Headlines – Page 1435
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Beg pardon?
Those dictation blunders have had Obiter chuckling once more this week. So many have popped into Obiter’s inbox, it’s a wonder there’s a secretary out there who still has a job.
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Going swimmingly
Well-known mental health and human rights solicitor Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is taking the plunge – again – and all in a good cause. Some of you may recall sponsoring Lucy when she swam the Hellespont in 2008. One of the subtle pleasures of the swim, she says, ...
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Come from a land down under?
‘London Calling to a faraway town,’ The Clash sang, we recall – the town in the present case being down under. The Gazette has received an unusual request from the producers of a new TV show about young Australians living in London. They are looking for an Aussie lawyer to ...
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Two assaults on press freedom have been defeated, but will anything change?
To anyone who follows parliamentary affairs, last week must have seemed a good one for the press. Potential threats to free speech melted away, not just once but twice. But I suspect that we are not much better off as a result.
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Delivering justice: The Law Society’s manifesto 2010
In 1835, at the opening of the Law Society’s hall in Chancery Lane, the Society was mandated by the profession to ‘make its complaints by petition, remonstrance and appeal to parliament, the bench and several other constituted authorities’. To this day, a great deal of ...
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The LSC fails to, or does not want to, understand its prime supplier base
by Andrew Caplenchair of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee Carolyn Regan, the chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, gave a speech at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on 9 February entitled ‘60 years of legal aid – next steps for reform’. It was ...
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Developments in RTA claims process and third-party litigation funding
There were significant developments at both ends of the litigation spectrum last week. The three-week delay in launching the new road traffic claims process might not seem much, but it gives law firms some breathing space to get to grips with the reams of new rules (the simpler the system, ...
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Easing the burden for immigration lawyers
I would like to clarify some important points in relation to last week’s story about immigration lawyers being unhappy over the new accreditation process (see [2010] Gazette, 25 February, 4).
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Conveyancing fee embarrassingly low
I have been asked to give an existing client a quotation for conveyancing costs. On a modest terraced property valued at £167,000, I quoted £600 plus VAT and disbursements.
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Time to resume training scheme
Social mobility for legal aid lawyers has relied on the availability of sponsored legal aid training contracts in recent years.
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Referral fees referendum
How ironic that the Office of Fair Trading appears from recent report on homebuying to be concerned about the effect of referral fees on the conveyancing market.
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ILEX consultation on CPS associate prosecutors
The Institute of Legal Executives is running a consultation exercise upon its application to become an approved regulator for Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors to undertake advocacy and litigation. So far, so good. The proposal is that unqualified CPS associate prosecutors assume the same powers as ...
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Referral fees ban will ‘drive business underground’, says CSC chair
Banning referral fees will harm the legal profession and have no effect on reducing law firms’ marketing costs, according to Darren Werth, the Claims Standards Council’s chair. Werth, managing director at Accident Advice Helpline, told delegates that it is ‘shocking’ that the Law Society and ...
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Claims management companies and law firms certain to merge
Claims management companies and law firms are certain to merge once they can form alternative business structures, conference delegates agreed. All 180 delegates who responded to a poll said that such mergers will happen after ABSs are allowed from October 2011. Delegates were mainly from CMCs, ...
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‘Big Brother’ to monitor RTA web portal
The government and insurance companies will act as ‘Big Brother’ over law firms and claims management companies, by monitoring data flowing through the new road traffic accident claims web portal and weeding out those abusing the system, it was alleged last week.
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Scots to vote on ‘Tesco law’
A last-ditch effort is under way to halt the Clementi-style liberalisation of Scotland’s legal services market. The 10,000-strong Law Society of Scotland is to vote on whether to reverse its policy of supporting external ownership of law firms and alternative business structures. ...
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Chancery Lane in China human rights protest
Lawyers in China are being detained on spurious charges and denied their right to legal representation, the Law Society’s international action team has warned. The volunteer team of human rights lawyers helped Law Society president Robert Heslett write four times to China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao ...
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Withers ‘in contempt’ of parliament over legal action threat
City firm Withers was ‘in contempt’ of parliament when it threatened an MP with legal action if he criticised one of its clients in the House of Commons, a parliamentary investigation found last week. But the report of the standards and privileges committee says no further ...
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Third-party funders to form association to oversee code of conduct
Third-party litigation funders are to form an industry association to oversee a new voluntary code of conduct, the Gazette can reveal. The moves – which have been under discussion for two years – were given impetus by the Jackson report’s recommendation that all funders sign up ...
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APIL slams government stance on asbestos claims
Personal injury lawyers have expressed disappointment over the government’s decision not to allow asbestos-related pleural plaques to be compensated. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers called the decision a ‘disappointing end to a long, drawn-out, consultation process’. The Ministry of Justice cited ...