Headlines – Page 1028
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News
News in Brief
Old Bailey protest A demonstration to celebrate 64 years of legal aid and protest against the government’s proposed cuts will take place outside the Old Bailey on 30 July at 4.30pm. Organised by the Justice Alliance, it will hear from speakers including Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti and Shauneen Lambe from ...
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BLP, Travers Smith and Dentons post flat results
Revenue at Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) dropped 5% to £233m, as more City firms continued to post flat results for the financial year 2012-2013. Last year BLP, a key adviser for financial institutions, increased revenue by 7.4% to £246m. The firm has sought to cut staff costs by around 15% ...
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Merger talks reach record high as firms battle cuts
The number of law firms opting to merge has reached an all-time high as practices respond to the prospect of reduced income. Analysis by accountancy firm Wilkins Kennedy found 234 mergers involving UK law firms in the past year, up from 220 in the previous 12 months. The number of ...
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Healthcheck detects public unease at bar regulator 'bias'
Complainants to the Bar Standards Board have accused the regulator of bias in favour of barristers as dissatisfaction grows about transparency and openness. The BSB’s yearly healthcheck survey found increasing public unease about its complaints process, despite the number of complaints falling in the past year. At the board’s monthly ...
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Saunders is new DPP as job goes to insider
Alison Saunders will succeed Keir Starmer QC as director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service, the attorney general announced today. She joined the CPS in 1986, the year it was set up, and is the first DPP to be appointed from within the ranks of the prosecuting agency. ...
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CMCs ordered to show they comply with fee ban
More than 140 claims management companies (CMCs) are being asked to prove they have not breached the referral fee ban since April, the government has revealed. The Claims Management Regulation Unit, managed by the Ministry of Justice, has visited more than 450 companies across England and Wales since the ban ...
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Exclusive: 400,000 personal files stolen in court closure
Computer equipment storing more than 400,000 confidential court files was stolen from a court - and the theft only discovered months later when it appeared for sale on eBay, the Gazette can exclusively reveal. The network server, which contained personal details of victims and witnesses, was apparently stolen by a ...
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Jurors deny contempt for Facebook and Google use
Two former jurors have been charged with contempt after posting comments on Facebook and using Google for research. Attorney general Dominic Grieve personally brought the case against Kasim Davey, 21, in the High Court for allegedly posting on Facebook: ‘Wooow I wasn’t expecting to be in a jury deciding a ...
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APIL chief joins call for ban on incentives
The leader of the UK's biggest claimant representative group has said it is a 'mystery' why regulators have opted not to ban inducements for personal injury claims.
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MoJ proposes online scheme for asbestos victims
Victims of asbestos-related disease are to be offered a process for out-of-court compensation
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SRA approves £50-£350 charge scale for advocacy accreditation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has approved the fees that solicitors will be required to pay for accreditation under the controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). Fees are set for the four accreditation levels and solicitors will have to make payment on registration, on progression and when seeking reaccreditation. To ...
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Ombudsman tries to extend reach as job cuts loom
The Legal Ombudsman will next week set out plans for a voluntary scheme to cover unregulated parts of the legal sector. A discussion paper will be released just days after proposals to cut 10% of its staff were confirmed. The ombudsman told workers this week that 25 roles are being ...
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Challinors confirms appointment of administrator
Midlands firm Challinors has confirmed it has filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. The multi-service firm, with offices across the west and east Midlands, said in a statement today the move will protect its position pending a sale of the business. ‘This will allow an orderly transfer ...
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‘Corporation’ future considered for courts as government denies sell-off
An ‘independent public interest corporation’ may take over the ownership of courts and tribunals, the government revealed today. In a letter to judges on plans to reform HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the lord chancellor Chris Grayling, the lord chief justice Lord Judge and the senior president of tribunals ...
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PII renewals: just like Christmas
This week the staff asked when we are closing for Christmas. They want to make plans, and why not?
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Private equity investor in £4m probate deal
Private equity investor Smedvig Capital has confirmed it has pumped £4m into probate company Kings Court Trust..
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NewsMPs have hearts, too
The green shoots of recovery are at last peeping through the arid soil of austerity as one deserving group of public sector workers are promised an inflation-busting 9% pay rise just days before laying down tools for their six-week summer break. I refer, of course, to our members of parliament ...
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Whole life imprisonment breaches human rights, rules Strasbourg
The whole life imprisonment of murderer Jeremy Bamber and two other killers breaches their rights under article 3 of the European Convention, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case’s final judgment today. The three killers are subject to whole life orders, meaning they cannot be released other ...
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Society warns against jailing ‘reckless’ bankers
New criminal sanctions that would jail senior bankers for ‘reckless misconduct’ will not stop banks failing or help to promote economic growth, the Law Society said today. Chancery Lane’s warning comes as the government is accused of watering down proposals made last month by the parliamentary commission on banking standards. ...