All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 35
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News
QC faces jail after pocketing VAT for 12 years
A London silk faces jail after being convicted of a £600,000 VAT fraud. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practised from Thirty Nine Essex Street, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured) today of one count of cheating the public revenue, between 1 June 1999 and 24 ...
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News
SRA redraws plan to increase fines for firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has re-opened discussions with the Ministry of Justice on raising the amount it can fine firms from the current maximum of £2,000. Last year the MoJ rejected a request to bring the maximum penalty for traditional firms into line with the ...
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News
EU crime and justice measures of ‘real importance’ says Starmer
Failure to opt back in to EU criminal justice measures will hamper the UK’s ability to prosecute cross-border crime, making procedures ‘uncertain, cumbersome and fragmented’, the director of public prosecutions told peers today. Keir Starmer QC also revealed that there was no formal consultation with the ...
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News
Courtroom savings hard to interpret
Doubts have been cast on the level of savings claimed by the government for its courtroom interpreting contract, as more interpreters refuse to work under the new terms. A year after the widely criticised contract came into effect, the Ministry of Justice has told the ...
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News
MPs condemn ‘shambolic’ court interpreter deal
The Ministry of Justice’s outsourcing of court interpreter services was ‘nothing short of shambolic’ according to a highly critical report from the House of Commons Justice Committee, which questions whether the deal is ‘financially sustainable’. The report, published today, also condemns the MoJ’s actions in seeking ...
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News
Shambolic interpreter deal is a vision of things to come
The Ministry of Justice’s deal for the central procurement of court interpreters has now been the subject of three damning reports. The National Audit Office (NAO), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and most recently the Justice Committee have criticised almost every aspect of the flawed procurement process and contract management. ...
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News
McGowan takes up the two-bar challenge
Maura McGowan QC has become the second woman to lead the 15,000-strong bar profession, after Heather, now Lady Justice, Hallett. She takes over at a time when many at the bar, the publicly funded bar in particular, face huge challenges. Though the bar prides itself ...
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News
‘Necessary’ test to cut expert witnesses in family cases
A new rule aimed at cutting the number of expert witnesses called in family cases has come into force this month. Previously, evidence from experts such as psychologists and doctors would be heard if it was ‘reasonably required’. Since 1 February judges have begun applying a ...
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News
Lords back Leveson-style press arbitration service
Peers voted last night in favour of an amendment to the Defamation Bill to introduce a low-cost arbitration service to help ordinary citizens who feel they have been wronged by the press. The House of Lords voted in favour of the change, a key recommendation of ...
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News
Barristers pose no ‘alternative solicitors’ threat, says bar chair
Barristers offering public access work are not planning to ‘flood the market’ – but the relationship between the two professions will become more fluid, the new chairman of the Bar Council has suggested. In an interview with the Gazette, Maura McGowan QC, the second woman to ...
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News
Grieve alarmed by ‘trial by Google’
‘Trial by Google’ offends fundamental principles of the English legal system, undermining trials and open justice, the attorney general has warned. Dominic Grieve spoke last night highlighting the dangers posed to fair trials due to the growth of the internet, but he argued that the law ...
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News
Survey paints gloomy picture of MoJ morale
Ministry of Justice staff lack confidence in the organisation’s leadership and ability to manage change, the civil service’s annual people survey has revealed. The results show that 28% of staff had confidence in senior management and 32% said the department is managed well. Less than a quarter (23%) of respondents ...
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News
Labour warns of Grayling’s ‘Trojan horse’ attacks
Government policies to cut legal aid, and to curtail judicial review and no-win, no-fee arrangements amount to an ‘assault on the critical checks and balances that any healthy democracy needs’, the shadow justice secretary has warned. Sadiq Khan MP told an event to celebrate pro bono ...
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News
Judicial review limits attacked
Government plans to limit the number of judicial reviews have been condemned by lawyers and campaign groups. A six-week consultation on the proposals, which the justice secretary says would stop ‘weak or ill-founded’ claims clogging the courts, ended last week apparently without a single response in favour. ...
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News
More firms ask for help to fund tax bills
The number of law firms that need funding to help pay their January tax bill has jumped by almost 60% since last year, according to a business providing independent finance. Syscap reports that so far this year it has received 410 requests from law firms for ...
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News
Legal aid is the key to a diverse profession
Helen Grant, the equalities minister, is calling for a more diverse legal profession and judiciary – one with more women and ethnic minority judges in senior posts. An interview with the London Evening Standard quoted the family solicitor as accusing legal bosses of prolonging male dominance ...
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News
Advocacy quality scheme set back to September
Introduction of the controversial quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA) has been delayed by nine months, the joint advocacy group (JAG) responsible for the scheme admitted today. Under the revised implementation timetable, published by the three legal regulators charged with designing QASA, a handbook on the ...
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News
Butler-Sloss condemns advice cuts
Removing funding for a service that helps litigants in person on the day wide-ranging legal aid cuts take effect will create ‘absolute disarray’ in the courts, a former head of the family division has warned. The Citizens Advice Bureau at the Royal Courts of Justice assists ...
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News
1,000 firms face Santander panel exit over CQS
Up to 1,000 firms risk being removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel at the end of March unless they obtain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation, the Society will warn this week. In September last year, the bank changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel ...
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News
Family justice ‘wish list’
Children caught up in the family justice system want their cases dealt with faster and with greater support throughout the process, according to a board made up of 32 young people with direct experience of the system or an interest in children’s rights. The Family ...