Headlines – Page 1128
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Firms risk missing PII deadline
Law firms that have yet to secure professional indemnity insurance (PII) face the prospect of missing the 1 October renewal deadline, a leading specialist broker has warned. Simon Lovat, divisional director for UIB, said his firm had more than 1,000 unsecured law practices on its books. ...
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Turning on the charm
If brevity be the soul of wit, then the winners of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) excellence awards got it right in short order. At the ceremony at the Law Society last week, the acceptance speeches were sometimes just one sentence long and gave ...
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You'll never walk alone
Never content to be bested by their Mancunian colleagues, lawyers in Liverpool have got together to organise the first Liverpool Legal Walk, on Thursday 4 October.
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Make that axe weep
Lawyers and staff at national firm Weightmans swapped the courtroom and office for the stage last week, as they rocked out at the firm’s first music gig. The event, dubbed ‘Weightstock’, saw staff from the firm’s Birmingham, Manchester and Dartford offices pack the Liverpool O2 ...
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Ferret frolics
After a truly memorable summer of sport, this was surely the pinnacle. No sooner had Team Gazette waved the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through London than we were on our way to another sporting spectacle: ferret racing. The ...
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Calling all motorheads
Obiter had a driving lesson this week – first time behind the wheel since a small mishap with a driving test somewhere in south Cambridge (1993). One incentive to start over – on a hill, in London rush hour – comes with the news that the ...
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Deadline for PC renewals
Practising certificate renewals for 2012 must be completed by 14 December, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced. The organisation says it has completed a programme of improvements to its IT infrastructure supporting online renewals and the application forms. In particular, firms will this year be able ...
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Insurers prepare for court fight on damages uplift
Insurers will go to the High Court next week seeking to overturn July’s landmark decision on increased damages. The Association of British Insurers has challenged the Court of Appeal’s ruling confirming a 10% uplift on all general damages from 1 April 2013.
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Complaints figures merely prove how good solicitors are
You can come out now, it’s safe to look. Monday was judgment day, when the Legal Ombudsman would finally get its way and publish complaints data on solicitors.
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‘Three ring’ promise from Co-op family law
Clients phoning the Co-operative’s new family law service will receive a response from a trained lawyer ‘within three rings’, a director of the service promised today. Jenny Beck, head of professional practice, said that telephone calls would be answered by trained lawyers, rather than ...
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Hillsborough investigation launched by SRA
The role and conduct of solicitors involved in legal proceedings following the 1989 Hillsborough disaster will be investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the regulator announced today. However it said it has yet to receive any formal complaints about the conduct of solicitors involved ...
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Co-op adds family law to shopping trolley
The march of supermarket brands into reserved legal services takes another forward step today with the official launch of Co-operative family law services. The mutual says it is publishing a customer service charter promising ‘no nasty surprises’ on fees as well as a jargon-free service that treats clients as individuals. ...
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London lawyers targeted in ‘high-risk’ sector tax clampdown
London lawyers are the target of a crackdown on tax evasion expected to yield £3m launched today by HM Revenue & Customs. The Capital’s legal profession is one of five ‘high-risk’ trade sectors that will come under the scrutiny of specialist tax inspectors, HMRC said. Teams ...
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The end of the age of innocence
I started my career as a criminal defence lawyer with the famous words of Viscount Sankey LC firmly in mind: 'Throughout the web of English criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen. No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must ...
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What should lawyers make of EBaccs?
What sort of education should lawyers want there to be in our schools? It is the perfect time to ask this, as changes to GCSEs - specifically the introduction of the ‘English Baccalaureate’ (EBacc) in six core subjects - are in part prompted by those who purport to speak for ...
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Tips on appearing before the court of justice
I assume that all lawyers have memories of the first time that they appeared in court: tongue-tied, hot and cold flushes, mistaking the judge for the usher, standing in the wrong place, unbidden words emerging in a strange order, asking for an illegal remedy, leafing through the wrong file.
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Complaints data naming law firms goes live today
The Legal Ombudsman has today published an online list of complaints relating to 770 law firms across England and Wales. The list shows the collated names of lawyers or law firms involved in complaints which have led to a formal decision by an ombudsman. It will ...
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Royal snaps expose more than just flesh
The publication of holiday snaps of the Duchess of Cambridge last week – with those images inevitably set to take a virtual tour of the globe thanks to the world wide web – have exposed more than just skin. What has been laid bare has been ...
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PC renewal to start on 1 November
The president of The Law Society has today written to solicitors explaining the process for renewing practising certificates in 2012/13, which will begin on 1 November. Lucy Scott-Moncrieff outlines steps that have been taken to make the process run smoothly following last year’s well-publicised disruption. ...
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Level playing field
I was concerned to read how the Law Society responded to the recent Ministry of Justice consultation paper on shared parenting. As a single father who has enjoyed equal (50%) shared access to my 11-year-old daughter for the past seven years, I know only too well how inconsistent the legal ...