Headlines – Page 1390
-
News
RTA claims portal ‘loophole’
The chairman of the steering group overseeing the launch of the road traffic accident (RTA) claims portal has played down concerns from claimant lawyers that insurers are using a loophole to delay paying claims.
-
News
Call to give Economic Crime Agency US-style powers
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pressuring ministers to ensure that tougher US-style powers are available to the new Economic Crime Agency (ECA) once it is formed, the Gazette has learned. The Gazette understands that the SFO, which would be wholly subsumed by and form the ...
-
News
Top firms gear up for private investors
Two of the UK’s top-30 law firms are putting formal arrangements in place to take on private capital next year, the Gazette has learned. Jane Galvin, head of professional services at Barclays Corporate, said in an interview with the Gazette this week that two ‘brave souls’ ...
-
News
LSC chief: family tender outcome 'unintentional'
The Legal Services Commission did not intend the outcome of the recent family tender which saw a 46% fall in the number of providers, its chief executive told the Gazette this week in her first press interview since her appointment. Carolyn Downs (pictured), a career civil ...
-
News
Legal bidding website launched
A new website that provides a forum where law firms can bid for legal work launched last week. The site, bid4fees.com, provides an online platform for prospective clients to confidentially list their legal problems and find a lawyer to advise them. ...
-
News
Chartis delivers professional indemnity insurance blow
The UK’s largest professional indemnity insurer does not have an ‘appetite’ to take on new law firms with fewer than 10 partners, it told the Gazette this week. Chartis, previously AIG, which had a 15% share of the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market last year, ...
-
News
New governments mean new marketing opportunities for law firms
Whatever your political views, there’s no doubt that a new government can provide excellent marketing opportunities for law firms – particularly those firms that like to keep their clients up to date with the latest legal developments.
-
News
Do concerns over rule of law in the Maldives signal trouble in paradise?
A crisis is brewing in the paradise islands of the Maldives.
-
News
Pleural plaques compensation scheme opens
Pleural plaques victims frustrated by a 2007 House of Lords decision on compensation can now claim £5,000 from the government if they lodged a claim before the ruling. The Pleural Plaques Former Claimants Payment Scheme opened yesterday for applications, which must be lodged before 1 August ...
-
News
Consumer contracts - we need an independent ombudsman
It’s not realistic for consumers to seek redress in the courts for unfair contract terms, says Dr Olufemi Amao. We need an independent ombudsman scheme Since the introduction of the Unfair Terms in Consumer ...
-
News
Helping the criminal suspect: the letter of rights
I am in Colorado at the moment, and so you will forgive me if I again use cowboy metaphors to describe the latest actions of commissioner Reding. She has come riding down into the canyon (and there are plenty of those in Colorado), lassoed the horse rustling member states ...
-
News
APIL urges government to tighten grip on claims management companies
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has called on Lord Young to recommend tighter regulation of claims management companies (CMCs) as part of his review of health and safety laws. Senior figures from APIL held a face-to-face meeting with Lord Young of Graffham to offer advice ...
-
News
Will LPO pose a threat to junior lawyers?
So the latest news on private equity investment in law firms is that, as far as the City firms are concerned at least, the investors have gone cold.
-
News
Solicitors ‘delaying’ conveyances due to staff shortages
Staff shortages at conveyancing firms are slowing down property transactions, according to a prominent estate agent and former anti-home information pack campaigner. Nick Salmon, commercial director of independent estate agents Harrison Murray who founded anti-HIP group Splinta, told the Gazette that ‘understaffed’ firms are struggling ...
-
News
Solicitors welcome ruling on asylum deportations
The Law Society has welcomed the High Court’s ruling that the fast-track deportation of foreign nationals, which did not allow enough time for them to seek legal advice, is unlawful. In January 2010, the Home Office widened its policy of waiving the usual 72-hour notice ...
-
News
Civil procedure
Costs – Human rights – Demonstrations Rebecca Hall and Others v Mayor of London (on behalf of the Greater London Authority): CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master of the Rolls, Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Stanley Burton): ...
-
News
Information law: the future
The coalition government has announced a series of legislative proposals and initiatives which will have a big impact on information law. David Cameron has said he wants to rip off the ‘cloak of secrecy’ around government and public services and extend transparency as far as possible.
-
News
Employment and age-old problem
I was very upset to read the letter, titled 'Too old for the legal profession', in which a 59-year-old solicitor said he had been told that he is on the ‘scrapheap’ and unemployable. What on earth are firms thinking? What a fantastic opportunity to employ someone who is likely to ...
-
News
Conveyancing panel concerns
Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it is to remove from its conveyancing panel those firms that carry out a low volume of mortgage work over a rolling 12-month period. Does that mean that Lloyds no longer wishes to look after our low-volume client and office ...