Headlines – Page 1306
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News
Comforting thought
Thank you for Roger Smith’s report on the International Legal Aid Group’s meeting in Helsinki. It is so comforting to see that those of us in England and Wales who are supportive of legal aid here are not totally misguided. Thanks to Roger also for ...
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Spot the difference
The letter from Timothy Simkins is timely, apt and hopefully will focus minds. As an extension to the debate, can anyone differentiate between the payment of referral fees to motor insurance companies and similar payments to estate agents? Gordon ...
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Advertise the halo
Regarding Mr Simkins' letter, my firm does not pay referral fees either. But I doubt you can go about banning things just because you disagree with them. Besides, a referral fee is just outsourced marketing with payment by results. Is it just the marketing you want ...
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No complaints
I was very pleased to read the comments of Dianne Hayter about client complaints in the article 'Hayter: solicitors "in denial"'. She says that if the person running Sainsbury's was told the customers were complaining they would take it very seriously.She is entirely correct. I ...
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Clyde & Co and BLG give merger details
Management at City firms Clyde & Co and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert have revealed details of their forthcoming merger after partners gave their backing last week. The combined firm will be called Clyde & Co, and will have 270 partners, more than 1,250 fee earners and ...
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E-petitions are dangerous and pointless – so why bother with them?
Winston Churchill once claimed that the best argument against democracy was a five-minute conversation with the average voter. One look at the terrifying e-petition website, and the old boy would doubtless have choked on his brandy in horror. What a Pandora’s box ...
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CJC to set up working party on civil costs reforms
A working party is being put together by the Civil Justice Council (CJC) to examine the technicalities of civil litigation reform. Experts will attempt to thrash out practical proposals to follow up on measures planned by the government following the review of litigation costs by Lord ...
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Claimant lawyers warn over health and safety review
Ministers have been warned they risk inviting a raft of claims by loosening health and safety legislation. Consultation closed last week on the Department for Work and Pensions review of workplace rules, with the results to be published in the autumn. Employment ...
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Colombia dubbed ‘the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’
The South American state of Colombia is fast becoming the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’, the Law Society warned this week. Recently released figures reveal that six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 other lawyers were murdered there between 2003 and 2009.
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Columbia dubbed ‘the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’
The South American state of Colombia is fast becoming the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’, the Law Society warned this week. Recently released figures reveal that six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 other lawyers were murdered there between 2003 and 2009.
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Columbia dubbed ‘the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’
The South American state of Colombia is fast becoming the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’, the Law Society warned this week. Recently released figures reveal that six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 other lawyers were murdered there between 2003 and 2009.
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News
Columbia dubbed ‘the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’
The South American state of Colombia is fast becoming the ‘lawyer murder capital of the world’, the Law Society warned this week. Recently released figures reveal that six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 other lawyers were murdered there between 2003 and 2009.
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Ministers are deaf to reason on legal aid
Time and again government ministers say they are listening when it comes to formulating policy in an environment of austerity. At a press conference on the day that the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill was published, the prime minister David Cameron said ...
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Legal aid lawyers band together to lobby government
Lawyers’ groups have come together in an informal coalition to lobby the government over its legal aid and civil costs reforms, which they claim will ‘threaten the entire legal advice network’. Groups including the Law Society, Bar Council, Legal Action Group, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, ...
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Solicitors fined £20,000 for sending intimidating letters
Two London solicitors have been fined and suspended for three months by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for sending intimidating letters accusing people of illegal filesharing. David Gore, a current partner at Davenport Lyons, and Brian Miller, a former partner at the same firm, were found guilty ...
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Will solicitors want to disclose their diversity information?
The publication of magic circle firm Linklaters’ diversity statistics last week was made all the more interesting by the fact that the Legal Services Board has just laid down in statutory guidance its expectation that all firms will need to be publishing similar information by 2012. ...
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MoJ clamps down on ‘rogue’ CMCs
The Ministry of Justice shut down nearly 350 rogue claims management companies over the last year, according to statistics released last week. In 2010/11, 349 unauthorised or unscrupulous firms were closed as the ministry clamped down on the exploitation of vulnerable consumers, compared to just 35 ...
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A struggle between the European courts and EU governments
A year ago, I wrote about the problems facing the European courts. These have not been resolved, and now there is an increasing dispute between the courts and the member states over whether the number of judges should be increased.
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Newspapers warned against prejudicing trials
Newspapers have been warned they risk impeding the course of justice if they vilify a suspect who is under arrest. The Sun and Daily Mirror were today both found to have breached the Contempt of Court Act 1981 through their reporting of the investigation into the ...
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Law for All blames bureaucracy burden for closure
The UK’s largest not-for-profit social welfare law firm has blamed legal aid cuts and the ‘burden’ of the Legal Services Commission’s bureaucracy for its demise. Law For All, which advised 15,000 clients a year in three London boroughs, East Anglia and the Midlands, went into administration ...