Headlines – Page 1153
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News
Wills and probate company goes ABS
Birmingham wills and probate company Northwood Banks & Co has become the second company licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS) by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). The firm, which since 1987 has provided will writing and probate services, has now been licensed to ...
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Our work needs to be informed by the views practitioners
This is my last opportunity to write to the profession as president of the Law Society, so I shall use this column to thank all those who have supported me over the past year and to reflect on the issues that seem most important as I hand over to my ...
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Best of British?
The government’s reported decision to expunge understanding of the Human Rights Act from the Life in the UK Test for migrants resurrects the old trope about ‘what it means to be British’. It would seem to presuppose monarchist sympathies, at the very least, as applicants will ...
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Trust in Baldrick
In its struggle for survival in the face of successive and impending legal aid cuts, Hackney Community Law Centre has some stalwart allies. It hosted a reception in the House of Lords last week to thank its supporters. Two of its patrons, Lord Low of Dalston and the MP for ...
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Party line
Last week’s Law Society Summer Party at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone took place in what can only be described as London’s grandest conservatory. Any number of the great and good turned up, including Ken Clarke, whose cheerful insouciance amid a throng not universally well disposed to his policies can ...
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PC fee up 5%, Law Society council agrees
The Law Society council today approved a practising certificate fee increase of £16 for 2012/13. The fee for each solicitor will rise from £328 to £344. Individual Compensation Fund contributions rise from £60 to £92. The contribution for firms will increase from £722 to £1,340. ...
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Society advice on SRA diversity data
The Law Society has published a practice note to help firms and sole practitioners comply with regulatory new requirements to collect data on the diversity of their workforce. Data to be reported include job status and role as well as age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion ...
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SRA rule change will increase choice but harm consumer
Choice is a wonderful thing. Living near Olympic Park I can currently choose between looking at adverts for Coke or McDonalds. Neither is likely, I imagine, to boost my chances of qualification for the 2016 Games. But what if increased choice means increased access to harmful ...
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NHS reveals £1bn litigation bill
Spending by the NHS Litigation Authority on negligence claims has passed the £1bn mark for the first time. Annual accounts for the 2011/12 financial year show that £1.095bn was spent on clinical claims by NHS trusts, foundation trusts and primary care trusts in England. A further ...
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Solicitor shooting: man charged
A man appeared in court today charged with attempting to kill a Wiltshire solicitor. Michael Chudley, 62, from Rowde, Wiltshire, was also charged with threats to kill, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and carrying a firearm with criminal intent. At ...
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Merger mania continues as 22% of firms report tie-ups
Merger activity has remained strong among small and medium-sized firms, with nearly a quarter completing a merger in the past six months, research has revealed. The fifth in a series of six-monthly surveys of 50 law firms has shown that 22% had completed a merger in ...
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Simmons and Ashurst report higher profits
Simmons & Simmons and Ashurst have today become the latest top-100 firms to post robust trading results.
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A&O profits steady
More than 400 partners at Allen & Overy will earn at least £640,000 this year, the firm revealed as it kicked off the magic circle reporting season today. Allen & Overy’s results for the year ending 30 April show profits up by 7% to £486m on ...
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A lawyer should run Barclays
I think I have a solution to the crisis of confidence in our banks - starting with the current vacancy at Barclays, let us put lawyers at the helm of all the important ones. As what has gone awry in recent decades catches up with banks’ chief executives, do not ...
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Man shot in solicitors’ office
A man is in a life-threatening condition after a shooting at a solicitors’ office in Wiltshire. The victim suffered serious head injuries after a single shot was fired at Morris, Goddard and Ward in Devizes on Monday afternoon, a police statement said. He was airlifted to ...
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Profits leap at Clifford Chance
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance says it has defied market uncertainty to post a ‘strong performance’ for the last financial year. The firm today said that its 2011/12 profits leaped by 13% to £431m while revenues rose by 7% to £1.3bn. Profit per equity partner was ...
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Employment
Compensation - Unfair dismissal Konczak v BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd: Employment Appeal Tribunal: 3 May 2012 The Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed the employee's appeal against the employment tribunal's decision that ...