Headlines – Page 1521
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The politics of class struggle
There’s real irony in Alan Milburn’s report on Fair Access to the Professions. It reintroduces to the diversity debate a subject that is supposed to have been consigned to the dustbin of history (as Trotsky would certainly not have put it) by ‘third-way’ proselytisers like Milburn himself – class.
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Controversy continues over miners' claims
The work that solicitors have done under the mineworkers’ compensation scheme has attracted the attention of press, parliament and the public ever since details of wrongdoing began to emerge earlier this decade. But the debate has focused on two controversies: the millions of pounds that solicitors have earned, and the ...
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Law lords sit for the last time before moving to the Supreme Court
So farewell, then, law lords. The appellate committee of the House of Lords is sitting today for the last time in 133 years, hearing a short immigration appeal and then delivering seven judgments. On 1 October, the law lords will be transformed into the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
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Claims management regulator places blame firmly on solicitors
Law firms may be feeling the pain of the recession, but it seems business is booming for claims managers. As we report this week, a study by the claims management regulator, which sits in the Ministry of Justice, shows that the number of players moving into this market is increasing ...
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ITV and Lovells form pro bono partnership
ITV Legal has launched a new pro bono initiative with City firm Lovells as part of an innovative partnership programme with its panel law firms. The ITV Legal pro bono bank gives in-house lawyers at ITV the opportunity to take part in Lovells’ pro bono work. ...
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Bar Council accuses CPS of ‘Alice in Wonderland accounting’
The Bar Council accused the Crown Prosecution Service of ‘Alice in Wonderland accounting’ this week over the CPS’s claim to have saved millions using its own lawyers rather than external advocates. In its 2007/08 annual report, the CPS said it had saved £17.1m ...
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Claims management market booms with 60% rise in number of firms
The number of businesses entering the claims management market has risen by 60% in the past year, new figures show, while the industry’s regulator said solicitors were responsible for malpractice in personal injury claims-handling. The Claims Management Regulator’s 2009 impact assessment revealed that 2,885 businesses were ...
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Legal Services Commission asks crime lawyers to join assessment pilot
The Legal Services Commission has called for more criminal lawyers to take part in its scheme to test different methods of assessing advocacy, after too few practitioners signed up. Piloting of the Quality Assurance for Advocates (QAA) scheme began in February at Crown courts in Birmingham, ...
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SOCA ignores call to give lawyers feedback on money laundering reports
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) intends to reject a recommendation that it should provide solicitors and other professionals with feedback when they make suspicious activity reports (SARs), the Gazette has learned. A House of Lords committee last week asked SOCA to provide ‘increased levels of ...
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Miners’ MP seeks probe into compensation payouts
The new chair of the All-Party Coalfield Communities Group has called on the government to investigate whether wide variations in compensation paid to injured miners may be explained at least in part by bad advice from solicitors.
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Solicitors hit by HSBC bank charges on client accounts
HSBC, the world’s biggest bank, has taken a ‘commercial decision’ to introduce extra charges for solicitors which could add thousands of pounds to law firms’ banking bills, the Gazette has learned. The new policy, which applies specifically to solicitors, comes despite the fact that most client ...
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Hypothesising the hypothetical director: an unpredictable opponent
Two interesting questions have emerged as relevant since the institution of part 11, chapter 1, sections 260-264 of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 act). They concern: (i) whether derivative claims will now have a better prospect of obtaining permission to continue; and (ii) how the courts will approach the ...
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Lord Justice Goldring to become senior presiding judge
Lord Justice Goldring has been appointed senior presiding judge for England and Wales. Currently deputy senior presiding judge, Lord Justice Goldring will take on his new role from 1 January 2010. He will succeed Lord Justice Leveson, whose three-year term of office ...
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LSC delays tendering for civil legal aid contracts
The Legal Services Commission has delayed tendering for civil legal aid contracts by six months. The delay means that family solicitors will have to wait longer for the new rules which will ensure they are paid the same as barristers for advocacy work. ...
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Huge fines await regulators under LSB proposals
The Legal Services Board could punish non-compliant regulators with multi-million-pound fines if its proposals on enforcement, released today, are accepted. From January 2010, the LSB would be able to fine the Law Society up to £28m for non-compliance if its proposals come into force in their ...
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New Law Commission chairman appointed
Justice secretary Jack Straw (pictured) appointed Family Division High Court judge Sir James Munby on Saturday as chairman of the Law Commission for three years, until August 2012. Straw said he was confident Munby would be a valuable asset to the Law Commission and further enhance ...
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Apple iPhone app makers need legal advice, says Law Society
The Law Society has urged UK inventors of Apple iPhone applications to secure their intellectual property rights by seeking advice from a solicitor. Apple iPhone applications or 'apps' can be worth tens of thousands of pounds in revenue, and anyone with the PC skills and a ...
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Legal aid providers offered free business and financial management training
The Legal Services Commission has announced a series of free training sessions in business and financial management skills for legal aid providers, which will begin in the areas where best-value tendering is to be piloted. The LSC’s ‘provider readiness’ team has commissioned accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to create ...
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Does the new legal landscape level the playing field for legal execs?
by Diane Burleigh, chief executive of the Institute of Legal Executives More than 60 legal executives have been taken into partnership by their firms, ranging from large international practices to small niche high street and legal aid practices. This ability to appoint the best to the ...
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Practising certificate fee set to rise by 19%
The Law Society’s Council last week ‘reluctantly’ voted to increase the practising certificate (PC) fee by nearly a fifth. The 2010 fee will be £1,180, up from £995. The full contribution to the Compensation Fund will rise from £150 to £390. In ...