Headlines – Page 1082
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Harassment, sexism and progression
In the past week the Liberal Democrats, for whom I once worked, have started to investigate and confront the way that complaints of sexual harassment by party figures were dealt with in the past – announcing two independent inquiries, one QC-led, and co-operating with the Metropolitan police. ...
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SRA's assurances on enforcement under fire from super-regulator
The Solicitors Regulation Authority must focus more on performance and legal services consumers than on the theory of policy, an assessment by the Legal Services Board has found. The super-regulator said the SRA had achieved much since it was formed in 2007, but had yet to ...
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Three solicitors honoured for contribution to the law
Three solicitors and the chairman of the Bar Standards Board are among the eight honorary QCs appointed today in recognition of their contribution to the law outside courtrooms. Eileen Carroll, founder and deputy chief executive of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR); equal pay champion Stefan Cross and Edward ...
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Motoring metaphors break down
To BT’s plush auditorium in Newgate Street to hear Damian ‘two desks’ Green, one of our justice ministers, lecture on ‘Criminal justice reform – from justice delayed to justice delivered’. The event was hosted by thinktank Reform, best known for enthusing about private prisons, but ...
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Handing it to the bar
At last I have discovered why, back in the 1950s, barristers did not shake hands with their instructing solicitors. But then they didn’t have lunch with them either. That was known as ‘hugging the attorney’ and was a disciplinary offence.
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Grayling confirms worst fears with RTA Portal fee cuts
Fixed recoverable costs for RTA Portal claims up to £10,000 will be cut to £500, justice secretary Chris Grayling has confirmed. In a consultation response published today which will confirm the worst fears of the sector, the Ministry of Justice said fixed costs will be cut ...
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SRA sticks to its red tape agenda
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said today it has approved all 10 amendments to the Solicitors Handbook identified in its ‘red tape initiative’.
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Divorce-related legal complaints most common
Family law accounted for the highest number of complaints dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman last year, a report published today reveals. Of the 7,500 complaints resolved last year, 18% were about divorce or cases related to family law. Residential conveyancing generated the second highest percentage ...
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Profits up at Direct Line despite fall in referral fees
Direct Line, one of the UK’s biggest motor insurers, received £21.1m in referral fees from solicitors in 2012, it reported today. In its annual financial statement, the insurer said revenue from referral fees fell by 24% due to a reduction in non-fault claims volumes. The ...
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Future financial remedy proceedings
The recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Petrodel Resources Ltd v Prest [2012] EWCA Civ 1395, shocked the family law world. It has left many concerned about the potential effects it may have on future financial remedy proceedings, and some adamant that it has provided moneymakers with an ...
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Hundreds of lawyers attack secret trial plans
More than 700 lawyers have signed an open letter calling on the government to drop its ‘dangerous and unnecessary’ plans to extend closed material procedures (CMPs). The letter, published in today’s Daily Mail, says that the proposals for secret courts set out in the Justice and ...
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Slater & Gordon reveals UK profits
Australian firm Slater & Gordon has promised to expand operations in the UK after posting a £2.4m profit on UK revenues of £23m for its first full six months in this country. The firm, which acquired national personal injury firm Russell Jones & Walker in January last year, said the ...
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Coats gets key role at new Legal Aid Agency
Matthew Coats, chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, has been appointed to a key role at the new agency that will bring legal aid under the wing of the Ministry of Justice, the lord chancellor has announced.
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Pro bono pressure
My comments on complaints and the pressures of regulation seem to have hit the mark. Thank you for your responses. Strangely no one has written to say ‘let's have more regulation, audits, and KPIs’ or ‘let's make the complaints regime more onerous for us’. I don’t think that is because ...
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High Court told of Downing Street deal with insurers
The government and insurers negotiated a deal to cut personal injury legal costs in a series of emails prior to a summit at Downing Street, the High Court heard this morning. In its submission to a judicial review hearing, lawyers acting for the claimant lobby highlighted ...
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Valentine's Day massacre for PI sector
Lord Justice Elias was in full flow when the clerk stopped him mid-sentence. ‘I’m afraid the shorthand writer has disappeared,’ said the clerk, looking like a sous-chef who’d just informed Gordon Ramsey the salmon was off. It only added to the tension, as a packed Court ...
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Defining domicile
There has been much discussion in the press regarding the introduction of a statutory test for residence. The test is welcome and should provide a greater degree of certainty for clients in the context of their UK tax status. It should however be remembered that residence is not the only ...
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IBA should apologise
Last Monday’s story headlined ‘Sri Lanka bars lawyers’, quoting Shane Keenan and Mark Ellis of the International Bar Association, was misleading. Your publication is not to blame for the IBA’s crude attempt to castigate the Sri Lanka government when, in fact, the IBA should apologise for trying to sneak into ...
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Time to stop bashing Grayling
The continual jibes in the Gazette about poor Mr Grayling’s lack of legal qualifications and (ergo) his supposed unconcern for the rule of law are growing wearisome.