All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 40
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News
Mediation is the future, Falconer says
The Supreme Court’s equal pay ruling yesterday will lead to ‘billions and billions worth of claims’ Labour’s former lord chancellor has predicted. Lord Falconer (pictured) suggested that such claims be mediated rather than leaving them to the ‘vagaries of the legal system’, which he said would be costly and could ...
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News
Court interpreter mess ‘led to custody’, MPs told
Defendants are being remanded in custody solely because court interpreters have not been sent by the company contracted by the Ministry of Justice to provide them, a parliamentary committee heard this week. Giving evidence to the Justice Committee, the chair of the Law Society’s criminal law ...
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News
Bar regulator confirms move into ABSs
The Bar Standards Board has confirmed it will apply to the Legal Services Board (pictured) to become a licensing authority of alternative business structures in the new year, and could approve its first ABS in early 2014. At a board meeting last week, the bar’s regulator ...
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News
Urgent action call over child deaths in custody
Two national charities have called for an urgent independent review of ‘systemic failings’ that have led to the deaths of 200 imprisoned children and young people over the past decade. In a report published today, Inquest and the Prison Reform Trust recommend 13 changes to address ...
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News
Cameron’s rehab scheme ‘empty rhetoric’ says Labour
David Cameron has outlined what he called the coalition’s ‘tough but intelligent’ approach to crime, with payment by results for companies and charities providing rehabilitation services. In a well-trailed speech at the Centre for Social Justice thinktank in London, the prime minister said ‘retribution’ and tough ...
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News
McKinnon solicitor is Legal Personality of the Year
Karen Todner, the London solicitor who represented ‘Pentagon hacker’ Gary McKinnon, received a standing ovation as she collected the Law Society Gazette’s Legal Personality of the Year award at last night’s Law Society Excellence awards ceremony. Todner (pictured) has been at the forefront of high-profile extradition ...
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News
Brace yourself for unprecedented change, says master of rolls
Implementing the Jackson costs reforms will inevitably lead to satellite litigation, the master of the rolls has warned. He urged courts and lawyers to ‘do what they can’ to minimise it. In a wide-ranging speech at the Law Society yesterday, Lord Dyson (pictured) said that the ...
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News
Interpreter firm still missing target, official statistics reveal
The company contracted to provide court interpreters has failed to reach its performance target after six months, statistics released today reveal. The overall success rate for jobs completed by Applied Language Solutions between 30 January and 31 August was 89%. The contract’s performance target is ...
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News
Lost generation fears of Labour's Sadiq Khan
Criminal legal aid solicitors will be such an endangered species by 2015 that Labour would not need to take forward plans for price-competitive tendering in the sector. That is the startlingly frank opinion of shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan MP, who has given the Gazette ...
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Profile
Interview: Sadiq Khan, shadow boxer
Sadiq Khan was in characteristically energetic mode at the Labour party conference recently, headlining fringe events on criminal justice, youth offending and human rights. Last week he paused for reflection at Portcullis House opposite parliament, allowing the Gazette an opportunity to ascertain how far Labour has progressed with justice policy ...
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News
Pro bono group expands to Wales
The solicitors’ pro bono group LawWorks has been awarded £180,000 of lottery funding to expand its service across Britain and set up LawWorks Cymru in Wales. The charity heard last week that the Big Lottery Fund will provide the funding over the next three years enabling ...
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News
Comparison site attacks online document market
Online price comparison website Compare Legal Costs has partnered with East Midlands firm Nelsons to offer fixed-fee online legal documents to businesses and consumers. Nelsons provides more than 200 online documents suitable for personal or business use, covering building work to prenuptial agreements, divorce, motoring, power ...
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News
Legal aid naivety on display
Lord McNally gave his first speech last week on legal aid since taking over the legal aid brief in the reshuffle. Hats off to him for braving the lion’s den that was the Legal Aid Practitioners Group annual conference – something of a baptism of fire. Legal aid practitioners were ...
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News
Officials ignored experts’ warning on interpreting contract
Senior procurement officials at the Ministry of Justice did not read a consultants’ report warning of the risks in a £42m contract to provide courtroom interpreters, it emerged at a parliamentary hearing yesterday. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee was taking evidence on the procurement ...
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News
Survey tells tale of bullying, harassment and discrimination
One in six solicitors has been bullied in the workplace, according to research by the Law Society. Preliminary findings of the Society’s 2012 omnibus survey of the profession reveal that 17% of solicitors say they have been bullied at work. The percentage is higher for ...
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News
Bar says no to plea-only advocates
The Bar Council has strongly opposed the creation of a category of ‘non-trial’ advocates in the planned advocacy accreditation scheme. The ‘plea-only’ category – originally proposed by solicitor advocates – would put the public at risk and undermine public confidence in the profession and criminal justice system, the council says ...
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News
Let’s move on from LASPO, McNally urges legal aid lawyers
Wealthy defendants in criminal cases may be allowed to fund their defences with money released from seized assets, the new legal aid minister Lord McNally said today. McNally told the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group annual conference that Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, had asked him ...
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News
‘Flexible’ court plans unveiled
The creation of a regional virtual court is among plans revealed today by justice minister Damian Green to pilot dozens of ‘flexible’ court models. Five schemes will be trialled in 48 areas. They will include regional virtual courts that will enable preliminary hearings in the ...
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News
Society condemns ‘pure gamble’ quality assurance scheme
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) will ‘annul the historic rights’ of most solicitors to appear before magistrates’ courts and prompt lawsuits against regulators, the Law Society has warned. In a robust response to the fourth and final consultation on the plans to introduce the ...
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News
Standard bar contracts put back by three months
The introduction of standard contractual terms between barristers and solicitors has been delayed by three months to make sure all firms and chambers are prepared, the Bar Standards Board announced today. The new terms will now take effect from 31 January 2013. They had been previously ...