All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1359
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News
Mental health lawyers concerned over tender contracts
Mental health lawyers have expressed concern at the impact of the Legal Services Commission’s recent tender process as national firm Duncan Lewis seeks to recruit 28 mental health lawyers under a new consultancy model to fulfil its contracts. Duncan Lewis, an established legal aid provider in ...
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Conveyancing panel concerns
Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it is to remove from its conveyancing panel those firms that carry out a low volume of mortgage work over a rolling 12-month period. Does that mean that Lloyds no longer wishes to look after our low-volume client and office ...
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Confusion over slots for Criminal Defence Service duty rota
I have reached the end of my tether, with the help of the Legal Services Commission Criminal Defence Service. I realised that the end was in sight when I visited its website on 12 July. The duty rota for our scheme had been published on ...
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Reforms to employment tribunals are urgently needed
by Joanne Owers, chair of the Employment Lawyers Association and chair of the ELA Working Party on Employment Tribunals This spring the management committee of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) decided to conduct a survey of its 5,500 members across England, Wales and Scotland to gain ...
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New PII market entrant
A new insurer has entered the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market focusing on firms of up to five partners, the Law Society disclosed last week.
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Outcry over erosion of rule of law in Maldives
A former Maldives attorney general has called on the Law Society to lead a mission to the country to assess the erosion of the rule of law, as judges are assaulted, courts suspended, and citizens’ rights ‘crushed under foot’, he claimed. Dr Hassan Saeed told the ...
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Information law: the future
The coalition government has announced a series of legislative proposals and initiatives which will have a big impact on information law. David Cameron has said he wants to rip off the ‘cloak of secrecy’ around government and public services and extend transparency as far as possible.
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Pots and kettles
The Gazette website reported this week on the dodgy doings of judges and magistrates contained in the Office for Judicial Complaints’ annual report. Snippets of bad behaviour gleaned from the report included one instance where an unnamed magistrate, presumably in a frightful sulk, refused to return to the courtroom to ...
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Payback time
Ken Clarke is very keen on restorative justice, if we are to believe reports that criminals will be let out of jail early if they say sorry to their victims. Restorative justice is an important way for criminals to realise the human cost of their crimes. And it also happens ...
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Solicitors welcome ruling on asylum deportations
The Law Society has welcomed the High Court’s ruling that the fast-track deportation of foreign nationals, which did not allow enough time for them to seek legal advice, is unlawful. In January 2010, the Home Office widened its policy of waiving the usual 72-hour notice ...
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Solicitors ‘delaying’ conveyances due to staff shortages
Staff shortages at conveyancing firms are slowing down property transactions, according to a prominent estate agent and former anti-home information pack campaigner. Nick Salmon, commercial director of independent estate agents Harrison Murray who founded anti-HIP group Splinta, told the Gazette that ‘understaffed’ firms are struggling ...
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Will LPO pose a threat to junior lawyers?
So the latest news on private equity investment in law firms is that, as far as the City firms are concerned at least, the investors have gone cold.
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APIL urges government to tighten grip on claims management companies
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has called on Lord Young to recommend tighter regulation of claims management companies (CMCs) as part of his review of health and safety laws. Senior figures from APIL held a face-to-face meeting with Lord Young of Graffham to offer advice ...
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Consumer contracts - we need an independent ombudsman
It’s not realistic for consumers to seek redress in the courts for unfair contract terms, says Dr Olufemi Amao. We need an independent ombudsman scheme Since the introduction of the Unfair Terms in Consumer ...
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Helping the criminal suspect: the letter of rights
I am in Colorado at the moment, and so you will forgive me if I again use cowboy metaphors to describe the latest actions of commissioner Reding. She has come riding down into the canyon (and there are plenty of those in Colorado), lassoed the horse rustling member states ...
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Pleural plaques compensation scheme opens
Pleural plaques victims frustrated by a 2007 House of Lords decision on compensation can now claim £5,000 from the government if they lodged a claim before the ruling. The Pleural Plaques Former Claimants Payment Scheme opened yesterday for applications, which must be lodged before 1 August ...
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LSB approves £428 practising certificate fee
The Legal Services Board has approved the level of the individual practising fee at £428 per solicitor for 2010/11. Solicitors, recognised European lawyers and recognised foreign lawyers (RFL) will pay the individual fee, while their firms will also pay a firm-based fee, which will be calculated ...
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Call for ‘urgent action’ on children’s services
A group of 18 legal, medical and child care organisations has called for urgent action to reform the delivery of court services to children in family proceedings. The Interdisciplinary Alliance for Children issued a joint position statement last week, voicing ‘grave concerns’ about the services currently ...
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Call to give Economic Crime Agency US-style powers
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pressuring ministers to ensure that tougher US-style powers are available to the new Economic Crime Agency (ECA) once it is formed, the Gazette has learned. The Gazette understands that the SFO, which would be wholly subsumed by and form the ...
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Professional solidarity will be essential in year ahead
Having held the office of president of the Law Society of England and Wales for three weeks now, I am delighted to give my first monthly update to the profession. This month, I want to look at two significant problems facing the profession – professional indemnity insurance (PII) and legal ...