All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1489
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Chancery Lane urges solicitors to back EU-wide access to a lawyer
The Law Society has called on solicitors to support the right of suspects detained at police stations across Europe to have access to a lawyer. It wants solicitors to lobby their MPs to vote against a government motion that the UK should not opt into an ...
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Lack of detail in referral fee announcement
If the devil is in the detail, this government is starting to seem angelic. There was excitement unbounded in the newsroom on Thursday afternoon as the Ministry of Justice confirmed that referral fees will be banned for personal injury claims. But reading ...
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Downs to leave LSC for top local government post
Carolyn Downs is leaving the Legal Services Commission to take up a new role at the Local Government Association in the new year. Downs took over as chief executive of the LSC in March 2010 on secondment from the Ministry of Justice, following the resignation of ...
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Referral fee ‘witch hunt’ will ‘jeopardise thousands of jobs’
Ministers have been warned that banning personal injury referral fees will put thousands of jobs at risk and do nothing to reduce insurance premiums. Darren Werth, chairman of the Claims Standards Council, which represents claims management businesses, admitted he was shocked by the government’s announcement.
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Top firms sign up to new internship scheme
More than 20 leading law firms have signed up to a scheme that guarantees work experience for young people from less privileged backgrounds. The commitment, launched this week under the name of Prime, will see firms offer a minimum of 30 hours of work experience per ...
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Third-party funding of litigation - views from the US and Australia
The recondite topic of third-party funding of litigation has been in the news over the summer. The Gazette reported last month that the Civil Justice Council is on the verge of agreeing a code of conduct for third-party funders, and that an association for funders will be set up.
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Silly names and new law firms
Phew! Eduardo Reyes also thinks that 'some of the law firm franchise labels people have come up with sound so silly'. I have been thinking along the same lines for a while. With all the talk of "brands" emerging within the legal profession, I wonder whether ...
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Pitfalls of percentages
Percentages are the most common statistics which lawyers encounter in daily working life. You need to be confident of case facts and recognise potentially incomplete detail or evidence in order to defend your clients’ best interests. However, how do you see behind ...
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Plan to publish family court judgments online may be reviewed amid cost-benefit concerns
The Ministry of Justice may scale back plans to publish family court judgments online, after a review of the pilot project questioned whether there was any ‘real benefit’ in reporting every case. The pilot tested the feasibility of issuing written judgments in certain types of family ...
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Government to ban referral fees in personal injury cases
The government has today announced that it will ban the payment of referral fees in personal injury cases. The Ministry of Justice said the current arrangements have led to high costs, encouraged a ‘compensation culture’ and led to the growth of an industry which pursues claimants ...
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Riots - ‘swift justice’ should be the rule, minister tells police
Outlining plans to increase the efficiency of the criminal justice process today, Nick Herbert said the response to the recent riots showed how the process could be improved. He wants to extend the use of virtual courts and digitise the system, saving time and money.
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Clarke likens ABS revolution to financial ‘Big Bang’ of 1986
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has predicted that the advent of alternative business structures could have as dramatic an impact on legal services as the so-called ‘Big Bang’ of 1986 had on the financial sector. Speaking this morning at a conference on promoting UK legal services ...
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A return to articles of clerkship would help solve the access problem
I was amused to read Michael Robinson’s letter suggesting a solicitor apprenticeship as a way of reducing the cost of training. What he describes is virtually a return to the articles of clerkship, through which I and countless other solicitors entered the profession until entry was restricted to graduates some ...
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Flaws in the quality assurance scheme for advocates threaten the criminal justice system
It is over five years since a single, late, unconsulted, unevidenced sentence in Lord Carter’s report on legal aid recommended that there should be a quality assurance scheme for advocates. Since then, groups from the bar, Law Society, judiciary and the Legal Services Commission have been arguing about exactly what ...
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Why was Jack Straw unable to move against referral fees when in office?
Did Jack Straw’s late intervention spell the end for personal injury referral fees? That the government changed its view last week is a good thing. Even many lawyers who gained instructions via such arrangements remained deeply discomfited by their existence. So ...
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Environmental considerations are rising up the law firm management agenda
Environmental issues have steadily climbed up law firms’ agendas. As corporates seek to capitalise on both consumers’ growing awareness of the need to save the planet, and government incentives on the environment, solicitors, as part of their clients’ supply chain, are responding by boosting their own green credentials.
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Legal aid cuts: the fight goes on
Campaign groups have vowed to continue their fight against the government’s legal aid cuts, following the rejection of opposition amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill by a committee of MPs. The Public Bill Committee, charged with scrutinising the proposals, last week ...
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Decision to allow television broadcasting in court is not backed by sufficient research
by Paul Lambert, a lecturer in law at the National University of Ireland, Galway The government’s plan to overturn the ban on cameras in the courtroom was broadly (if sometimes cautiously) welcomed, but it is problematic.
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Lucy Scott-Moncrieff among AWS award winners
Law Society vice-president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff was named best woman solicitor in a legal aid practice at the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) third annual awards ceremony held in London last week. She is pictured (centre) with AWS chairwoman Joy Van Cooten (right) and award judge ...
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Arbitration
Award - Enforcement - Freezing order - Claimant appealing Mobile Telesystems Finance SA v Nomihold Securities Inc: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Ward, Tomlinson): 1 September 2011 The claimant company, ...