Headlines – Page 1093
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Cobbetts set to go into administration
National firm Cobbetts has announced it is seeking protection from creditors as a buyer is sought for the business.
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Thumbs up for DPAs
Legislation is expected in the first quarter of this year on deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs); and in view of the string of financial scandals in the wake of the economic crisis typified by the Libor scandal, not before time.
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Lord Judge ‘troubled’ by court camera plan
The lord chief justice has voiced opposition to the government’s plan to allow the filming of sentencing in the Crown court. Lord Judge said today he was ‘troubled by cameras swanning around court’. Appearing before the House of Lords constitution committee ...
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Butler-Sloss condemns advice cuts
Removing funding for a service that helps litigants in person on the day wide-ranging legal aid cuts take effect will create ‘absolute disarray’ in the courts, a former head of the family division has warned. The Citizens Advice Bureau at the Royal Courts of Justice assists ...
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Brand loyalty – and the ski-jacket owners’ club
Recently I was presenting the results of a mystery shopping campaign, and as commonly happens, the issues of capturing accurate contact details and inadequate follow-up were discussed. Two particular areas of weakness identified were the provision of contact information to the marketing team and failing to ...
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Survey paints gloomy picture of MoJ morale
Ministry of Justice staff lack confidence in the organisation’s leadership and ability to manage change, the civil service’s annual people survey has revealed. The results show that 28% of staff had confidence in senior management and 32% said the department is managed well. Less than a quarter (23%) of respondents ...
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Civil justice advisers condemn PI fixed fees as ‘unrealistic’
Fixed-fee proposals for personal injury work are unrealistic and should wait until at least 2014, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has advised. The independent advisory body chaired by the master of the rolls has told the government it should hold back from new costs plans before ...
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DWF rides to rescue of Cobbetts
National firm DWF has announced its intention to acquire troubled firm Cobbetts.
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Advocacy quality scheme set back to September
Introduction of the controversial quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA) has been delayed by nine months, the joint advocacy group (JAG) responsible for the scheme admitted today. Under the revised implementation timetable, published by the three legal regulators charged with designing QASA, a handbook on the ...
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Ombudsman predicts more cases as compensation limit rises
The Legal Ombudsman is expecting to increase the number of investigations it carries out under new powers coming in to force today. The new rules lift the ceiling on compensation awards from £30,000 to £50,000 and allow the ombudsman to accept complaints from prospective as ...
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Ask the staff
The annual civil service people survey is a great annual diversion, juxtaposing low levels of staff satisfaction and confidence in the Ministry of Justice’s leadership on the one hand, and hyper-positive confidence of senior management spin on the other. This year my colleague Catherine Baksi reported it as news - ...
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A dissenting Judge
Lord Judge, as we all know, has a wonderfully apt name. Not as good as the anaesthetist from Essex called Doctor De’ath but certainly enough to raise a smile. However that’s not the main reason why I’ll miss the Lord Chief Justice when he hangs up the gown and retires ...
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Call for care failings disclosure laws
NHS trusts and their lawyers should be forced by law to reveal when care providers have made serious mistakes, campaigners have said in the run-up to the report of the inquiry into alleged failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Peter Walsh, chief executive of ...
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Leniency for whistleblowing? This is not the NYPD
Call me a stooge if you like, but I reckon the Law Society is bang on the money with this one. Yesterday it emerged that Chancery Lane is opposed to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plan to offer whistleblowers leniency if they shop their partners in crime. ...
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Injunction
Conflict of laws – Foreign proceedings – Restraint of foreign proceedings Malhotra v Malhotra and another: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court: 30 October 2012 The claimant sought the continuation of ...
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A review of the 2012 changes to criminal law
Two major cases regarding case management were decided in 2012. In R (on the application of Drinkwater) v Solihull Magistrates’ Court [2012] EWHC 765 (Admin), the court had to consider whether a trial should be adjourned or go ahead in the absence of a defendant. Following the decision in R ...