Headlines – Page 1121
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Standard bar contracts put back by three months
The introduction of standard contractual terms between barristers and solicitors has been delayed by three months to make sure all firms and chambers are prepared, the Bar Standards Board announced today. The new terms will now take effect from 31 January 2013. They had been previously ...
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Making things happen: lawyers or poets?
A recurring theme of my time at the International Bar Association (IBA) meeting in Dublin last week was the relationship between law and literature. It is appropriate that this should occur in Ireland, with its significant contribution to the English language canon.
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London legal jobs boom defies downturn
Employment in London in legal services is growing faster than any other financial or professional service, new figures have revealed. According to lobby group TheCityUK, the number of legal services employees in the City rose in the first half of 2012 by 3.3% to 118,700. The ...
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Holistic reform of the PI system
In less than six months the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) will come into force. A look back at the process which led to this makes me feel wholeheartedly that successful reform of the personal injury (PI) system has been scuppered by a hurried approach, a ...
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Direct Line hints at legal services plan
Insurance giant Direct Line has confirmed that it is considering setting up a legal services arm when it is spun off from current owner Royal Bank of Scotland. The revelation appears in a prospectus for a share flotation in the group, due to get under ...
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Trade in your rights, urges Osborne
Can there be a better example of doublethink than George Osborne’s continuing insistence that ‘we are all in this together’, and his espousal of a multi-tier system of employment rights? On Monday, the chancellor unveiled a working rights waiver plan that sets an alarming precedent – citizens will effectively be ...
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Justice minister: we’ll stop weekend courts pilot if critics are right
New justice minister Jeremy Wright today said the government would cancel plans for weekend court hearings if the trial proves to be unsuccessful. Wright, in his first public speech since joining the department last month, said it would be ‘crazy’ to pursue the policy nationwide if ...
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Equal civil marriage - death of spouse
A particular problem to be considered in drafting equal civil marriage legislation is the fact that whatever arrangements are made for the UK, same-sex marriages performed here will not be recognised in most countries of the world. In today’s highly mobile society, that potentially creates serious difficulties for same-sex couples. ...
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No more open chequebooks for expert witnesses, conference warned
Expert witnesses appearing for both sides in clinical negligence could become the norm, the former head of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) predicted yesterday. Steve Walker, who retired as chief executive of the NHSLA in August after 16 years, said solicitors must find ways to bring ...
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Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan
Legal professions across the UK have united to call for full public consultation on the government’s proposal to opt out of more than 130 EU criminal justice measures, including the European arrest warrant (EAW).
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Big brands are ABS-olutely unfabulous
What a curious week of news. We had Ed Miliband reinvent himself as electable, Obama somehow do the opposite and numerous ex-BBC staff claim to be horrified at the behaviour of an ex-colleague, despite never thinking to report it themselves. In the legal world, it was a week that on ...
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Immigration
Leave to remain - Appeal - Appellant being Turkish national KA (Turkey) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lord Justices Rix, Tomlinson and McFarlane): 12 September 2012 ...
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What kind of society do we want to be?
I read with some disgust the view expressed by Jonathan Davis in this column. If we are to follow his view then it is his position that is the intolerant and discriminatory attitude, and he may well ask ‘what kind of society are we…’ to ...
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Mortgagee problem
Surely it is about time the Land Registry devised a scheme to deal with slow or incompetent mortgagees who fail to discharge their registered interest following payment of redemption monies. The Registry is quick enough to refuse to process an application by a transferee and ...
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Legal aid delays
I have read the comments of Gareth Roberts about delays in payments of fees by the Legal Services Commission and the letter to the Gazette by Helen Riley calling his comments into question.
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Diversity checks
I was disappointed at the approach taken in your article of 21 September entitled ‘SRA planning surprise diversity swoops’ on our latest thematic supervision pilot on equality and diversity compliance.
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Kurds fight ‘flood’ of English solicitors
Lawyers in the oil-rich Kurdistan region of Iraq are threatening court action against English solicitors who they accuse of practising in the country without a licence. ‘Our members, 9,000 lawyers, have asked us to stop the flood of foreign lawyers,’ Wrya Saadi Ahmed (pictured), president of the Kurdish Bar Association, ...
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Society demands insurance reform
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has called for immediate reform of the insurance industry after a damning report by the Office of Fair Trading. The consumer watchdog last week reported the industry to the Competition Commission after finding that motorists are being charged too much after an accident. ...
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Rocket Lawyer ready for UK launch
One of the US’s biggest legal brands has confirmed it will enter the UK market from next month. Rocket Lawyer, which offers a do-it-yourself online template as well as referrals to a 25-firm panel, will go live from the end of November after a digital ...