All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1254
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News
Protocol sets out attorney general’s role in prosecutions
The attorney general, Baroness Scotland QC, has published a new protocol setting out her relationship with the prosecuting bodies she superintends. The document outlines the roles and responsibilities of the attorney general and clarifies the extent of her role in individual prosecution cases. It also underlines ...
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Opportunity knocks for the bar to work with solicitors
With legal aid rates squeezed and the ‘threat’ of increased competition from the CPS and solicitor higher court advocates, the bar ought to be looking keenly at survival strategies. It is surprising, therefore, that the bar has been so slow either to seize the opportunities presented ...
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Enforcing contact to benefit children, not punish the parents
Do not think that the amendments to the Children Act (CA) relating to contact orders made by the Children and Adoption Act 2006 (the 2006 act), with effect from 8 December 2008, are about punishing parents for failing to comply with contact orders. Rather, the reforms are to ensure that ...
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LSC climbdown over best value tendering
The Legal Services Commission has today delayed the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) for criminal work by three years, pending a ‘full’ evaluation of the pilot. The move will be seen as a considerable climbdown by the LSC. Responding to ...
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CPD a better tool
I have never thought that peer review was an appropriate quality assurance tool. It is an appropriate tool to assess how a solicitor and a firm conduct cases if there are concerns expressed by clients or colleagues.
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Legal Services Ombudsman criticises performance of regulator and complaints body
The Legal Services Ombudsman (LSO) has praised the work of her own department in her annual report, but criticised the performance of both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Complaints Service. Zahida Manzoor (pictured) said her own department ‘has again performed to a very high ...
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Defence solicitors boycott Kent virtual court pilot
Defence solicitors have scuppered the government’s plan to extend the virtual court scheme to Kent by boycotting the initiative. No Kent solicitors have agreed to take part in the scheme, which they say is not in the best interests of clients or defence lawyers. Two London ...
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Lack of quality checks for law schools will ‘breed incompetent solicitors’, warns CoL
The lack of quality assurance for law schools risks ‘breeding a generation of incompetent solicitors’, the head of one of the biggest providers has warned. Nigel Savage, chief executive of the College of Law, said monitoring by the Solicitors Regulation Authority is not sufficient to ensure ...
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Bubble rap
More plinth action from solicitors this week. Following last week’s revelation that Norfolk’s answer to The King, litigator Mark Fitch, is to perform an Elvis impersonation on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth today at 8pm, Obiter has learned of another lawyer limbering up for a stint as part of artist Antony ...
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Does environmental law have built-in growth potential?
With work expected to increase in planning, renewable energy and climate change, is environmental law a specialism with growth build-in? With the government hoping to kick-start a ‘green recovery’, so that the UK emerges from the recession as a low-carbon economy, environmental law remains high on ...
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Lawyers’ helplines report rise in redundancy-related calls
The number of solicitors contacting helplines has risen sharply in recent weeks, the Gazette has learned, with many of the calls relating to redundancy. Some callers have been considered to be at risk of suicide. Both the pastoral care line LawCare and ...
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Law Centres Federation posts cartoons on YouTube
The Law Centres Federation (LCF) has posted four cartoons on video-sharing website YouTube, aimed at showcasing the benefits of free community legal advice. The videos were played to ministers and MPs at the House of Lords on Tuesday, at an event hosted by legal aid minister ...
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Why the new social world will change your firm
Ever heard of ‘constant partial attention’? I was at a press bash for City firm Nabarro the other night when, in conversation about the Gazette’s work on Twitter and recent foray on to social media websites LinkedIn and Facebook with Nabarro’s IT director, the phrase was mentioned.
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Chasing an M&A deal?
If any readers find themselves in urgent need of a City lawyer this evening, they may find the phone is ringing out to an empty office. It seems that more or less the whole of the City branch of the profession will be taking part in the 5km Standard Chartered ...
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Coming off the rails
If the government and LSC want to assess the risks of best value tendering, they should consider the collapse of the National Express East Coast train franchise. That company obtained the franchise with the lowest bid and an offer to make the biggest payment to the government.
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News
Compensation fund levy set for steep increase
The Law Society’s Council convenes next week to set the level of the compensation fund levy, with a steep increase on this year’s £150 now seemingly inevitable. A report circulated ahead of Wednesday’s meeting contains a recommendation from the Financial Protection Committee that the full contribution rate for 2009/10 be ...
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Compensation Fund – can we learn from France?
In a week in which a painful rise in contributions to the Compensation Fund is expected, what better than seeing how another jurisdiction handles clients’ money? Us, learn something from the French? OK, don’t throw your tomatoes yet.
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Two landmark reports demonstrate the complexity of human rights
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has just published the 200-page report of its Human Rights Inquiry. Meanwhile, rather more economically, Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) has put out its study – British forces in Iraq: the emerging picture of human rights violations and the role of the judicial review. ...
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News
Freedom of information: exemptions from disclosure
Freedom of information has been at the heart of the news agenda with the revelations made by the Daily Telegraph about MPs’ expenses. It’s worth remembering that, while the Telegraph came by the leaked information from someone in the House of Commons fees office...
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Homelessness – when is enough, enough?
On 1 July the House of Lords handed down a single judgment in two housing appeals, which will have significant long-term consequences with a number of questions left unanswered.