in such circumstances. One resident of Tatsfield Village in Surrey was apparently advised by the police that he needed to be careful when re-enforcing the windows on his shed with wire mesh, because “thieves can actually sue you if they get hurt”.

RIBA launches Conservation Register

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today launches its Conservation Register, which will enable those looking to commission work on heritage buildings to easily find architects with specific skills and experience in historic building conservation, repair and maintenance.

The new Register forms an important part of the RIBA’s work to support architects currently involved in historic conservation, whilst enabling the next generation of conservation architects to gain the necessary skills and experience to successfully establish themselves in this specialism.

Offering the following three levels of membership, the Conservation Register enables architects in the early phases of establishing their careers in building conservation to pursue an incremental process of accreditation:

Scottish Arbitration Centre

Scotland is now well positioned to be a 'world leader in the lucrative international arbitration scene', Scottish Government Ministers said today.

Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing and Enterprise Minister Jim Mather spoke as they visited the Edinburgh headquarters of the newly formed Scottish Arbitration Centre, which will promote Scottish arbitration, and build on the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 coming into force to give Scotland a world class legal framework for arbitration.

The partnership brings the Scottish Government together with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Faculty of Advocates, the Law Society of Scotland and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Safer Internet Day - The role of Security within Social Networks

Amichai Shulman – CTO and co-founder of Imperva

Last week researchers unveiled a “dating database” consisting of 250,000 users. This was not just any ordinary dating site where one registers to and agrees to post their information. Rather, the dating profiles were based on public information that the researchers gathered from Facebook profiles. Many people at this point cried out “Privacy!”. However, let us take a step back and remind ourselves that it is these users who were not concerned to publically publish their data in the first place! By consenting to Facebook’s term of services, they are actually agreeing to relinquish their information to a public website.

Taylors building its way to the top

The North West’s only solely commercial law firm has strengthened its foundations by appointing leading construction lawyer, Chris Scott.

Chris joins Blackburn-based Taylors Solicitors as a Partner, heading up the Construction team, from the Liverpool office of DWF LLP’s Construction and Engineering Division, after spending five years building Preston and Manchester based Ricksons, before its merge with DWF in 2007.