LAW UNTO ITSELF
FORMER bookie Jim Mullen, now boss of newspaper behemoth Reach plc, is taking perhaps his biggest gamble yet with cuts to the company’s legal department that have the potential to cost it considerably more than they save.
“Due to a change in operating processes in England and Wales, the staff lawyer or night lawyer on duty will no longer be proactively reading the whole of the print edition each night,” staff were informed this month. The number of lawyers on duty both in the day and on call overnight has been cut, and hacks are expected to make their own call on what might, or might not, be problematic.
“If an article needs legal review, you must send this to the editorial legal team as early in the day as possible,” they have been instructed. “You must set out at the top of email what legal issue you are concerned about.”