All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1269
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Should more cash be spent on ad campaign to help solicitors’ own brand?
When the Law Society ran an ad campaign last year, the reaction from the profession was pretty strong. While some supported it, the Gazette received a good number of letters questioning...
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Might affordable video meetings finally be here for law firms?
Last week, I needed to walk my client through some workflows that I had created for his firm. The trouble was he is based in Hull, which is around 270 miles away from me.
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New guidance issued on assisted suicide law
New guidance intended to clarify the law on assisted suicide does not provide any guarantee against prosecution, director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC warned today. The guidance sets out the legal boundaries for people who help somebody commit suicide. It follows a ruling in the ...
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Lawyers to stand trial on insider-dealing charges
Two former City lawyers charged with eight counts of insider dealing by the Financial Services Authority have been committed to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court. Andrew Rimmington, former partner at US firm Dorsey & Whitney, and Michael McFall, former partner at US firm McDermott Will ...
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SRA launches tender for new legal panel
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has invited law firms to tender for the provision of regulatory work. The regulator is seeking to appoint a panel for three years that will coordinate: dealing with court ...
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Data page for September 2009
The data page is the financial rates and data complied for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. ...
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Barristers and the Legal Services Act: will the bar modernise in time? Does it even need to?
It is almost five years since Sir David Clementi rocked the legal establishment with his report on the regulatory framework for legal services. Since then, debate on the product of that report – the Legal Services Act 2007 – and the impact on the profession of new legal disciplinary partnerships ...
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FSA contemplates action on third-party capture by insurers
The Financial Services Authority will decide this month whether to launch an investigation into the insurers’ practice of acting for non-policyholders through ‘third-party capture’. Ken Hogg, director of the insurance sector at the FSA, said it was currently undertaking ‘exploratory work to gather information on the ...
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How will more changes to points-based immigration affect the City?
In August 2009, the UK Border Agency announced further changes to the points-based immigration system that was introduced in late 2008. These changes, introduced after months of lobbying, go beyond the scope of the almost weekly changes and 'fixes' that employers and immigration lawyers have been getting used to. ...
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Probe into amount paid to law firms on Olympic Park project
The London Development Agency (LDA) faces a probe over the amount it has paid to law firms for advice on the Olympic Park project, the Gazette has learned. ...
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SRA board appointment call rejected by LSB
The Legal Services Board has rejected a request from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to take greater direct control of its own board appointments. In its latest consultation on legal services regulation, the umbrella body dilutes an earlier commitment toward a more discrete structure separating Chancery ...
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Dignity speaks volumes on assisted suicide
The sanctity of one’s right to choose whether to live or die will forever attract heated argument. Yesterday, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, reignited the debate by publishing new guidelines for prosecutors on assisted suicide.
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Why bad-mouth conveyancing?
Groan. At the end of a recent Gazette editorial, the piece described conveyancing (and probate) as private practice’s ‘more prosaic functions’ (see [2009] Gazette, 10 September, 8).
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Probate services company ITC signs deal with Barclays
A probate services company which has signed a deal to handle Barclays customers was the subject of criticism this week. ITC Legal Services (ITC), which according to its website has a transparent fixed-fee policy which makes it competitive on price with solicitors, has agreed a third-party ...
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Barristers to form ‘procurement companies’ for block contracts
A Bar Council taskforce has put forward proposals for barristers or groups of chambers to form procurement companies to contract as a block for publicly funded advocacy work. The structure would give barristers greater power in negotiating contracts and allow the bar to take advantage of the practice changes permitted ...
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Personal injury interest calculation tables
The standard rate of interest on general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities in personal injury cases was fixed at 2% per annum by the House of Lords in Birkett v Hayes [1982] 1 WLR 816; [1982] 2 All ER 70. This was confirmed as appropriate by ...
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Closing down
I am incensed after reading last week that a London firm has to shut because its professional indemnity insurance premium was quoted as £110,000 for the forthcoming year (see [2009] Gazette, 17 September, 1).
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Europe to gain new justice commissioner
Europe’s legal profession made a significant breakthrough last week when European Commission president José Manuel Barroso agreed to establish a special post of EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Civil Liberties. Barroso made the concession to help secure the backing of liberal MEPs for his reappointment, which was confirmed ...
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Office for Legal Complaints consults on complaints
The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) has published for consultation a revised version of its draft rules. The new rules reduce the timeframe it had originally proposed for clients to bring a complaint, in response to concerns from solicitors. Under the new ...
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Fixed-fee concerns
I am writing following your report about the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers withdrawing from the fixed-fee mediations run by the Civil Justice Council (see [2009] Gazette, 17 September, 3).