All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 44
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News
Justice reforms have increased burden on judiciary, says LCJ
Reforms to the efficiency of the administration of justice have increased the burdens on the judiciary at a time when their pay and pension packages are being cut, according to a report from the lord chief justice, Igor Judge.
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News
The Briefs and criminal law – it’s a numbers game
Those of you able to tear yourself away from the Olympics last night might have caught the first of a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary about the lawyers and clients at the Manchester office of Tuckers. The Briefs was made by Chameleon Television, which spent a year with ...
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Accused silk in court on VAT fraud charge
A London silk has appeared in court charged with a £600,000 VAT fraud. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practised from Thirty Nine Essex Street, was summoned to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
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Bar victory over ‘cab rank’ rule
Changes to the ‘cab rank’ rule approved last week will pave the way for new standard contractual terms between solicitors and barristers. Under amendments to the Bar Standards Board’s code of conduct approved by the Legal Services Board, the cab rank rule will apply where work ...
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Lawyer trust accounts 'could help fill legal aid gap'
A national scheme to use interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA) could help fund access to justice in the wake of the impending legal aid cuts, the director of the Law Centres Federation, Julie Bishop, has suggested. Bishop has resurrected the debate on whether client money, ...
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News
Hundreds of firms fail to nominate compliance officers
Some 800 law firms failed to nominate compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and compliance officers for finance and administration (COFAs) by yesterday's deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed today. These two roles are a key part of the SRA's move to outcomes-focused regulation ...
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Inquisitorial judges at heart of family reform proposals
Greater case management by judges is at the heart of the judiciary’s proposals for the modernisation of family justice, published today. Mr Justice Ryder, the judge in charge of the family court modernisation process accompanying the Crime and Courts Bill, set out his plans to improve ...
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Review slams ‘systemic failures’ in bar’s disciplinary system
A damning report on the barristers’ disciplinary regime recommends creating a new tribunals service after uncovering 'systemic failures' in the current system. The report by the Council of Inns of Court (COIC) disciplinary tribunals and review group makes 82 recommendations for change after finding ‘systemic failures’ ...
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News
Law Society to protest at Santander’s 'panel cull'
Hundreds of solicitors are to be culled from Santander’s conveyancing panel - even after paying the lender’s charge of over £100 to have their panel membership reviewed, the Law Society has claimed. The Society said it would be ‘vigorously’ raising its concerns over Santander’s cull, which ...
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News
Father and daughter plead guilty to £250,000 legal aid fraud
A father and daughter who purported to be able to offer criminal law advice have pleaded guilty to frauds worth over £250,000, some against the Legal Services Commission. Mohammed Arshid Khatana, 51 and his daughter Mahria Khatana, 24, both of Hawkswood Gardens, Brierfield, Nelson, Lancashire, appeared ...
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News
HSBC sets date for conveyancing panel
All firms that are members of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) will be put on HSBC’s conveyancing panel from 29 August, the Society and lender announced today. The move follows the deal agreed between the Society and HBSC in May, under which ...
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News
Solicitors warned of divorce claims
Divorce solicitors could face thousands of compensation claims in cases where pensions were undervalued in a divorce settlement, a pensions consultant has claimed. Divorce LifeLine suggests that since pension sharing was introduced in December 2000, around 750,000 people, in half the divorces across the country, could ...
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News
‘Baby barrister’ threat to solicitors
Barristers with under three years’ practising experience will be able to take instructions directly from clients if the Bar Standards Board’s latest plan for the extension of public access rules is approved. The board heard last week that ‘baby barristers’ may be the only representation ...
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News
QC to be charged with failing to pay £600,000 in VAT
A QC is to face charges over an alleged £600,000 VAT fraud, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practises from London’s Thirty Nine Essex Street, will face one charge of cheating the public revenue. CPS central ...
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News
Solicitors demanding referral fees could be ‘named and shamed’ by bar
Naming and shaming solicitors who seek referral fees for passing work onto barristers has been mooted by the Bar Standards Board in a bid stamp out the practice. The Bar Council has already taken advice on whether referral fees amount to bribes, though that advice has ...
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News
Deech hits back over bar tribunal ‘collapse’ claim
The chair of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has defended the process for disciplining barristers following a claim that it is in a ‘state of collapse’ amid allegations of secrecy, maladministration and incompetence. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Deech said: ‘It is totally ...
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News
The incredible shrinking legal aid statistics
Worrying signs that clients could already be finding it harder to access legal advice, even before next year’s legal aid cuts come in to force, emerge from the latest annual statistics from the Legal Services Commission. The LSC’s annual report, published last week, reveals that the ...
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News
No extra pay for ‘speedy’ justice
Solicitors could end up working seven days a week without extra pay to cover anti-social hours under government plans to extend court sittings. Proposals to introduce early morning and evening sittings and Sunday courts were among measures set out last week in a white paper ...
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News
Courtroom interpreter 'savings' evaporate
The Ministry of Justice has admitted that £12m of savings predicted for the first year of controversial new arrangements for courtroom interpreting ‘will probably not be achieved’. The announcement, by justice minister Lord McNally, came as the ministry declined to reveal the cost of the ...
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News
Lloyds deal opens way to Co-op expansion
The Co-operative Group could sell legal services from almost 1,000 bank branches, giving it an outlet on nearly every high street in the country following a deal to buy 632 Lloyds TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester branches. The group announced this morning that it had agreed ...