All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1290
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Education and training is about much more than CPD
As the legal landscape changes, lawyers are finding that it is no longer good enough for them to be just good lawyers – they must also run their firms more effectively and understand their commercial clients better. As Maureen Miller, the Law Society’s head of membership services, points out: ‘It ...
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Banks could be first to face US-style ‘opt-out’ class actions
Banks and other financial institutions could be the first to face US-style ‘opt-out’ class actions, the chancellor confirmed this week. During the Financial Services Bill’s second reading in parliament, Alistair Darling said that though he does not want to see ‘the widespread development’ of class actions, ...
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Drop in suspicious activity reports by solicitors
The number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) made by solicitors has fallen by more than a quarter over the last year, according to figures published by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). SOCA’s third annual report showed that solicitors filed 4,772 SARs between October 2008 and ...
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SRA boosts the diversity of adjudicators
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed the appointments of a panel of 23 external adjudicators, who will make decisions on regulatory matters.
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New commission chairman planning to reform adult social care law
The Law Commission is planning ‘very important and potentially very exciting’ reforms to the law on social care for adults, the commission’s new chairman said in an interview for the Gazette. Sir James Munby, who now sits in the Court of Appeal as Lord Justice Munby, ...
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New Law Commission chairman planning to reform adult social care law
The Law Commission is planning ‘very important and potentially very exciting’ reforms to the law on social care for adults, the commission’s new chairman said in an interview for the Gazette. Sir James Munby, who now sits in the Court of Appeal as Lord Justice Munby, ...
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Assembly probes spending by mayor’s economic development agency
The cost of work done by law firms advising the Mayor of London’s economic development agency is to be scrutinised by the London Assembly, the Gazette has learned. The news emerged after Boris Johnson answered questions on the amount that the London Development Agency (LDA) paid ...
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Removing legal aid for non-residents is a blow to human rights
by Phil Shiner, a human rights lawyer and head of Public Interest Lawyers Baha Mousa died in a filthy latrine in Basra on 15 September 2003. He had been tortured to death by British soldiers and had suffered 93 different injuries. He and his hotel colleagues ...
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Government legal aid spending cuts called into question
Figures showing a fall in the cost of criminal defence work have called into question the government’s drive to introduce more spending cuts. Statistics obtained from the Legal Services Commission by More4 News showed that the amount spent nationally on criminal defence services has fallen over ...
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Quarter of firms expected to walk away from legal aid in next five years
More than a quarter of firms expect to walk away from legal aid work in the next five years, a report slamming the Legal Services Commission’s poor administration has revealed. The report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) showed that one in six ...
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Woolf calls for arbitration overhaul as he launches new guidance
International arbitration has ‘lost its way’, the former lord chief justice Lord Woolf (pictured) told the Gazette this week, as he launched a set of guidelines which will build mediation into the arbitration process. Woolf co-chaired an international commission for the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution ...
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Chinese bar strengthens UK links
China’s Tianjin Bar Association (TBA) will visit the UK next week in a bid to strengthen ties with UK lawyers. The TBA delegation will visit London and Bristol on Monday and Tuesday next week, in a move that the Law Society said will provide business opportunities ...
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What is the point of being a solicitor?
Can someone tell me what is the point of being a solicitor? To get a practising certificate, years of study and financial hardship must be endured. Those who survive struggle to get a training contract. Those that eventually get the coveted practising certificate then join one of the most stressful ...
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Law firms must do better for returning mums
Somehow you expect better from law firms – they can’t plead ignorance of employment law, after all – but it turns out that they can be just as bad as other employers when it comes to maternity rights.
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Legally Blonde competition winner
Obiter is mighty impressed with readers’ knowledge of showbiz trivia. Last week’s competition asked the killer question, ‘Big-hearted’ Arthur Askey’s pre-war comedy partner went on to play a barrister in a much-loved ITV legal comedy drama. Who was he, and who was the ...
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Candid camera
Lawyers dread the Christmas party for many reasons: being cornered by the office bore/letch, getting so drunk you might tell the senior partner what you really think, or just the thought of hitting tomorrow’s billing target with a thumping headache.
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High-profile City firms reduce carbon footprint
More than a third of Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) firms have reduced their carbon footprint over the last year, according to a report by the climate change action group. Some 35% of the 138 firms in the alliance, including a raft of high-profile City firms, have ...
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Guidance notes and rule changes
I am interested in the recent exchange of letters between Messrs Hopper and Treverton-Jones and Antony Townsend, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s chief executive, about changes to the guidance notes to rule 9 of the Code of Conduct made on 13 November 2009.
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Demoralised lawyers chasing their tails
I read about Lord Bach’s apparent apparent support for compulsory pro bono.
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Clinical negligence
Blood disorders – Causation – Duty of care – Genetic testing (1) Hanan Basem Farraj (2) Basem Farraj (claimants/first respondents) v (1) King’s Healthcare NHS Trust (KCH) (first defendant/part 20 claimant/appellant) (2) Cytogenetic DNA Services Ltd (CSL) (second defendant/part ...