All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 63
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News
MoJ concession on immigration domestic violence cases
Lawyers have welcomed the justice minister’s concession to put some immigration domestic violence cases back within the scope of legal aid. Jonathan Djanogly told the public bill committee that the government would table an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to ...
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News
Supreme Court rules on arbitration
The Supreme Court has ruled that arbitrators are not employees for the purposes of employment equality legislation. Handing down judgment in the case of Hashwani v Jivraj, the court reversed the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision, which held that an arbitration agreement that required all arbitrators ...
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Lord Judge announces senior appointments
The Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge (pictured) has today announced two senior judicial appointments. Lady Justice Hallett has been appointed vice president of the High Court Queen's Bench Division for a period of four years from 3 October 2011. Her appointment follows ...
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Lay judges agree draft charter for European decision-making
Lay judges from across Europe have agreed a draft charter and a declaration seeking to protect and extend lay involvement in judicial decision-making across the continent. At a meeting of the European Lay Judges Forum held over the weekend, 50 lay judges signed the London Declaration, ...
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Boris Johnson criticises legal aid proposals on domestic violence
The mayor of London has warned that the majority of women who have suffered domestic violence will find it ‘impossible’ to get legal aid to help divorce their abusive partners, because of the ‘restrictive’ evidence required to prove it. In written evidence to the public bill ...
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SRA to investigate solicitors’ potential role in phone-hacking events
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has today launched a formal investigation into the role played by solicitors in events surrounding the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. The SRA's chief executive Antony Townsend said the decision followed a preliminary review of the material in the public domain. ...
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News
ACS:Law denies involvement in ‘scam’ in Greece
A London solicitor has denied involvement in an email ‘scam’ attempting to get money out of people in Greece by accusing them of illegal filesharing. Emails purporting to be from ACS:Law in London were sent to people in Greece accusing them of illegal filesharing, and seeking ...
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News
200th firm signs diversity and inclusion charter
Carmarthen firm Ungoed-Thomas & King has become the 200th firm to sign up to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter. One third of private practice solicitors now work in firms that have signed up to the flagship diversity initiative that was launched last year. ...
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Cuts set to delay case reviews, says CCRC
The independent body that played an instrumental role in the acquittals of Barry George and Sion Jenkins (pictured) has warned that further cuts to its budget will cause delays in dealing with cases. In its annual report published this week, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which ...
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News
Domestic violence rules 'boost cost of disputes'
Family lawyers have attacked the government’s plans to deny legal aid to domestic violence victims who accept ‘undertakings’ from an allegedly abusive partner. Responding to a query on the issue from the House of Commons’ Justice Committee, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that undertakings given during ...
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News
LSC transfers cases from collapsed immigration advice provider
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it has begun transferring urgent files from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service to other providers. Following a call for existing immigration contract holders to submit expressions of interest to take on IAS cases, current providers indicated they had the ...
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News
ABSs at risk of criminal ownership, Law Society warns
The Law Society is pressing the Ministry of Justice to make an urgent amendment to the Legal Services Act to prevent non-lawyers with spent criminal convictions from becoming owners of alternative business structures. Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has written to justice secretary Kenneth Clarke urging ...
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News
Auditors warn MoJ about legal aid reforms
The National Audit Office (pictured) warned the government that its legal aid reforms would threaten the sustainability of law firms before the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill was published. The news comes after the Gazette reported last week that the Legal Services Commission ...
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News
Law Commission reveals new areas for reform
Reviewing the law of contempt, European contract law and financial provision on divorce are among the 14 projects that the Law Commission has revealed it will look into over the next three years. The Commission has published its eleventh programme of law reform projects, selected from ...
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News
Filesharing cases settled
The long-running filesharing cases brought by London firm ACS:Law have come to an end, as the Solicitors Regulation Authority has published the allegations faced by the solicitor at the heart of the controversial claims. Manchester firm Ralli, which acted for a number of defendants alleged to ...
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News
Family courts expect more litigants in person
Family courts will need to be better prepared to deal with litigants in person following the government’s legal aid reforms, MPs warned in a report published today. The report, from the Justice Committee, on the interim recommendations of the Family Justice Review, said an increase in ...
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News
MoJ in line of fire over interpreters contract
The Ministry of Justice could face a legal challenge to its new cost-cutting arrangements for the provision of interpretation and translation services across the justice sector.
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News
LSC warned ministers on legal aid cuts
The Legal Services Commission warned ministers before publication of the legal aid reform bill that proposed fee cuts could result in ‘market failure’. In a letter sent to the lord chancellor in February, LSC chair Sir Bill Callaghan (pictured) advised the government that the ‘scale and ...
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News
Society given only 15 minutes for legal aid evidence
The Law Society, Bar Council and other representative groups were granted only 15 minutes each to give evidence to the cross-party committee scrutinising the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill this week, fuelling concerns that the government is seeking to rush through the changes. ...
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News
Allen & Overy investigates allegations that it was tricked
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy has said it is ‘looking into’ the allegation made yesterday that it was tricked into handing over details relating to former prime minister Gordon Brown to a conman. An article in today’s Guardian newspaper claims that that lawyers at Allen ...