All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1540
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News
Regulatory reform of financial services
The chancellor has now set out his detailed proposals for financial services regulatory reform. These seek to address three substantial concerns which became clear in the wake of the banking crisis: 1. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Bank of England ...
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Big bang, big crash
Broadly speaking, computer projects make three sorts of news headline. One is the ‘gee-whiz gizmo’ of fond Tomorrow’s World memory. Second is the ‘big brother’ scare story about surveillance or intrusive data-sharing.
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Private equity investor takes £200m stake in Parabis
Private equity investor Duke Street today confirmed an investment of up to £200m in personal injury umbrella firm Parabis Group in the latest City move into the legal sector. The legal and claims management company, which trades under the names of Plexus Law (defendant firm) ...
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Government to legislate on shared parenting - Clarke
Strengthening shared parenting after divorce and speeding up care and adoption cases are among ‘ambitious and system-wide’ reforms outlined by the government today to improve the family justice system. Responding to the Norgrove Family Justice Review, justice secretary Kenneth Clarke said the government would implement many ...
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Now it is Spain’s turn
I have been writing in recent weeks about the radical changes affecting numerous European Union member states in the wake of the economic crisis. The item on our agenda at the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) called ‘important national developments’ grows longer at every meeting. And ...
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Call for regulation of legal comparison sites
Comparison websites should commit to a set of voluntary standards to ensure legal service consumers are protected, according to a new report. The Legal Services Consumer Panel today says the websites could help to improve access to legal advice and stimulate greater competition on price and ...
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Witnessing financial documents
A lady comes to the office clutching a mortgage and says it needs witnessing by a solicitor. She explains she is raising money to pay off the victims of her husband’s fraud. The solicitor advises her not to sign it and she goes off. The solicitor is later sued (probably ...
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Storm raging over investing in litigation
Third-party litigation funding (through which investors fund someone else’s case in exchange for a percentage of damages if they win) does not normally receive much mainstream attention in the UK, given that it is a relatively small sector here.
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Law Commission to tidy law on financial provision after break-up
The Law Commission is to bring ‘clarity and predictability’ to the law entitling married couples and civil partners to claim financial provision from one another upon divorce or dissolution of their partnership, it was announced this week. The commission said that it aims to review two ...
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Jackson ‘Plan B’ splits claimant lobby
Deep divisions surfaced in the personal injury claimant lobby this week after the proposal of a compromise deal on the Jackson reforms. Leaders of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said they are now prepared to drop blanket opposition to Jackson’s plans to switch the burden ...
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Joey Barton is no martyr, he’s a danger to justice
Is Joey Barton a media star or a footballer? The saddest indictment of the QPR midfielder’s career to date is that to many he is renowned more for his Twitter feed than his sporting abilities. Barton has talent on the field, though perhaps not as great ...
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Being pushed out
I work in a provincial practice with three town centre-based offices in Cheshire, and it is with interest that I read about HSBC’s new ’shortlisted’ panel of 43 law firms and licensed conveyancers. This follows talk of some of the other mainstream lenders such as the Lloyds Banking Group also ...
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Rising cost of motor premiums down to support of claimants
by Byron Shepherd, a casualty claims-handler at a major insurance company The Gazette recently ran a story headlined ‘Insurers to blame for motor premium hike’. This claim is demonstrable nonsense.
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News
Banking on advice
Just as I was reading the article ‘Lenders in the line of fire’ a new client of mine rang and mentioned that she was going to get an HSBC mortgage. She was told by the HSBC branch in Belper, Derbyshire, that she had to use their panel solicitor, and only ...
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Rip it up and start again
The government’s announcement that it would prohibit referral fees may have caused initial joy among the many supporters of the Society’s policy that such fees should be banned. But a closer look at the amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) to achieve this policy ...
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Roger Smith: legal aid reforms ‘unsustainable’
The director of law reform and human rights organisation Justice has condemned the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill as ‘so bad’ that it will not survive if it is enacted. Roger Smith (pictured) described the package of reforms in the bill, which ...
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Andrew Grech: leading by example
When Andrew Grech joined Australian firm Slater & Gordon in 1994, the firm was a quarter of its present size. Now, with some 60 offices around Australia, it handles around 20-25% of the national personal injury legal market, and Grech’s skills earned him the title of Managing Partner of the ...
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News
Automatic disqualification and apparent bias
Two jurisprudential strands were brought together by the Court of Appeal on 19 October 2011 when determining a challenge brought by Darsho Kaur, a student member of the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX).
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Arbitration
Award - Enforcement - Parties disputing responsibility for collision during voyage charter West Tankers Inc v Allianz Spa and another: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Carnwath, Lloyd and Toulson): 24 January 2012 ...
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DAS back in the black
Legal expenses insurer DAS has reported a dramatic turnaround in financial performance during 2011. The UK group posted a pre-tax profit of £9.74m last year compared with a £470,000 loss in 2010, when the company was hit by increasing claims frequencies and costs. Turnover rose from ...