All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 83
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News
Family lawyers left ‘in limbo’ by LSC
Legal aid lawyers have been ‘left in limbo’ by the Legal Services Commission’s continuing failure to announce the outcome of the family and social welfare tenders, practitioners said this week. Firms were originally due to find out the results of the bidding exercise last month, but ...
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MoJ unveils policy roadmap
The Ministry of Justice has published a structural reform plan (SRP), setting out key milestones and timescales for delivering policy. Justice secretary Ken Clarke listed his top five priorities as: sentencing reform; a ‘rehabilitation revolution’; reforming the courts and legal aid system; reform of the prison ...
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MoJ axes training grants for legal aid
The Ministry of Justice has axed a grant scheme that helped fund the training of the next generation of legal aid solicitors because there are ‘too many lawyers’ conducting legal aid work. Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly said the government would save £2.6m a year by ...
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News
MoJ to publish draft Defamation Bill
The Ministry of Justice has announced it will publish a draft Defamation Bill for consultation in the new year, with a view to introducing a bill in the next parliamentary session. Justice minister Lord McNally outlined the government’s plans to review the law on defamation to ...
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News
Scrapping HIPs has little impact on property market
The scrapping of home information packs (HIPs) has had only a ‘marginal’ impact on the beleaguered property market, solicitors said this week, as they predicted that the market will remain slow for the rest of the year. Communities secretary Eric Pickles, who axed the controversial sellers’ ...
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News
Courts Service failed to collect £1.3bn of fines
The Courts Service has failed to collect more than £1.3bn of fines and other penalties, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) published this week. The report on the financial management of the Ministry of Justice, which oversees HMCS, shows the amount of ...
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Call for 'international convention’ on parent relocation
A senior Court of Appeal judge has called for an international convention to establish a common approach in contested cases on the relocation of children, where one parent wishes to move abroad. Head of international family justice Lord Justice Thorpe said that English caselaw had consistently ...
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News
A third of 'trusted' immigration practices face closure
Nearly a third of ‘trusted’ immigration firms could face closure following the outcome of the Legal Services Commission’s bid round last week, solicitors’ groups have warned. Lawyers also foresaw more bad news ahead for civil legal aid practices as firms await the ‘crunch date’ of the ...
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News
SRA considers scrapping minimum trainee salaries
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to examine whether it should stop setting a minimum salary level for trainees as part of its overhaul of regulation, in a review that will begin this autumn. The regulator is also considering whether to freeze the current minimum salary level ...
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Solicitors vie for judicial office
The number of applications from solicitors for the role of civil district judge almost doubled in the last selection round, according to data published by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) last week. Of the 81 candidates recommended for appointment, 72% were solicitors, who make up 40% ...
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News
Government rules out appealing defence costs cap judgment
The Law Society has welcomed the government's decision not to appeal against Chancery Lane’s recent court victory in defeating the previous administration’s plans to make acquitted defendants pay most of the costs of their own defence. The Law Society challenged the policy introduced by the ...
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News
Refugee and Migrant Justice clients lose High Court bid
The High Court has rejected a bid to allow collapsed immigration advice charity Refugee and Migrant Justice to carry on representing its clients until their cases are transferred to other firms. Eight clients of RMJ, which went into administration last month, had sought a judicial review ...
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News
Exclusive: surge in merger activity as firms seek strength in numbers
Merger activity at small and medium-sized firms climbed by a third in the first half of 2010, according to new research published by the Law Consultancy Network in association with the Gazette. Three-quarters of firms surveyed said they had actively considered the option.
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News
Family lawyers warn against dangers of cost cutting
Family solicitors have welcomed the government’s aim of encouraging alternatives to court in its review of the family justice system, but warned the focus must not only be cost cutting. The Ministry of Justice launched a ‘comprehensive review’ of the family justice system last week, ...
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News
Lawyers warn that court closures could threaten access to justice
Lawyers have warned that government proposals to close nearly a third of the courts in England and Wales could threaten access to justice and increase pressure on legal aid practitioners. In a consultation launched last week, the Courts Service proposed shutting 157 out of 530 ...
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News
Lord Lester demands 'urgent action' on CFA 'scandal'
Libel reformer Lord Lester has called on the government to take ‘urgent action’ on the ‘scandal’ of 100% success fees charged by lawyers working on conditional fee agreements (CFAs) in defamation actions. The barrister and Liberal Democrat peer asked justice minister Lord McNally last week ...
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News
Cuts on the agenda of family justice review
The Ministry of Justice has launched a ‘comprehensive review’ of the family justice system, appointing a panel of experts to hear evidence on how the system can improve. However, the panel chair has admitted a principal catalyst for the review is the government’s desire to make spending cuts. ...
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News
Criminal justice - doing it better with less
In his first speech on criminal justice since taking office, justice secretary Ken Clarke yesterday laid out his plans for the reform of the courts, legal aid and sentencing.
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News
Inexperienced firms seek help for mental health work
Legal aid cuts have forced firms with no mental health experience to bid for mental health contracts – and they are now urgently seeking to poach staff to enable them to do the work, recruiters have told the Gazette. Toby Williamson, director at national recruiters G2 ...
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News
90% ‘would recommend their solicitor to a friend’
Nine out of 10 people would recommend their solicitor to a friend, according to independent research commissioned by the Law Society. Of 1,011 people questioned by research agency GfK NOP, 505 said they had a solicitor to whom they would go for advice on a legal ...