Headlines – Page 1337
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Profits rebound as legal firms slash overheads
Law firms are slowly rebuilding profitability and beginning to hire again, according to a respected annual bellwether of the sector’s financial health. Support staff numbers remain under pressure, however, and practices are bearing down heavily on non-salary overheads to boost the bottom line. ...
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Solicitors from Hell to face legal action
The Law Society is set to launch legal proceedings against the owner of Solicitors from Hell, the website that blacklists law firms and solicitors. Chancery Lane will seek two injunctions against the site and its owner Rick Kordowski: one on behalf of solicitors and firms named ...
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SRA urges solicitors to report rivals' malpractice
Solicitors are being urged to ring in and report any rival local firms they suspect of wrongdoing. The Solicitors Regulation Authority said doomed business plans drawn up by rogue firms are taking millions of pounds from the compensation fund, and ruining the reputation of the legal ...
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Mixed reaction to Theresa May's charging switch
Criminal law solicitors have given a cautious welcome to the home secretary’s decision to transfer charging powers from the Crown Prosecution Service to the police. Earlier this week, Theresa May outlined plans for what she called a ‘radical leap forward in policing’, aimed at reducing bureaucracy ...
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Pro bono lessons
I read with interest your leader. You are right to point out that reducing and, in some cases, removing public funding from legal services may create a pro bono default position. That said, the educational and social justice agendas involved in ...
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Lady Justice Hallett could become the first woman lord chief justice
Lady Justice Hallett’s handling of the London bombing inquests has done her chances of becoming the next lord chief justice no harm at all. There isn’t a vacancy, of course, and Lord Judge, who celebrates his 70th birthday next week, is on excellent form. ...
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Fixed fees could spark legal aid 'exodus', says top family lawyer
A leading family lawyer has warned that the new fixed fees regime for private family cases, which came into force this week, could lead to a ‘significant exodus’ of firms from family legal aid. Christina Blacklaws, Law Society Council member for child care, said the ...
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Insurer blames personal injury solicitors for whiplash claims
A leading UK insurer has blamed claimant personal injury solicitors for a rise in whiplash claims despite a fall in the number of collisions. Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, also suggested that law firms are partly responsible for spiralling motor insurance premiums. The Law Society has hit back at ...
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Sex discrimination case begins
A woman solicitor who alleges that her boss remarked she had ‘all the traits of a blonde’ and should find herself a rich husband has begun tribunal proceedings for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal. Kate Welch, who worked at Birkenhead firm Nadim Associates from 1 July ...
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No go logo?
Given the rate at which the government has been slashing the legal aid budget, one could be forgiven for thinking that there are no law firms left out there offering a legal aid service. And indeed, that assumption is precisely what the Legal Action Group ...
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Calendar cover up
It may be more than seven years since Helen Mirren and Julie Walters starred in the hit comedy Calendar Girls, but it is, it seems, the format that never dies. Solicitors at Black Country firm Waldrons are clearly fans of the film, having recently won ...
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Hanger Sanger
When Obiter first saw this photograph of Simon Sanger-Anderson, partner at Exeter firm Tozers, he naturally assumed that the firm’s lift must have been running slow and the impatient solicitor had decided not to waste another six-minute billing unit waiting for it. But it turns ...
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Targeting the judiciary
I was sorry to read of the recent death of the delightful judge Ann Goddard (pictured), writes ...
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NI solicitors withdraw services over legal aid dispute
Criminal solicitors in Northern Ireland have withdrawn their services in Crown court cases in a dispute over legal aid fees. Their action follows the introduction of a payment regime that solicitors say cuts the fees paid for Crown court work by 54% in real terms. ...
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Running in the family
Law Society president Linda Lee had the unusual pleasure this week of witnessing her own daughter, Gabrielle Maria Lee, admitted to the solicitors’ roll. While it is not often that a sitting president sees their own offspring admitted, it is not unprecedented, with former president ...
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News focus: sole practitioners face 'perfect storm'
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the sole practitioner appear greatly exaggerated. Despite their near-universal hostility to alternative business structures, delegates at last weekend’s SPG conference in Harrogate were surprisingly upbeat about the ‘perfect storm’ they must weather. ...
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Comparisons between doctors and lawyers are outdated
by Beth Wanono, the outgoing Law Society Council member for students and trainees Jonathan Goldsmith drew an analogy between lawyers and doctors in his optimistic piece ‘Solicitors pass medical’.
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Charges plans hardly take justice from Silent Witness back to Life On Mars
As Gazette online reported on Monday, the home secretary has announced plans for the power to decide charges for those suspected of crimes to be passed from the Crown Prosecution Service to the police in 80% of cases. Such plans, we are told, will save ...
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Our overhaul of client financial protection is key to long-term sustainability
It is little surprise that our recent announcement about the overhaul of client financial protection arrangements has attracted much interest and debate in the media and among clients, practitioners and insurers. Last month, following extensive engagement and consultation, we announced a staged approach to ...
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Coventry firm launches employment subscription scheme
A law firm has launched a subscription scheme to protect companies against the potentially ‘catastrophic’ costs arising from employment disputes. Coventry firm Band Hatton’s ‘Employment Protection Scheme’ (EPS) charges a set annual fee, which can be paid monthly to provide client businesses of all sizes with ...