All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 72
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News
Family justice system is failing vulnerable children in care
A report published this week revealed that half of the children in care do not trust the court to make the right decision about their lives. The report, written for Ofsted by Children’s Rights director Roger Morgan, showed that of 58 children interviewed, 50% though the ...
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News
Separating couples to be forced to consider mediation option
From April separating couples will be required to consider whether their disputes can be settled by mediation rather than through the courts, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today. Under a new protocol, agreed with the judiciary, all parties will be required to attend a mediation awareness ...
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News
Oversupply of lawyers to drive down costs, says Green
The oversupply of qualified lawyers denied entry to the profession has led to a ‘burgeoning body of paralegals’ that will have a profound effect on solicitors and barristers, former bar chairman Nick Green QC said last week. At a conference on legal education in London last ...
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News
Lloyds backs down on client account information
Lloyds Banking Group will no longer ask its conveyancing panel members to provide client account information, after the Law Society raised concerns with the lender over the risk of breaches of client confidentiality. The Society has advised firms that if any lender asks them for client ...
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News
QualitySolicitors opens 100 new branches and business brand
National legal brand QualitySolicitors opened 100 new branches today, the Gazette can reveal. The new member firms will take the total number of QS-branded branches to 175. Nottingham firm Wilson Browne and Cornwall firm Nalders are among the new joiners. Other ...
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News
Law Society sets out £394m justice system savings
The Law Society has today submitted proposals to government that would make savings of £394m in the justice system. The proposals would provide an alternative to the £350m cuts to the legal aid budget contained in the government’s consultation paper on legal aid reform. ...
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News
Client confidentiality fears over Lloyds request
A request by Lloyds Banking Group for members of its conveyancing panel to provide client account information has sparked fears that firms could be in breach of confidentiality rules. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said he was ‘urgently liaising’ with the group to clarify the ...
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News
Magistrates consider judicial review over court closures
Magistrates’ courts earmarked for closure are considering legal action against the Ministry of Justice, the Gazette has learned. The Magistrates Association (MA) has taken legal advice regarding a potential judicial review of the lord chancellor’s proposals for court closures. The controversial plans, ...
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News
Legal aid cuts ‘do little to protect public interest’, says bar regulator
The government’s proposals for legal aid reform have no positive regulatory impact and do little to protect or promote the public interest, according to the bar’s regulator. In its response to the green paper, the Bar Standards Board said the planned scope and eligibility cuts will ...
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News
Thousands respond to Ministry of Justice legal aid consultation
The Ministry of Justice received 5,000 responses to its consultation on legal aid cuts, Jonathan Djanogly told the Justice Committee this morning. The legal aid minister told the committee he could not discuss what the responses to the consultation, which closed on Monday, but said the ...
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News
Common sense needed in rape cases
The Crown Prosecution Service has just launched a consultation on guidance governing when individuals who retract allegations of rape or domestic violence should face prosecution. The interim guidance takes immediate effect. It follows a number of high-profile cases, in which women ...
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News
SRA streamlines staff levels in move towards risk-based regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to reduce its staff levels by 12.5% by the end of the year, in an organisational restructure announced today. The reduction in staff numbers forms part of the regulator’s transition to outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of alternative business structures, which ...
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News
Bar Council cautions against ‘DIY litigants’
The government’s ‘crude and brutal’ legal aid cuts will trigger a surge in ‘DIY litigants’ that risks ‘gridlock’ in the courts, the Bar Council has warned. Responding to the government’s consultation on legal aid, which closes today, the bar’s representative body said the cuts, which are ...
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News
Free national debt advice service set to close
The Financial Inclusion Fund’s (FIF) free national debt advice service is set to close after the government axed its £25m-a-year funding. Last month, the financial secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, confirmed that funding for the free face-to-face advice service, which has operated since 2005, will ...
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News
Government faces intense pressure over legal aid cuts
The government faced intense lobbying over its legal aid reforms this week, as the Law Society put forward a raft of alternative measures to preserve the legal aid budget, and the shadow legal aid minister warned that the government’s cuts will ‘destroy’ civil legal advice. The ...
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News
Is opposition to legal aid cuts gaining momentum?
There are now five days left before the consultation on the government’s proposed reforms to legal aid closes on 14 February, St Valentine’s Day. It is noticeable that in the last few weeks lobbying against the plans, which would see the scope of legal aid radically ...
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News
High Court ruling paves the way for patent attorneys
A High Court ruling has cleared the way for patent attorney litigators to conduct litigation in High Court cases. In what is believed to be the first judgment on the scope of patent attorney litigators’ rights, Mr Justice Lewison clarified that they are entitled to conduct ...
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News
Solicitors warned on stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes
Conveyancing solicitors are being pressured to become involved in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance schemes that cost the public purse around £35m, the Gazette has learned. To protect solicitors and help them challenge requests from clients or third parties to become involved in such schemes, ...
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News
Pro bono thrives in private practice
The value of pro bono work provided by private practice solicitors has reached £475m, according to Law Society research. The figure represents a 19% annual increase and is equivalent to an estimated 2% of the total gross income of private practice. The ...
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News
Supreme Court ruling puts children first in immigration cases
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the ‘best interests of the child’ at the centre of decision-making in immigration cases involving the deportation or removal of their parents. Giving judgment last week in the case of ZH, a Tanzanian woman who had made three failed ...