Headlines – Page 1361
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Downgrading of child protection
I was alarmed to learn of the government’s recent decision not to abolish the court fees payable by local authorities when commencing care proceedings. In his report following the Baby P case, Lord Laming called for these fees to be reviewed. A review followed which ...
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The legal needs of vulnerable clients
Lindsay Taylor’s experience of financial institutions’ ignorance of the difference between a lasting power of attorney and court order will be a familiar story to most solicitors specialising in elder and capacity law.
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Protecting clients of ABSs and traditional law firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority remains on course, subject to Legal Services Board approval, to license and regulate alternative business structures (ABSs) from 6 October 2011. I am aware that this is not what all solicitors want to hear. Concern has been expressed, in particular about whether ...
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Publicly funded legal advice gets a ringing endorsement
by Steve Hynes, director of the Legal Action Group In the wider media, legal aid is often demonised, with only two stories tending to predominate. Story one concerns the unworthy, scrounging recipients of legal aid – the clients. The latest high-profile variation on this theme concerns ...
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Do UK governments care about human rights in China?
If the government is serious about speaking up on human rights abuses in China, then it has left it too late. It was too late when David Cameron left for Beijing.
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Rail acquisition, energy listing, bank sale and telecoms loan
Rail thing: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised a private equity consortium comprising 3i Group, Star Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley on the consortium’s £2.1bn acquisition of HSBC’s train-leasing business Eversholt Rail Group. Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised HSBC. ...
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Surprise fall in solicitors' PII bill
Solicitors paid 11% less to insurers for professional indemnity insurance (PII) this year, official figures have revealed. The cost of insuring the profession on the open market in 2010 was £214m, down from £241m in 2009 and £226m in 2008. The fall occurred despite some solicitors ...
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'Solicitors from Hell' owner vows to persevere after another libel loss
The owner of solicitorsfromhell has vowed to keep the site going, despite losing the latest in a string of libel cases. In the High Court last week, London firm Brett Wilson forced site owner Rick Kordowski to make an undertaking to the court: not to publish ...
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Big majority backs free legal advice
More than eight out of 10 people believe civil legal advice should be free for people on average earnings or below. This conviction is consistent across all social classes, a nationwide opinion poll has found, raising fresh questions over the government’s mandate for swingeing legal aid cuts.
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Miners’ compensation claims website under investigation by MoJ
A no win, no fee website set up to farm former coal miners’ undersettlement claims is being investigated by the government claims regulator, the Gazette has learned. The Ministry of Justice is investigating justiceforminers.org.uk after Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham, complained to the claims ...
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Neuberger endorses accreditation scheme
The master of the rolls has given judicial backing to the proposed quality assurance for advocates (QAA) scheme, saying judges are the ‘ultimate consumers’ of advocacy services and are well placed to assess quality. Speaking at the Bar Council’s annual conference, Lord Neuberger defended the proposal ...
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ProcureCos could earn bar ‘millions’ in new work
The bar is in ‘rapid change mode’ and could secure ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ of work through its new ProcureCos, Nick Green QC told the bar’s annual conference. But the bar’s chairman said that despite a ‘jockeying for position’ with solicitors, the two professions would ...
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Virtual court pilot in ‘chaos’
Efforts by the Ministry of Justice to increase use of the virtual court at Camberwell Green magistrates’ court in London have led to ‘chaos’ because the court list is overloaded, criminal solicitors allege. For the last fortnight all overnight remands from the 20 London police ...
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GC100 rejects government's disclosure proposals
General counsel at Britain’s biggest companies have rejected government plans to force companies to disclose more information about corporate social responsibility and risk. The GC100, the association for general counsel and company secretaries in FTSE 100 companies, said the requirement might leave companies vulnerable to legal ...
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Judicial Appointments Commission survives quangos cull
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman will not fall victim to the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke (pictured) told parliament today that the two bodies will remain ...
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Consumer panel wants lawyers to undergo ‘regular MOT’
Lawyers would have to demonstrate at regular intervals that they are competent to practise under radical proposals from consumer watchdogs for beefing up quality. The Legal Services Consumer Panel has today called for the introduction of ‘periodic validation’ – a review of permission to practise after a fixed time – ...
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QualitySolicitors opens first ‘legal store’
National legal services brand QualitySolicitors today launched its first ‘legal store’ in a shopping centre in London, offering ‘instant wills while you shop’, and late evening and weekend opening. QualitySolicitors Freeman Harris, based in the Lewisham Shopping Centre, is one of 54 new franchises opened by ...
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Top-50 firms see revenues grow
Top-50 law firms have successfully grown their revenues in the first half of the financial year, figures released by firms this week suggest. Among City firms, Norton Rose posted a 9% rise in fee income for the six months ending 31 October, indicating fee income of ...
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New legal aid court challenge set to proceed
A High Court judge has refused an injunction that could have further delayed the start of the new mental health and public law legal aid contracts – but awarded a protective costs order to enable a legal challenge to the two Legal Services Commission tender processes.
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LSC facing court challenge over immigration contracts
The future of the Legal Service Commission’s new immigration and asylum contract could be in doubt after the High Court gave South Manchester Law Centre (SMLC) permission to challenge the outcome of the tender process. The law centre challenged the lawfulness of the tender process in ...