All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1419
-
News
How a lawyer can change their specialist practice area
It is a common observation among middle-aged lawyers that the increasing need to specialise very early in a legal career has changed the face of the profession. Time spent in a more general or rounded practice has been much reduced, leading to a situation where lawyers are making key decisions ...
-
News
Consumers back 'name and shame' complaints policy
Consumers are generally in favour of ‘naming and shaming’ law firms that are subject to complaints, but would only expect information to be published when a firm has had three complaints upheld against it in 12 months, according to research released today. The findings of a ...
-
News
Lloyds Banking Group heeds Law Society confidentiality concerns
Lloyds Banking Group will no longer ask its conveyancing panel members to provide client account information, after the Law Society raised concerns with the lender over the risk of breaches of client confidentiality. The Society has advised firms that if any lender asks them for client ...
-
News
Bar Professional Training Course students 'not up to it'
Too many people on the Bar Professional Training Course are ‘wasting their money’ because they are ‘not up to it’, the chair of the bar’s regulator declared last week. Lady Deech, chair of the Bar Standards Board, said the BSB would press ahead with its plans to introduce aptitude and ...
-
News
Government's proposals for student immigration based on unreliable stats
by Nichola Carter, partner at Penningtons The government is currently reviewing around 30,000 responses to its consultation on international student migration, which closed on 31 January. It will shortly announce a raft of new policy measures in this area aimed at substantially reducing student immigration and ...
-
News
Bridging the cultural gap between lawyers and clients
My business partner Tania Jeffery and I recently opened a new practice in Hampshire and our mission statement echoes the points raised by Law Society president Linda Lee in her article ‘Listening to our customers'.
-
News
File blunders spark Legal Services Commission payment chaos
The Legal Services Commission is experiencing ‘significant delays’ in processing payments to firms after administrative blunders affected thousands of criminal case files, the Gazette has learned. Payment problems have occurred in relation to 4,000 files which were not allocated the necessary reference by HM Courts Service ...
-
News
One in two children in care 'don't trust the courts'
Half of the children in care do not trust the court to make the right decision about their lives, according to a report by Children’s Rights director Roger Morgan, published by Ofsted. Of 58 children interviewed, 50% thought courts never or do not usually make the ...
-
News
Civil procedure
Costs - Construction disputes - Mediation - Part 36 offers Rolf v De Guerin: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Rix, Elias, Tomlinson): 9 February 2011 The appellant (R) appealed against ...
-
News
Complaints clinic: Legal Ombudsman
A new monthly column featuring practical advice and case studies from chief ombudsman Adam Sampson and his team At last, just before Christmas, the Legal Ombudsman cranked properly into business. ...
-
News
Filing complaints
I recently had the misfortune to have dealings with the supreme legal quango, the Legal Ombudsman. What is so concerning about this organisation’s approach to handling complaints is how it applies one rule for us and a different rule for itself. Rather than, for example, ...
-
News
Cuts cost money
Many of the Law Society’s suggestions would not achieve savings, but create further cost, something we all need to avoid. The suggestion that prosecutors should meet the cost of acquittals, instead of central funds, simply passes cost from one area of public expenditure to another ...
-
News
HM Courts must do more to recoup uncollected fines and penalties
Tory MP Kris Hopkins asked justice minister Jonathan Djanogly a very good question last week: ‘What progress has [your] department made in recouping outstanding financial penalties that remain uncollected by HM Courts Service?' Answer came there none.
-
News
Defining the scope of witness immunity
The rule of witness immunity was set out by Lord Hutton in Darker v Chief Constable of the West Midlands [2001] 1 AC 435, a case which concerned police malpractice. Lord Hutton held: ‘The rule that a party has immunity in respect of what he ...
-
News
Justice system delays endemic, research shows
Law Society research submitted to the government last week has identified a ‘lack of communication’ pervading the justice system that is causing delays throughout the process. The survey of 245 individuals in the justice system, including 172 defence solicitors and 55 prosecutors, showed that respondents attributed ...
-
News
Employment
Education - Local government - Addition of parties - Boards of governors Jones v Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Carnwath, Elias, Pitchford): 9 February 2011 ...
-
News
A week to, erm, forget...
The last week has doubtless been a tiring one for legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured), as he prepares to wade his way through the hefty 5,000 responses the Ministry of Justice received to its legal aid consultation. This must surely be the only explanation ...
-
News
Study to examine oversupply of LPC graduates
An in-depth study into education and training within the profession will address the current ‘mismatch’ between the number of Legal Practice Course graduates and training contracts, and will assess the role of paralegals, the Legal Services Board has said.
-
News
Landlord and tenant
Civil procedure - Housing - Local government - Demoted tenancies Manchester City Council v Pinnock (No.2): SC (Lord Phillips (president), Lord Hope (deputy president), Lord Rodger, Walker, Lady Hale, Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Neuberger, Lord Collins (Justices of the ...