Headlines – Page 1507
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Straw apologises for probation failings
The justice secretary has apologised to the families of the two murdered French students for the ‘serious failures across the criminal justice system’ that left one of the defendants free to kill when he should have been incarcerated. Dano Sonnex and Nigel farmer were found guilty ...
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Eagle promoted at Ministry of Justice
Junior minister Maria Eagle MP, a former solicitor, was today promoted by under-fire prime minister Gordon Brown. Eagle, a parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice since June 2007, was today appointed minister of state at the MoJ, one of several new ministerial ...
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Legal aid means testing to hit the Crown court in January
Defendants convicted in the Crown court will have to pay a contribution towards their legal expenses under government plans to redirect legal aid funds more appropriately. The announcement follows a consultation on the proposal to introduce means testing in the Crown court. Under the proposed scheme, ...
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Former justice minister cleared of code breach
Former justice minister Shahid Malik (pictured) has been cleared of breaching the ministerial code over a rental agreement. Malik stepped down last month while the prime minister’s independent adviser on the code, Sir Philip Mawer, examined the financial arrangements of a £100-a-week rent deal on a ...
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Law firms must adopt a mature attitude to age
During a recent speech to aspiring lawyers at the College of Law, Cherie Booth QC mentioned age and how ‘we’ have not got our heads around the issue.
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Marketing activity needs to complement legal services
I had the privilege of studying under Dr Shiv Mathur, former marketing guru at Cass Business School (he retired in 1997).
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Home Office plans big cuts in forensic science service
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) could cut up to 800 jobs in a move to make it more competitive. The Home Office confirmed the company, which is owned by the government and analyses crime scene evidence for the police, has begun a consultation with its staff ...
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Chancery Lane defers decision on compensation fund levy
The Law Society’s Council today deferred a final decision on the level of this year’s compensation fund levy until its next monthly meeting in July. Society president Paul Marsh said this was to accommodate further discussion with the SRA on the matter. Papers for today’s meeting ...
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Law lords ruling on control orders ‘turning point’ on secret evidence
The House of Lords today ruled that three terror suspects have been denied a ‘fair’ trial because they have not been told about, or allowed to challenge, the secret intelligence evidence against them. The suspects, who cannot be named, have been subject to control orders for ...
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Most students do not understand the reality of a legal career
by Beth Wanonowho is a trainee at Halliwells and a member (elect) of the Law Society Council. There is a difference between a crunch and a squeeze. My impression of the trainee market is that the situation is akin to 10,000 people trying to cram onto ...
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SRA appoints 16-strong panel to work on its actions
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today appointed 16 law firms and solicitor-advocates to work on its disciplinary and regulatory actions.
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The reporting season has started - but only up to a point
At the dawn of this year’s financial reporting season, it appears that the UK’s top corporate law firms have become a little coy. Of the four major firms that have announced results so far, not one has released figures for all three key financial performance indicators: revenue, profit, and profit ...
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Virtual courts – justice on the cheap?
Since 2006, ‘simple, speedy, summary’ justice has been the mantra of successive justice secretaries and at the heart of the government’s reforms to ‘rebalance the criminal justice system and increase public confidence’.
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Speak out on best value tendering, solicitors urged
The Law Society has called on members to respond to the government’s consultation on the introduction of best value tendering (BVT). Chancery Lane has warned that the Legal Services Commission’s plans, which will require firms to bid against each other to win contracts for legal aid ...
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Posting the case for email
Post has a reassuring quality. You can see it before you sign it, think about it a bit more before approving it, and have a printed copy on your file for ease of reference.
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Compensation fund
I see from your story ‘Compensation fund levy set to treble?’ that the SRA is trying to justify a large increase on the basis that, if the Law Society had accepted their advice last year, the rise would have been less this year (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).
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Justice before costs
I am writing in response to the preliminary report of Lord Justice Jackson concerning civil costs reform. I act exclusively for claimants, mostly injured in work accidents.
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Soft targets
Here we go again. A couple of years ago, it was ‘fat cat’ legal aid lawyers. Now our justice secretary is setting his sights on ‘irresponsible’ employment lawyers (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).
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Radical changes on costs will transform many aspects of civil litigation
by Peter Smith, managing director of FirstAssist Legal Protection Whatever the outcome of the final report, due at the end of the year, there is little doubt that the review of the civil justice costs regime being conducted by Lord Justice Jackson will transform many aspects ...