All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1381
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News
Relaxation leads to risk
Stricter controls on financial advisers and stricter controls on banks – all designed to protect the public. At the same time the government is ready to throw legal services open to the wider market. Could it be that it is missing something rather obvious – ...
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News
Oarsome
This highly opinionated profession is well known for sticking its oar in, but Chris Partington, partner at Slater Heelis in Sale, seems to have taken this literally. Despite never having been in a canoe before this picture was taken, Partington is to complete the three-day, 120-mile ‘Cheshire Ring’ this week, ...
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News
Why are lawyers worried about probate rights for accountants?
As it is now less than a year until the non-legal big brands are permitted to begin their grab for high street legal services next October, those areas of work that are reserved (more or less) exclusively for solicitors are beginning to seem increasingly precious in the eyes of the ...
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News
Young report seeks to curb ‘compensation culture’
The volume and content of personal injury advertising should be controlled, but there will be no outright ban, Lord Young (pictured) has recommended in his report on the ‘compensation culture’ published today. In Common Sense, Common Safety, Young also proposes that the road traffic accident (RTA) ...
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News
Consumer’s voice in legal reforms under threat
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has warned the government against pressing ahead with its ‘surprise’ plans to merge it with campaigning group Citizens Advice, at what it said was a ‘crucial period in legal services reforms’.
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News
Legal services reforms will create ‘tougher market’, says LSB
The ‘competitive effect’ of new players coming into the market from October next year will mean that ‘existing firms need to improve their levels of service [and] focus on consumers, to be able to compete in a tougher marketplace’, Legal Services Board chairman David Edmonds has said.
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News
Consumers ‘crowded out’ of small claims process
Businesses are monopolising small claims courts and crowding out the people the courts were designed to help, a consumer watchdog has warned. A report by national consumer champion Consumer Focus warns that business is ‘clogging up’ the small claims courts and causing delays for individual claimants. ...
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News
Law firm cashier jailed for stealing £1.6m
A former cashier at a Midlands law firm has been jailed for five years for stealing £1.6m from her employer to fund a luxury lifestyle. Louise Martini, 36, from Solihull, pleaded guilty at Gloucester Crown Court to charges of money laundering and theft of £1.6m from ...
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News
MoJ budget slashed by 30%
The Ministry of Justice is to cut its budget by 30%, according to documents leaked to the Observer newspaper. The cuts are expected to be announced on Wednesday this week, when the government reveals the outcome of its spending review. ...
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News
SRA appoints former Linklaters partner as chief City adviser
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has appointed a former magic circle lawyer to advise it on the regulation of City law firms. The SRA also announced today that six firms of various sizes will take part in its pilot of outcomes-focused regulation. Nick Eastwell, a former partner ...
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News
The Big Four audit firms under the spotlight
As part of its ongoing review of regulation following the economic crash in 2008, the European Commission has just published a review into auditors, their structure and practices.
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Feature
BOOK REVIEW The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law
Author: Nancy Levit and Douglas Linder There is a bit of something for everyone in Nancy Levit and Douglas Linder’s book The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law. Levit and Douglas are law professors at the ...
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News
Lord Young has contradicted himself over the ‘compensation culture’
Politicians often evade questions – it’s part and parcel of the job – but it’s rarer for them to contradict their own work. At a press conference on Young’s report at 10 Downing Street last week, Lord Young managed to both contradict and evade.
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News
Personal injury sector - don't let cowboys ruin reputation
By Janet Tilley, non-executive legal director of National Accident Helpline The publication on Friday of Lord Young’s review of health and safety laws and the alleged ‘compensation culture’ once again brings the personal injury sector into the spotlight.
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News
Lawyers suffer from ‘information overload’
‘Information overload’ is causing UK lawyers to under-bill for the work they do, a new survey has suggested. Research at work is now taking so long that 45% of UK legal professionals sometimes do not bill for the time they spend on it, according to the ...
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News
Lawyers issue warning over Young’s proposals
The government must not hinder access to justice for personal injury victims as it takes forward Lord Young’s report on the so-called ‘compensation culture,’ lawyers’ groups have warned. In his report released on Friday, Young (pictured) acknowledged that ‘the problem of the compensation culture prevalent ...
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News
Lawyers put forward alternatives to legal aid cuts
The Law Society has warned the government against hitting the most vulnerable by making legal aid bear the brunt of the Ministry of Justice cuts. The warning follows newspaper reports that the MoJ budget will be slashed by 30% in the chancellor’s spending review on Wednesday. ...
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News
Why is ‘sales’ only whispered in the legal profession?
Three articles in the 14 October edition of the Gazette made me wonder why the word ‘sales’ is still rarely used within the profession. Page 1: Accountants to apply for probate rightsAccountants have simply spotted an obvious sales opportunity ...
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News
US technology companies fuel tribunal claims
US computer technology companies are fuelling a rise in cases heard by the Company Names Tribunal, research has suggested. Since its formation in October 2008, 24% of claims in the tribunal have been filed by American IT conglomerates, according to research by legal publisher Sweet & ...