Headlines – Page 1477
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MPs condemn 'serial litigant’ website
A website set up by an employment solicitor to enable lawyers to identify ‘serial litigants’ in employment cases has been ‘condemned’ in a parliamentary early day motion (EDM) signed by more than 40 MPs. The website, serial-litigants.com, uses records ...
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BRM Solicitors could repay up to £89,000 to former miners
Chesterfield firm BRM Solicitors could repay up to £89,000 to former miners after being taken to task by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for its handling of government compensation claims. BRM partner Peter James McGowan has appeared before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after admitting a number of ...
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Firm launches website for 'undersettled’ coal miner compensation claims
A Yorkshire firm has set up a new website to gather claims from former coal miners who believe that solicitors undersettled their original government compensation claims. The site, Minerscompensationclaims.com, was launched in December by nine-partner firm Jordans. The website aims to gather previously settled claims from ...
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Legal world comes to aid of Haitian survivors
Law firms around the world have offered financial and pro bono support to help survivors of the Haitian earthquake, while the Law Society has launched an appeal to gather donations. Chancery Lane has set up an online appeal which will aggregate money raised by the legal ...
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Lawyers unite to oppose further criminal legal aid cutbacks
The government has united solicitors and barristers in their opposition to proposals to make further cuts to criminal legal aid work. But as both sides seek a solution that protects their members’ interests, there are differences over the best way forward. The Bar Council and Criminal ...
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Recession fears leaves corporate and property lawyers overstretched
Corporate and property lawyers are being overstretched as firms remain fearful of a double-dip recession and refuse to recruit new staff to deal with an upturn in work, the Gazette has learned. At a national meeting of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), which represents lawyers from ...
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Conveyancing solicitors face higher bank charges over Registry portal
Conveyancing solicitors will face higher bank charges as a result of the Land Registry’s new electronic portal. On 31 March, Land Registry Direct, the means by which solicitors access the Land Registry’s e-business services, will be replaced by a new electronic platform. ...
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Website for blacklisted solicitors plans expansion
A website that blacklists solicitors and law firms is set to expand its capacity, with the number of visitors to the site now exceeding 1,000 a day, its owner claimed this week. Rick Kordowski, who runs solicitorsfromhell.co.uk, told the Gazette that he plans to expand the ...
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Firms feel the burden of SRA regulation
More than three-quarters of firms think the regulatory burden imposed on them by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority is excessive, research commissioned by the Law Society has shown. However, the study showed a high level of satisfaction with the SRA’s ethics helpline, and an understanding ...
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Is media access to the family courts endangering children?
Ministry of Justice research published this week found that since access by the media to the family courts was widened last April, relatively few journalists had taken the opportunity to attend hearings.
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Unpalatable answer
If referral fees are such a smart idea, why don’t barristers, accountants or chartered tax advisers permit them? The answer is unpalatable. Collectively, they have integrity and intelligence. Solicitors do not.
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Conflicting interests
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is consulting upon relaxing the rules on conflicts of interest for solicitors (see [2010] Gazette, 21 January).
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Unlevel playing field
Lord Justice Jackson is to be applauded for bringing forward proposals which will so clearly reduce the cost of litigation by providing a cap on success fees, non-recoverability of after-the-event insurance premiums, and fixed fees across the fast-track.
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Law firm ‘disarray’ over retirement proposals
Proposed changes to the mandatory retirement age would pose management challenges for law firms and throw succession plans into ‘disarray’, employment lawyers have warned. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published a series of proposals this week to allow people, including solicitors, ...
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Clampdown on mortgage fraud by lawyers saves lenders £15m
A campaign by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to target solicitors involved in property fraud has saved lenders £15-20m over the past nine months, the SRA claimed this week. Its inspectors have made emergency inspections of firms where property fraud was suspected and the SRA has given ...
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Love is in the air
As the worst night of the year for going out for dinner, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day, approaches on 14 February, lawyers might be interested to hear this little tale:
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Septuagenarian associates – coming to an office near you
Imagine you have won £6.5m. Even if you just tuck it under your mattress, that’s a cool £100,000 a year tax free for the next 65 years. You have an exquisite choice. You can kiss goodbye to the commute, the dark winter mornings...
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Law firms set up terror victim compensation scheme
The pro bono work of lawyers at two City firms has played a key role in the establishment of a new scheme to compensate British victims of terrorism abroad. Over the last three years, Lovells and Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) have been working on a scheme, ...
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Should we fear a European contract law?
The phrase ‘European contract law’ often sets alarm bells ringing in common law circles. Those bells will have begun shrieking in the relevant brains after the hearing before the parliament of the new EU commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding.
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Don’t stereotype your support staff
Tube journeys in London are a wonderfully varied experience. One minute you are chatting to a friendly tourist about where Harrods is, the next you are wondering if the enormous person who has parked themselves next to you has bought two tickets, to cater for the fact that they are ...