All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 108
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News
Met row threatens trials
A row between the Metropolitan Police Service and doctors who care for detainees in police stations is threatening to undermine criminal trials and harm the treatment of those in custody, medical practitioners say. New contracts for the Met’s 150 forensic medical examiners (FMEs) come into ...
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News
Culture shift needed to ease bench route
The tribunals system offers valuable opportunities for solicitors to get a foot on the judicial ladder, but a ‘culture change’ within firms is needed before more can make it onto the bench, a senior solicitor judge has told the Gazette. Gary Hickinbottom, the Deputy Senior President ...
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Dire warning for conveyancers
Survival will be the ‘name of the game’ in conveyancing over the next year, as practitioners forecast falling sales and more job cuts, with medium-sized firms hardest hit. Peter Rodd, chairman of the Law Society’s property section, predicted ‘a dire market without any sign of improvement ...
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Fees scheme may defuse VHCC row
A breakthrough in the dispute threatening to disrupt trials of very high cost criminal cases (VHCCs) could be in sight following the publication of new funding proposals. The Legal Services Commission is proposing to set up separate payment schemes for litigators and advocates, moving away ...
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E-working compulsory from 2010
Electronic working will be compulsory for civil legal aid providers from 2010 under plans announced by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission’s Delivery Transformation programme aims to save £7m a year. It will expand the use of online billing, ensure that ...
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Legal aid advocates to face quality assurance test
Quality inspections for publicly funded criminal defence advocates are on the horizon under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission said it would test a ‘quality assurance scheme’ on some 250 barristers and solicitors at Crown Courts from February next year. ...
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Bar paves the way for joint practices
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is paving the way for barristers to go into practice with solicitors, but will leave regulation of the new legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). In its second consultation on the implications of the Legal Services Act ...
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News
Mediators need time to consider regulation proposals
Proposals for a regulation regime for mediation faltered last week when mediators told the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) they need more time to consider ‘ambitious’ plans. However members of the organisation, which represents civil and commercial mediators, approved a scheme to register workplace mediators to ...
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News
Bar chief in plea for unity
The incoming chairman of the Bar Council has made a plea for unity between the two branches of the profession as they face a continued squeeze over legal aid fees. In an interview with the Gazette, Desmond Browne QC said: ‘There must not be internecine ...
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Bar raises court fears
The Bar Council has alleged that Crown Court cases are being disrupted because barristers are being forced to undertake litigators’ work when solicitors fail to attend hearings. In a letter to the Legal Services Commission’s Criminal Defence Service, the chairman of the council’s remuneration committee, ...
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Solicitors warned over property competitions
Solicitors advising clients who are selling their homes through ‘house competitions’ must act with caution to avoid falling foul of the gambling laws or complicity in fraud or money laundering, the Law Society has warned. The collapse of the housing market has prompted a growing number ...
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News
Random selection call
Judicial panels hearing cases before the new UK Supreme Court should be picked at random rather than by the opaque procedure used by the House of Lords, a leading silk suggested this week. Lord David Pannick QC criticised the current system under which even Law Lords themselves do not know ...
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Warning over video link for defendants
Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...
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News
Proof of identity rules will hit home hard
Conveyancing could grind to a halt under new Land Registry rules for requiring proof of identity, the chairman of the Law Society property section, Peter Rodd, has warned. Solicitors should be ‘very cautious’ about dealing with new forms which could expose them to liability. New ...
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QC review by Nichol
The Law Society and Bar Council have appointed Sir Duncan Nichol to review the operation of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments system, three years after its introduction. The independent selection panel, developed by the two professions, replaced a process run by the former Department for ...
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Legal aid burden
Job cuts at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) could increase administrative burdens on legal aid solicitors, practitioner groups have warned. The LSC announced last week it is to shed 600 posts, reducing its workforce to 1,100, and close seven of its 13 offices. ‘More efficient processes ...
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Review: The Barristers
The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...
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Courting the regions
Claimants will no longer be forced to come to London to have administrative cases heard, under plans to improve access to justice due to be announced by the Ministry of Justice. The Gazette has learned that four regional centres of the Administrative Court are to open ...
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News
Fee-cap 'outrage'
Practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ government proposals to cap payments for acquitted defendants’ legal costs that would leave innocent people out of pocket. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week published a consultation on reform to the system of reimbursing the legal costs of people acquitted ...
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News
Society and bar clash over solicitor-advocates
The Law Society has hit back at criticism from the bar over the ‘appalling’ standards of some solicitor-advocates, who it is alleged are keeping work for themselves for economic reasons rather than instructing barristers. Law Society President Paul Marsh said the comments were ‘exactly what you ...