Headlines – Page 1461
-
News
First community advice network to open in East Yorkshire
The East Yorkshire Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has won the contract to run the country’s first Community Legal Advice Network (CLAN), in a partnership with local law firm Switalskis. The CLAN, funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), is ...
-
News
Client surveys: where’s the value?
There is a marketing ‘tick’ that appears in many firms when they have the marketing bug. It’s the tendency to spend time and effort on client surveys. But while discussing this with a client keen to proceed with them, I came to the conclusion: ‘Why should we bother?’
-
News
Litigation can cost more than just legal fees
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has become the latest corporation to toss the remnants of its reputation on to the scrapheap of litigation.
-
News
The Legal Services Board must properly research what it is about to do
In a week in which the Legal Services Board has issued another consultation on alternative business structures, I want to speak about the importance of good quality research before important policy proposals are made which may radically affect the legal services market.
-
News
Partnerships as a structure may be unable to compete with ABSs
Listening to the lively debate at PR firm Byfield Consultancy’s launch of a report into life after the Legal Services Act this week, I couldn’t help but muse on the term ‘alternative business structure’. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it is most firms’ business ...
-
News
Bar Standards Board opens door to joint practices
Barristers and solicitors will be able to go into practice together as a first step on the post-Clementi road, following a historic meeting of the Bar Standards Board last night. The board met to consider recommendations from its working group on alternative business structures to determine ...
-
News
Government: local authority mutual insurance companies
Pity really, everyone was having such a wonderful time. It was, as the saying goes, a swell party and one designed to save lots of money. But then, all of a sudden, there was a raid: the front door was kicked in, the music stopped and everyone had to go ...
-
News
Criminal procedure
Assumptions – Breath samples – Driving while over the limit – Newton hearings Thomas Goldsmith v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Lord Justice Sullivan, Mr Justice Openshaw): 4 November 2009 ...
-
News
Personal injury
Duty of care – Findings of fact – Football Andrew Kerr v GED Willis: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger (master of the rolls), Mr Justice Smith, Lord Justice Toulson): 4 November 2009 ...
-
News
The best advice on how to prepare for a legal services revolution
As firms begin to emerge from the recession in 2010, they may feel they want to get their breath back before tackling the next challenges that face them. But as any law firm consultant will tell you, now is the time to get lean, efficient and in shape to deal ...
-
News
Kiss and tell
Judges’ speeches are not generally known for their racy content. But an address by Mr Justice Eady to the University of Hertfordshire last week seemed to contain more sex than an average night at one of the university’s halls of residence.
-
News
Leaner is meaner
Who could have predicted that a few dodgy collateralised debt obligations would set in motion a train of events that would eventually lead to a shortage of junk food in City law firm offices?
-
News
Movember
Notice any similarities between these lawyers from Gerrards Cross firm BP Collins? Yes, they are all chaps in suits, but look harder. Sharp-eyed observers will note that they are all sporting various degrees of facial hair. A Buckinghamshire fashion trend, you wonder? Nope, along with menfolk across the globe (and ...
-
News
Solicitor laureate?
As if Obiter needed any convincing about the poetic abilities of Solicitors of the Supreme Court, Mike Redpath, a self-employed solicitor in Salisbury has – quite out of the blue – sent us this little topical ditty. ...
-
News
Lend us a hand
After completion some lenders require the mortgage deed to be deposited with the Land Registry (eg The Mortgage Works), while others require the mortgage deeds themselves (eg NatWest).
-
News
Who is really writing this blog?
All the other bloggers are revealing their true identities, so why shouldn’t I? Here goes: I only pretend to be a journalist working on the Gazette. All that stuff I write about employment law and personal injury and mental health and lawyers in local government. It’s not the real me.
-
News
Fee abomination
The payment of referral fees is an abomination which is destroying our profession. I am so pleased the Law Society’s Council has decided to call for their abolition.
-
News
What a waste
Mr Booth’s concerns and Mr Fenton’s response (letters, 12 November) highlight the real problem with HM Courts Service. It likes to dictate how things should be organised when alternative, local methods of working would be more appropriate.
-
News
Amending the Code by the back door
As your readers will be well aware, practising solicitors are currently bound by a Code of Conduct which runs to more than 200 pages. The code is being regularly amended, often making it very difficult for solicitors to know what regulatory rules they have to obey on any given occasion.