All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1323
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Rules breaches and professional misconduct – where to draw a line?
Time was, not very long ago, when a visitor to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal would be presented with a diet of thefts from client account, serious Accounts Rules breaches, or solicitors who for one reason or another could no longer run their practices. Today, the same visitor might well see ...
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Consumer panel calls for competence test for lawyers
Lawyers should undergo five-yearly competence testing and there should be peer review of the advice they provide to clients, the chairwoman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said. Dianne Hayter said continuing professional development was an insufficient check of quality, and she would like to see a more formal ...
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PI solicitors to mount legal challenge to RTA claims process
A collective of personal injury solicitors is planning a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice over its new road traffic accident (RTA) claims process, the Gazette has learned. The Accident Compensation Solicitors Group (ACSG) claims that fixed costs under the new process ‘have not been ...
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SRA scraps plans to change conflicts rules
Far-reaching plans to allow law firms to advise rival clients on the same deal have been shelved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority following ‘significant opposition’ from senior in-house lawyers. Relaxed conflict of interest rules were widely expected to be written into the SRA rulebook shortly after ...
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Civil procedure
Personal injury – Costs – Fraud – Judgements Martin Raymond Owens v Mark Noble: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Sedley, Elias, Lady Justice Smith): 18 March 2010 The Court ...
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MPs spearhead undersettlement claims drive for former coal miners
Solicitors behind a website aimed at gathering allegedly undersettled coal health compensation claims have begun running seminars for former coal miners with the backing of local MPs. North-east firm Ingrams and sole practitioner Neil Hudgell, who together run undersettlement website claimagain.com, hosted a seminar for more ...
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Law firms need to work hard in the face of commoditised legal providers
A couple of weeks ago Marketlaw made a presentation to the first Quality Solicitors national conference...
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Prosecution defence
Your story ‘"Justice on the cheap" sparks outcry’ (See [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 1) paints a wholly inaccurate picture of Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors (APs).
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MoJ publishes details of firm meetings to promote transparency
The Ministry of Justice has published details of the law firms and other external groups it held meetings with in the last quarter of 2009, as part of a new policy of greater transparency. The document reveals that lord chancellor Jack Straw met nine large legal ...
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New family practice direction promotes mediation
A new practice direction that will encourage parties in family proceedings towards mediation comes into force today. The president of the Family Division released the new Private Law Programme practice direction last week, with greater emphasis on conciliation. Under the new ...
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Nice little earner, me Lord
Obiter would rather be a judge than a miner, and we have the Latin (as the name suggests). Indeed, to quote the late Peter Cook, we have the Latin for the judgin’ (Oxford and Cambridge A-level, 1987). Sitting in yer nice warm guildhalls ...
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Lawyers left with egg on their faces
As a hard-pressed legal aid family lawyer, I was in desperate need of comfort food recently. So I popped out for a chocolate cream egg, which cost 46p. I was shocked by the price but, revived by the rush of sugar, I had a quick look at my ‘At A ...
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We must embrace international talent in order to remain a global legal hub
If English law sits at the centre of international business, international business remains central to the strength of the English and Welsh legal sector. Our legal sector remains pre-eminent across the globe, thanks to the traditions and the talent of our law and our lawyers. ...
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Employment
Disciplinary procedures – Doctors – Gross misconduct – Unfair dismissal Sameer Sarkar v West London Mental Health NHS Trust: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Mummery, Richards, Rimer): 19 March 2010 ...
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Hour of need
The Gazette reported last week that executive law firm members of environmental group the Legal Sector Alliance all pledged to participate in an ‘Earth hour’ event last weekend, switching off their lights for an hour from 8.30pm on Saturday 27 March. Firms involved include magic circle players Allen & Overy; ...
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Landlord and tenant
Animals – Housing – Human rights – Nuisance Dee Thomas-Ashley v Drum Housing Association Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Andrew Morritt (chancellor), Lord Justice Thomas, Sir Scott Baker): 17 March 2010 ...
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Principles-based regulation must not mean ‘regulation-lite’
A regulator cannot expect to be liked. Perhaps the best it can hope for is to be grudgingly respected. To that end the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s bold shift to outcome-focused and entity-based regulation has to be welcomed by solicitors.
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Negligence
Child sexual abuse – Clergy – Duty of care – Vicarious liability MAGA (by his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) v Trustees of the Birmingham Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master ...
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Why is the profession so tough on working mums?
The Association of Women Solicitors’ recent survey confirmed something that those lawyers who work part-time – often, but not exclusively, women with children – already know only too well.
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All you need to know about victims of crime in the EU
Since we are entering a general election period, it is timely to speak of a group that will be a focus for pledges and one-upmanship all round: victims of crime. Crime victims are high on the European Commission’s agenda, too. This