Headlines – Page 1154
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Challenging the speed of change
A challenge has been laid down for solicitors firms. Ajaz Ahmed, co-founder of the award-winning Legal365, outlined what he believes firms need to do to compete in the changing legal services market. Speaking at the recent LawTech Camp London he urged: 'Reduce complexity; don’t sell law - sell solutions to ...
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High court slams means-test delays
The High Court has condemned the current system of means testing in magistrates’ court and called on the Ministry of Justice to take urgent action to cut ‘unacceptable’ delays. In a strongly worded judgment in relation to two European Arrest Warrant (EAW) cases, the president of ...
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Lawyers' paradise directive
There are around one million lawyers in Europe. If they all lived together in a single country, it would be more populous than three other EU member states (Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta). And of course the country’s name would be Paradise. I understand that the European Commission is ready to ...
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Three-way split for European patent court
A long battle over the jurisdiction and location of Europe’s new patent court appears to have been settled with a decision to split the court’s operations in three and separate it from the European Court of Justice. Ministers at last week’s Brussels summit agreed that the seat of the Unified ...
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In-house growing in appeal, says survey
Nearly two-thirds of private practice lawyers would consider moving in-house, according to research published today. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Law Department Study, responded to by 114 legal departments at companies in 17 countries, found that 53% had recruited lawyers during the first quarter ...
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Prisoners to be liable for victim surcharge
The government has outlined plans to fine all convicted criminals, including those jailed, to raise funds to help victims. It is already owed almost £600m in unpaid fines. The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, today announced plans to increase the amount paid by offenders to victims through ...
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Steer clear of CMCs, financial watchdog warns bank litigants
City regulator the Financial Services Authority has cautioned small business owners against using claims management companies (CMCs). The warning comes at the end of a damning report on the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products which highlighted banks’ ‘poor sales practices across a number of products’.
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20 sign up to composite form as PII renewal gets under way
The Law Society has published a list of brokers and insurers accepting its composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance as brokers warned solicitors to start sorting out cover early. So far brokers Aon, Bar Professions, Brunel, Giles Insurance, Hera Indemnity, Howden, Marsh, Prime Professions, QPI ...
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Land Registry promises fee cut after taking axe to costs
Land Registry fees will fall by an average of 10% next year thanks to savings made over the past five years, according to the agency’s latest annual report. However the registry said it could not say exactly which fees will be cut and by how much until a fees order ...
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FSA and banks buy time and credibility on swaps claims
City regulator the Financial Services Authority’s announcement that it has agreed with major banks the terms of a settlement ‘scheme’ to compensate business owners who were mis-sold interest rate swaps (IRS) products relieves some of the enormous pressure that the banks and the FSA itself has been under.
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Intellectual property
Patent - Petition for revocation - Obviousness Unilever plc v SC Johnson & Son Inc: Patents County Court (Judge Birss QC): 25 May 2012 The Patents County Court held that ...
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Ritual and animal welfare
The Halal Food Authority (HFA) is working to achieve agreement with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) over the rules governing the ritual slaughter of animals ahead of full implementation of new regulations. It is both important, and possible, to find a practical legal consensus here. ...
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Changes to council surveillance powers
Local authorities will soon face severe restrictions on their powers to undertake surveillance of citizens under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).
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The National Archives is recruiting volunteers to update the statute book
Ignorance of the law is, notoriously, no excuse. But the individual citizen has never had access to a free, up-to-date account of what the law is on any particular topic. Acts of parliament can be consulted in public libraries (if there are any left) but a printed copy is only ...
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A retrograde step: scrapping trainee minimum
Charles Plant, chair of the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, says that the trainee solicitors’ minimum salary was introduced by the Law Society in 1982 ‘to prevent exploitation and attract high-calibre entrants. However, there is little evidence that it meets these aims effectively’ (By the Book).
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Do the admin
I have been reading with interest about the trainee situation in law firms, including the minimum wage issues. I was a mature student who took an LLB honours degree with the Open University, while holding down a full-time legal secretarial position in a high street firm and bringing up three ...
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Cheap labour
I am astonished by Charles Plant's article. I became a trainee in September 1982 and was one of the first to benefit from the minimum salary, which was then about £3,000. This was at a time when it was difficult to find traineeships and I was ...
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Law centre stage
We were delighted by the recognition of pro bono work with law centres at the LawWorks pro bono awards, as reported by the Gazette. The prizes provided a good snapshot of the variety of ways of working pro bono: as individuals (Sheena Teli, North Kensington Law Centre), in-house groups (Virgin ...