All Law Gazette articles in Archive – Page 1570
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Time to make for the high ground
Let’s cut to the chase: the best part about conferences is the freebies. Solicitors suddenly turn into scavengers when there’s a free pen or teddy bear in sight, walking away from the venue looking like some wildly unambitious looter. One thing’s for sure, there were be ...
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Plant: firms 'deluded' to think ABSs won't have impact
A regulation chief has warned the UK’s biggest commercial firms that they are ‘deluded’ to think alternative business structures will not affect them. Solicitors Regulation Authority chairman Charles Plant told the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers conference on Friday that no firm could assume they ...
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Will-writing must become reserved activity, LSB says
Proposals to regulate all providers of will-writing and estate administration come a step closer today as the Legal Services Board confirms plans to make the services ‘reserved activities’. Under proposals published today, designed to provide greater consumer protection, all providers of such services would be regulated. ...
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Consumers ‘in the dark’ on CMC practices
A quarter of consumers are not aware that claims management companies (CMCs) take a cut of their mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) claim, a survey has revealed. The joint survey by consumer watchdog Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com found that claimants were unaware of their rights and the ...
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An overview of the EU’s week
I try in this blog to describe weekly European news affecting the legal profession. Although I don’t expect sympathy, it can be a head-scratching challenge, since there are not always weekly developments on tap. Policy-makers receive daily updates of EU news, and I scan the headlines ...
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The right kind of feedback
This week in a gap between seeing clients I went to buy a light bulb for my car. I had noticed I had not been very bright (if you see what I mean). It is the sort of thing you usually never get around to sort out. Buying a new ...
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Justice and Shakespeare
I’m thinking about William Shakespeare today - after all, it is his birthday. I realise that many fellow English-folk are more focused on a Third Century Roman Soldier from the Middle East who never visited our shores but, well - I’ll leave them to their chargrilled dragon vol-au-vents, or however ...
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Double ABS first for NewLaw Legal
A personal injury firm based in Cardiff has become the first Welsh practice to be licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS). NewLaw Legal, founded in 2004, was confirmed as the fourth ABS by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. It is also ...
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Legal aid bill back in Commons for latest ping pong round
The government suffered three more House of Lords defeats to its plans to cut legal aid last night, setting the scene for a further tussle in the Commons today. The parliamentary ping pong follows 11 defeats initially inflicted by peers on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of offenders bill, ...
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Tragic effects of Ched Evans case
Perhaps the saddest element of the Ched Evans case is the effect on future victims of sexual offences. Footballer Evans was convicted on Friday of raping a girl in a hotel room who was too drunk to give consent. The Sheffield United and Wales striker, who ...
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Clarke in Jackson reform climbdown
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke today made a surprise U-turn to postpone Jackson reforms for mesothelioma cases. The issue has been the most controversial aspect of part two of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, with the Lords voting for a second time on ...
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French probate
Anyone who has dealt with a probate in England will be familiar with obtaining a grant of probate if there is a will and letters of administration if there is no will. Broadly speaking in England the executors or administrators of the estate are obliged to pay any inheritance tax ...
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Supreme Court dismisses Seldon age discrimination appeal
The Supreme Court today ruled against a former equity partner who had brought an age discrimination case against his law firm for unlawfully making him retire aged 65. It sent the case back to the Employment Tribunal to decide an issue that remains outstanding.
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Whiplash claims need objective evidence, say insurers
The body representing the insurance industry has called for compensation for whiplash claims to be withheld until there is ‘objective evidence’ of injury. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has urged the government to look at radical action to tackle growing numbers of whiplash claims. Speaking ...
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In praise of learned Lords
It seems likely that any move to make the House of Lords a predominantly directly elected chamber would reduce the number of lawyers who sit on its red benches. It has been a generation since the Commons, whose traditional hours reflected the need of many MPs to practise law in ...
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Firm offers £1,500 advance for PI victims
A personal injury firm with ambitions to open 50 outlets this year is offering a £1,500 cash advance for accident victims who make a claim. GT Law, which has also applied to be an alternative business structure, will require a medical report and insurer’s admission of ...
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Signing a will and section 9 of the Wills Act 1837
Decisions on the formalities of the execution of a will usually turn on whether the witnesses were jointly present when the testator signed or acknowledged. In the rather unusual case of Barrett v Bem [2012] EWCA Civ 52, the point in issue was whether the will was signed by the ...
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The competitive advantage of a workaholic practice is presumed, but rarely calculated
Long hours are deeply ingrained in the culture of legal services. In all shapes of practice, they have long been the assumed norm.
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Move to close criminal advice loophole
A legal loophole that has allowed police to deny suspects their right to consult a solicitor could be closed by a change in the law. Home Office officials have agreed to propose an amendment to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, imposing a ...
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LASPO bound for statute book after cliffhanger final vote
The government’s controversial legal aid reforms are set to become law after it won its final battle over the bill in the House of Lords yesterday. Peers had inflicted 14 defeats on the government in votes on proposed amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...