Headlines – Page 1330
-
News
Colombian lawyers under threat, report claims
Six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 defence lawyers were murdered in Colombia’s ‘judicial war’ between 2003 and 2009, a report by a delegation of British and international lawyers has claimed. The report, published last week, found that Colombian lawyers still live in constant fear of assassination, ...
-
News
Magistrates set garden bench-mark
Life may not be a bed of roses for magistrates just now, as the government’s programme of court closures gets under way, but the Magistrates’ Association demonstrated its appetite for growth with the Magistrates’ Garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The bloomin’ good garden, ...
-
News
Sparkes will fly
A Portsmouth solicitor is set to do a parachute jump next month to raise funds for Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where his friend, legal executive Kristy Richardson (pictured, jumping herself some years ago), is on the waiting list for a heart and lung transplant. Tim ...
-
News
Slaughtering the competition
Magic circle firm Slaughter & May is taking the defence of its Standard Chartered Great City Race title very seriously. The firm, which won the 5km corporate challenge in London last year, has entered a staggering 124 staff for the 2011 event, taking place on ...
-
News
Loadsa law
Judges often complain about the number of new laws being churned out these days, and figures compiled by legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell show why. In 2010, 14 new laws were passed for every working day, more than in any other year. ...
-
News
Profession must fight to the end to block unprecedented and shocking cuts to legal aid
by Patrick Allen, senior partner of Hodge Jones & Allen LLP, a firm which has dealt with legal aid cases for 33 years As we go to press, we await the delayed publication of the government’s plan for legal aid cuts.
-
News
Is lining the pockets of intermediaries the best way to safeguard access to justice?
What’s the difference between a bribe and a referral fee? Those solicitors who are the most vitriolic critics of referral fees fail to draw a distinction, as the Gazette’s postbag consistently testifies. One can see where they are coming from. ...
-
News
SRA approves scheme requiring advocates to be assessed by judges
The solicitors’ regulator has agreed to back proposals for a Quality Assurance Scheme despite some fears about how solicitors will be assessed. The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) yesterday endorsed plans to accredit advocates working in criminal cases. The scheme, ...
-
News
Work-based learning without training contract dubbed ‘success’ by SRA
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given a thumbs up to ‘work-based learning’ as a route to qualification without the need to secure a training contract after analysing the results of a two-year pilot scheme. A report on the pilot results, produced by Middlesex University, concluded ...
-
News
Use of a limited liability partnership as a fund vehicle
Recently clients asked me to consider using an LLP as an onshore vehicle for pooling funds for investment purposes. Perhaps I missed some research but I was unable to find any sensible writings on the use of an LLP for such a purpose. ...
-
News
Law firms maintain staff bonus levels
Some 91% of law firm bonus schemes have remained unchanged over the last 12 months, but personal injury firms are expected to buck this trend by reducing bonuses next year, a survey of 400 regional law firms by recruitment consultancy BCL Legal has found. Other key ...
-
News
Personal injury claims costs to rise despite reforms
Costs faced by the personal injury insurance industry are likely to rise despite government reforms of the system, according to a report by market analysts Datamonitor. The report found that insurers have little faith that litigation changes will see solicitors lower their fees. ...
-
News
Firms without CQS quality mark ‘risk being left behind’ - Society
As firms begin thinking about renewing their professional indemnity insurance, the Law Society has warned conveyancing solicitors to ignore its new Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) ‘at their risk’. Since the application process launched in January, almost 1000 firms have applied and 202 have ...
-
News
Claimants will miss out through CFA reforms, research suggests
Campaign groups have pleaded with the government to climb down over ‘no fee, no fee’ changes after publishing new research. A survey of recent claimants using the conditional fee arrangement (CFA) found that more half of respondents had an income below the national average of £25,000. ...
-
News
Law Society to intervene in Prudential privilege appeal
The Law Society has been granted permission to intervene in Prudential’s appeal to the Supreme Court to extend legal professional privilege (LPP) to accountants and others. LPP currently only applies to certain communications between lawyers and their clients, conferring absolute confidentiality so ...
-
News
The revolution behind the recent ECJ decision on notaries
The Law Society Gazette reported a few days ago that the European Court of Justice decided to open up the continental notaries’ profession to all nationalities. That is a big change. But it does not represent the real revolution behind ...
-
News
LSB publishes final referral fees decision
The Legal Services Board has dropped plans to force law firms to publish their referral fee arrangements on their websites, in its final decision on the regulation of referral fees published today. The LSB said it would no longer seek to prescribe the precise measures that ...
-
News
Legal aid faces threat of further cuts following rape backlash
The government is considering fresh legal aid cuts because Kenneth Clarke's politically maladroit remarks about rape sentencing have jeopardised its bid to save money by cutting the prison population, it has been suggested to the Gazette.
-
News
The row over civil costs will not be over any time soon
The apparent banning of Marmite from Denmark’s supermarket shelves was a golden opportunity for marketing chiefs. I’m pretty certain the reverberations of losing a few Krone will be more than offset by the presence of the Marmite brand in every news outlet for the last couple ...
-
News
PC fee expected to fall in 2011/12
Law firms and solicitors could see their regulatory fees slashed by almost a fifth this year. However, there is likely to be an increase in contributions to the compensation fund. Under SRA plans to be put before its board tomorrow, the individual ...