All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1428
-
News
Legal advice ‘too expensive’ warns bar regulator’s chair
Legal advice is ‘too expensive’ and has ‘moved out of reach of the middle classes,’ the chair of the Bar Standards Board said this week. Speaking at Inner Temple, Lady Deech said: ‘The advice of a top barrister is affordable only by government, by corporate bodies ...
-
News
LSC and Law Society fail to agree on civil contracts compensation
Firms that incurred losses after the High Court quashed the Legal Services Commission’s family tender last year will not receive compensation from the LSC, the Law Society announced today. Chancery Lane said it had been trying to negotiate a settlement arrangement with the LSC since last ...
-
News
Low exposure asbestos claims
The recent Supreme Court ruling does clarify the tests the courts should apply and will make it easier for victims with relatively low exposure to asbestos to succeed in claims, but significant hurdles still remain for many mesothelioma victims who do not know exactly where or when they were exposed ...
-
News
Why are divorcing couples so careless when it comes to Facebook?
I don’t mean to pry – it’s probably none of my business, anyway - but why do we have such an ambivalent attitude towards privacy? Even while going through divorce proceedings, a family lawyer warned this week, we seem impelled to risk the demolition of our ...
-
News
Maintaining your independence
With the current appetite for national rebranding and an increase in ‘opportunities’ for franchising, many law firms are considering their options. Is it better to invest in your own destiny or join a national brand or franchise for the same sort of investment? Whilst there can ...
-
News
Smaller firms preparing for ABS rivals
Most leaders of small law firms are considering changes to the way they manage their firm and the services they deliver, in preparation for the entry of new providers into the market from October, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. A survey of 58 ...
-
News
Society votes for SRA to regulate ABSs
The Law Society’s council yesterday voted by 54 votes to 16 to approve the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said ABS will change the way law firms are allowed to operate. ...
-
News
Lawyers ‘cash in’ on Bribery Act ‘scaremongering’
Commercial lawyers are cashing in on Bribery Act scaremongering and taking part in ‘institutionalised corruption’ by setting up tax avoidance schemes, members of the House of Lords said last week. In a debate on financial crime legislation, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Thomas of Gresford, a practising ...
-
News
Student loses LPC negligence action
An Oxford graduate has failed in an attempt to sue her law school for £100,000 after she failed to qualify as a solicitor. Russian-born Maria Abramova claimed that the ‘clearly negligent’ teaching on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) run by the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice ...
-
News
Unhelpful advice
I detected a strange irony having read the Opinion ‘Bridging the gender divide’ ‘Bridging the gender divide’. The statement ‘the proportion of women that will reach partner level in private practice is half that of men’ is to some extent explained by the letter published ...
-
News
A pivotal year to tackle discrimination against women solicitors
by Joy Van Cooten, chair of the Association of Women Solicitors On Friday 11 March, amid the glitz and glamour of our annual meeting and gala dinner, I became the 88th chair of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS).
-
News
Government legal aid response delayed
The government has delayed its responses to the legal aid and civil costs consultations until after Easter, and will ‘review’ the definition of domestic violence, the legal aid minister has said. Jonathan Djanogly had previously said the government would respond before Easter, but speaking at the ...
-
News
'Green' legal alliance slashes emissions
A ‘green’ alliance of 44 law firms and the Law Society has succeeded in cutting CO2 emissions by an amount equivalent to the annual output of a magic circle firm, according to a report released today. The Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) said that its member firms ...
-
News
Targets for judicial diversity ‘wrong approach'
Setting targets for increasing the number of female judges would be the ‘wrong approach’ to boosting diversity, the minister responsible for legislation and law reform told the House of Lords last week. Facing questions over gender and race diversity in the judiciary, Lord McNally said that ...
-
News
Balance of trade: lawyers shocked by breadth of government competition consultation
The coalition government’s consultation on the UK’s competition regime, published on 16 March, puts much more up for debate than competition lawyers, consumer bodies, or various business lobbies were expecting.
-
Feature
BOOK REVIEW Employee Competition: Covenants, Confidentiality, and Garden Leave
Author: edited by Paul Goulding QC When you find yourself actually reading, rather than skimming, a 600 page textbook covering an area of specialised practice to write a review, you are either in urgent need of a lifestyle counsellor, ...
-
Feature
BOOK REVIEW Surrey Executions: A Complete List of those Hanged in the County during the Nineteenth Century
Author: Martin Baggoley In Surrey Executions, retired probation officer Martin Baggoley presents well edited information on all the criminals hanged in the county in chronological order. As well as shining a light in to ...
-
News
Suited and booted
Natty as these lawyers appear in their suits, perhaps someone had better enlighten them that office wear is not necessarily the best attire for trekking. The four-strong team from Southampton firm Blake Lapthorn will be taking part in the Trailwalker challenge (a non-stop 100km walk ...
-
News
Takeover Panel call to make M&A fees public
Advisory fees earned by law firms working on mergers and acquisitions would be made public under proposals outlined this week by the takeover watchdog. Opening a consultation on amendments to its code, the Takeover Panel has proposed that parties on each side of a bid should ...
-
News
Lawyers should place far-reaching competition rule changes under scrutiny
Very few major policies to emerge from the coalition government do ‘exactly what it says on the tin’, and the consultation on reform of the UK’s competition regime, published last week, is no exception. In this case, ministers have given the consultation a thoroughly ‘pro-business’ ...