Headlines – Page 1454
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South Korea ‘high growth market’ opens up for UK firms
The Law Society is to run a trade mission to the ‘high growth market’ of South Korea this month, after the signing of an agreement to liberalise legal services opened the way for UK firms to seek new opportunities in the country.
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Cap on contingency fees comes into force
Regulations which will impose a 35% cap on contingency fees in employment cases were approved by the House of Commons and came into force this week. Solicitors lambasted the new rules as a ‘dog’s dinner’ which threatens access to justice. The ...
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Criminal defence firms fail to secure legal aid contracts beyond July 2010
Criminal solicitors have warned that a ‘cull’ of firms has begun after Legal Services Commission figures revealed that 5% of firms did not secure new contracts. The recent tender for criminal contracts ended with one in 20 firms failing to secure the right to do publicly ...
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Government abandons libel fee cut bid
The government this week ditched controversial plans to cap success fees paid to ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers in libel cases. Commons leader Harriet Harman said the legislation, which would have reduced the fees charged by lawyers who won defamation cases taken on under conditional ...
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Firms face bar competition after conduct rules relaxed
Changes to the barristers’ code of conduct that enable them to undertake work that was previously only open to solicitors will increase competition but give law firms the opportunity to pick up ‘talent from the bar’, according to consultants. Last week, the Legal Services Board approved ...
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English language test for foreign-qualified lawyers
Foreign-qualified lawyers seeking to practise in England and Wales will have to pass an English language test under new rules approved by the Legal Services Board last week. International applicants will have to pass the language test before being eligible to take the assessments required under ...
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Legal aid cuts will happen ‘under any government’, parties warn
The legal aid budget will face further cuts whoever wins the election, politicians from the three main parties warned last week. Legal aid minister Lord Bach, shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve QC and Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth all said new funding streams needed to ...
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Fate of Quinn Insurance hangs in the balance
More than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners could be left without professional indemnity insurance (PII) on Monday when the Irish High Court decides the fate of Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurance company that was forced into administration last week. Quinn covers around 10% of the solicitors’ PII insurance market. ...
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Fate of Quinn Insurance hangs in the balance
More than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners could be left without professional indemnity insurance (PII) on Monday when the Irish High Court decides the fate of Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurance company that was forced into administration last week. Quinn covers around 10% of the solicitors’ PII insurance market. ...
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Legal aid work at 1998 rates
This may make you laugh. I still do legal aid work. Child care. The rates have not gone up since 1998. Travelling and waiting, I am earning for the firm £32.45 per hour. Because I'm on the Children Panel I can charge an extra amount per hour, just under 5p.
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Property solicitors will need to adapt to a rapidly changing market
Property has been anything but ‘as safe as houses’ for solicitors who deal with residential conveyancing since the onset of the credit crunch. Their colleagues in the commercial property sector have encountered equally thin pickings. But, slowly and unevenly, both sectors of the property market are ...
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Local government: standards appraisal – what are the options?
In the acclaimed BBC comedy The Office, David Brent had rather a hard time trying to conduct an appraisal with Keith from accounts, who came across as a less-than-helpful appraisee. However, Standards for England (SFE) appeared to have less trouble with its appraisal of the local government standards framework, for ...
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Real property
Disclosure – Misrepresentation - Mortages – Spouses Jayne Hewett v First Plus Financial Group Plc: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Jacob, Leveson, Mr Justice Briggs): 24 March 2010 ...
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Social security
Accidents – Heart – Industrial injuries benefits – Personal injury Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v James Scullion: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Pill, Etherton, Aikens): 23 March 2010 ...
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Criminal procedure
Causation – Foreseeability – Joint enterprise – Jury directions R v (1) Reece Mendez (2) Seaon Thompson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Toulson, Mrs Justice Cox DBE, Judge Barker QC (Common Serjeant of London)): 22 March 2010 ...
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A&O is magic, right kids?
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is certainly doing well at attracting the graduates. The firm has just scooped not one but two graduate recruitment honours, from newspapers the Times and the Guardian. The Times Graduate Employer of Choice Award named A&O as the legal employer offering the best opportunities ...
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Playing the fool
As if anyone could have failed to notice, what with Radio 4’s ‘Shakespeare is French’ spoof and the Guardian’s story about Labour planning to orchestrate a Brown-Cameron punch-up to boost ratings, it was April Fool’s day last week. Though Obiter must point out that anyone who took the Gazette’s story ...
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Is honesty always the best policy? Sometimes
Politicians may be known for many things, but honesty isn’t normally one of them. So Obiter was intrigued by the disarming veracity of panel members at pro bono group LawWorks’ Question Time-style panel debate on legal aid last week. With Robin Knowles QC, LawWorks trustee, filling the David Dimbleby role, ...
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The next government must take a more measured approach to libel reforms
by Steven Heffer, head of media at Collyer Bristow and solicitor to Lawyers for Media Standards Over the past year, there has been an intensive press campaign pushing for radical reform of English libel Law. Barely a day goes by without another article by a concerned ...
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There are no votes in legal aid
‘The future holds few certainties for legal aid practitioners, whichever party forms the next government.’ Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. That observation, contained in the Gazette of 23 April 1997, eight days before the New Labour dawn, has become a truism. Still, ...