Headlines – Page 1064
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SRA moves to calm fears over indemnity insurer
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has sought to reassure hundreds of law firms using Balva for professional indemnity cover after the Latvian company was placed under new restrictions. The Financial Conduct Authority has updated its register following a decision by Latvian regulators to prohibit Balva from writing ...
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Conveyancers want more training to tackle fraud
Mortgage fraud and money laundering are the biggest risks facing conveyancers, but three-quarters of firms want more training to tackle them, according to research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In a thematic review of conveyancing, the regulator revealed that a quarter of 100 randomly selected firms ...
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Hoff colour
Obiter’s search for firms with names crying out for a merger continues to attract suggestions. Alice Biggar, trainee at Southampton firm Trethowans, notes that local firms Knight Polson and Watkins Ryder could merge to create Knight Ryder, with managing partner David Hasselhoff. (A noted Hollywood ...
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Human rights accession breakthrough
A ‘decisive’ breakthrough has been made in the 33-month-long negotiations on how the EU is to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. Negotiators for the EU and for the 47 Council of Europe signatories to the convention finalised a draft accession agreement on ...
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Chancery Lane wants voice at whiplash inquiry
The Law Society has demanded that solicitors’ voices are heard when MPs come to hear evidence on whiplash. The House of Commons transport select committee will invite witnesses to appear in parliament later this year having today closed the call for evidence. ...
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Reforms must work, family division head warns
‘Revolutionary’ reforms to the family justice system to speed up cases and cut costs must be made to work, the head of the Family Division has warned practitioners. In an update to the profession on the ‘revolutionary’ changes, Sir James Munby (pictured) noted the family justice ...
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To hear is to obey
Don’t clients sometimes drive you mad? Happily this won’t happen any more because they are no longer ‘clients’ but ‘consumers’. I am grateful to the people who responded to my last blog by pointing out the Legal Ombudsman’s site refers to them as consumers. I also note chief ombudsman Adam ...
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Cabinet Office to tackle ‘excessive complexity’ of legislation
The rule of law is among the victims of unnecessarily complex legislation, the government’s chief legislation-drafter warns today. In a report examining the causes of complexity, Richard Heaton, first parliamentary counsel and permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, says the ‘current degree of difficulty’ is neither ...
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Policing football matches: charges
The core authority in this area is Glasbrook Brothers Ltd v Glamorgan County Council [1925] AC 270.
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Arresting development
In the bad old days – which, for the purposes of argument, may be deemed to be the 1950s to the 1970s – justice may not have been certain but it was certainly swift. If he put his mind to it, an individual might appear and ...
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Legal Aid Agency plans for austere year
The Legal Aid Agency has set out its plan for coping with heavy budget cuts in the year ahead. In its first business plan, published today, the agency, which replaced the Legal Services Commission on 1 April, sets out its ambitions for 2013/14. ...
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Firms still failing to ask for client feedback, survey shows
Most law firms are failing to get proper feedback from clients after carrying out work for them, new research has found. A YouGov SixthSense survey of more than 2,000 adults found just 20% of those who had used law firms and solicitors in the last three ...
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Working with sign language interpreters
In our first article of the series we explored the complex nature of expert assessment of deaf clients. The use of an appropriate expert witness and the need for necessary adjustments to meet the individual needs of each deaf client were discussed. These adjustments are necessary to promote equity of ...
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Solicitor charged with fraud and money laundering
A solicitor has been charged with conspiracy to defraud UK investors of more than £5m. Solicitor Dale Walker of Kent firm Dale R Walker is one of eight men to have been charged by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with conspiracy to defraud contrary to common ...
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Growth in solicitor numbers goes into reverse
The authoritative annual snapshot of the legal profession in England and Wales shows a dip in both the number of firms and private practitioners. The Law Society's Annual Statistical Report, published today, also shows the number of admissions and training contracts down to the lowest ...
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Alumni networks make sense
There have been numerous instances in recent times of employees taking to public forums and expressing less-than-glowing opinions about their former employers - and even in some cases going so far as to write a book about them. Views on working conditions are - let’s face it - fairly common ...
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MPs throw out health and safety liability move
MPs have rejected a House of Lords amendment that sought to cancel out significant changes to 39-year-old health and safety legislation. The government wants to change Section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to remove the principle of strict liability and force ...
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SRA promises ‘reckless trading’ clampdown
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has promised tough action against failing firms that do not wind down efficiently, including putting conditions on the practising certificates of those responsible. SRA director Samantha Barass (pictured) told a conference on compliance today that the regulator is seeing increasing numbers of ...
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New entrants must have old principles, Townsend tells PI sector
Solicitors must not abandon their principles even if they are forming ventures with new entrants from outside the profession, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s chief executive said today. Antony Townsend (pictured) told the annual Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) conference that the sector was ‘complicated’ by ...