All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 37
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News
Stress tops lawyers’ concerns in 2012
Stress was the main reason lawyers called legal helpline LawCare in 2012, the charity’s statistics for the year revealed today. LawCare opened 378 case files last year, slightly down on the 392 opened in 2011. Stress continued to be the most common issue reported, cited by ...
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News
QASA start delayed
The introduction of the controversial quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA) has been delayed. The Joint Advocacy Group (JAG), made up of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and Ilex Professional Standards (IPS) issued a statement today following consideration of the responses ...
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Interpreter contract failings revealed
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has exposed the full failings of the Ministry of Justice’s contract for court interpreters, branding it ‘an object lesson in how not to contract out a public service’. A report published today details the flaws in the procurement process and operation ...
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News
Land Registry shock at digital difficulty
Electronic conveyancing remains on the agenda of the Land Registry despite proving ‘more difficult to realise than anyone had thought’, the chief land registrar said this week. Speaking at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on conveyancing, Malcolm Dawson outlined the Land Registry’s vision to be ...
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Grayling sets out plan for culling judicial reviews
The justice secretary has set out plans to cut the number of ‘weak or ill-founded’ judicial reviews, which he claims are blocking the system and wasting money. A consultation published today suggests: - Reducing the time limits for bringing planning and procurement ...
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News
Family judges backing court welfare reports
Family judges follow the recommendation of court welfare reports in nine out of 10 cases, research has revealed. A study commissioned by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) shows that the reports of family court advisers were accepted in just over ...
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News
Justice secretary out of order
Press headlines about fat-cat lawyers minting it from legal aid are a bad sign for some solicitors and their clients – they tend to herald further assaults by the government on access to justice. The Sunday Telegraph and the Sun both ran stories at the weekend ...
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News
Ombudsman warns of dangers from ‘conveyancing factories’
‘Conveyancing factories’ pose a potential risk for housebuyers, the chief ombudsman warns today, saying he is braced for more complaints about services. A report, ‘Losing the Plot – residential conveyancing complaints and their causes’, says that despite the fall in house sales, residential conveyancing accounted for ...
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News
Unmeritorious appeals ‘clogging the arteries’ of CoA
Increasing numbers of ‘unmeritorious’ appeals could have the effect of ‘clogging the arteries’ of the court of appeal, the registrar of criminal appeals has warned. In the court’s annual review published today, Master Egan QC says that with pressure on funding and as the number of ...
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News
Civilise the internet, Leveson demands
The internet is not out of reach of the law, but new laws are likely to be required to ‘civilise the internet’, the judge charged with investigating the press has suggested. Speaking at the Communications Law Centre in Australia, Lord Justice Leveson said the internet posed ...
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News
Diversity boost for lowest rung of judiciary
A quarter of the lawyers recommended as deputy district judges (magistrates’ courts) in the most recent round of appointments were black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME), statistics released by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) this week reveal. The Commission received almost 1,500 applications for the 28 ...
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News
Interpreters ‘gag’ probe
MPs have sought an explanation from the Ministry of Justice over allegations that magistrates and court staff were instructed not to participate fully in an inquiry into the operation of a private sector contract to provide court interpreters. In written evidence to the Commons Justice ...
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News
Family lawyers losing business
Could family lawyers be doing more to win business? The findings of a YouGov poll published last week to coincide with the government’s launch of a web app to provide advice to separating couples suggest they could. The survey showed that more than half (52%) of ...
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News
Family mediation scheme extended
Membership of the Law Society’s family mediation scheme will be extended to all qualified family mediators from April. Currently membership is restricted to solicitors and fellows of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. From April, mediators competence-assessed by the Family Mediation Council will be able to ...
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Smaller law firms buck trend with income rise
Smaller legal firms have reported a rise in fee income despite the depressed economy – with residential conveyancing up in the usually weak third quarter of the calendar year. The second quarterly benchmarking survey from the Law Society’s Law Management Section shows a 7.4% increase in ...
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News
No legal aid cuts for social welfare appeals
The government suffered a rare ‘fatal defeat’ in the House of Lords last night on a regulation that would have denied legal help to people appealing welfare benefits on a point of law in first-tier tribunals. It also agreed to amend a regulation which opponents ...
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News
Commission to probe impact of legal aid cuts
Campaigning charity the Legal Action Group has set up a commission to examine the impact of the legal aid cuts and develop a strategy to help ensure public access to justice. The Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support is chaired by crossbench ...
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News
Scottish society takes high road to ABS-style licensing
The Law Society of Scotland could license new legal businesses by spring after submitting its application to regulate the new entities. The society applied to the Scottish government to become an approved regulator of new licensed legal service providers (LPs), the Scottish equivalent of alternative business ...
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News
Mediators honoured in CEDR awards
Magic circle firm Linklaters was among the winners of the biannual CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) awards presented last night in London. It won the award for alternative dispute resolution and civil justice innovation for setting up the Commercial Mediation Group in January this year. ...
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News
Government launches £300,000 web app for divorce
Separating parents will be able to find free advice and guidance through a web app released this week by the government. ‘Sorting out Separation’ provides information about all aspects of separation, from how to avoid a separation to coping with the emotional impact of breaking ...