Headlines – Page 1522
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Why legal disciplinary practices are off to a slow start
On the face of it, Nick Hanning, a legal executive from Dorset; Clint Evans, chief executive at City firm Barlow Lyde & Gilbert; and John Durcan, practice director at a large legal aid firm in Yorkshire, have little in common apart from their membership of the extended legal family.
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Fool's gold
The solicitors’ profession, punch-drunk and cynical, has learned to expect surprises from a government that does not always give the impression of liking lawyers very much.
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Wisdom of Solomons
Here’s a challenge for the chaps in spotty bow ties: how can we ‘sex up’ board meetings of the Solicitors Regulation Authority? The question actually came up at a board meeting last month – in the context, we hasten to add, of encouraging more members of the public to come ...
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Denby takes the biscuits
We were right when we bet that Gazette readers would find a longer-running lawsuit than the 13-year wrangle between Marks & Spencer and HMRC over VAT on biscuits (see [2009] Gazette, 26 February, 35). But we thought that the winner would be a matter of a year or two, or ...
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Smashing time
Sussex firm Griffith Smith Farrington Webb takes pride in offering a full range of legal services. But it draws the line at drive-in personal injury clients. So staff were relieved that nobody was hurt when an elderly lady lost control of her Toyota Yaris and arrived in the Hassocks ...
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Training contracts and the SRA's powers
Judging by the phone calls received by the SRA since the start of the recession, there is anxiety among trainees about their contracts and some employers are unsure about their responsibilities. Let me try to shed some light on the matter and explain the extent of our role.
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Should the AG have power of veto over arrests for war crimes?
After spending nearly 35 years as a public prosecutor, it can’t be very easy to switch from advising on what the law is to thinking about what it ought to be.
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Marking your card
The Home Office this week announced preferred suppliers of the first two big IT systems in its programme to create a national identity card. The contracts, which include a 10-year deal to create the national biometric information system, mark the first step towards making the card an everyday reality by ...
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Public recognition
The true source of Ken Gulati’s grief about public sector pay (see [2009] Gazette, Letters, 26 March, 11) is readily apparent from his own letter.
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Unfair punishment
Following an SRA spot check, the partners of my firm were advised of two minor infractions. More than six months later, and following a delay in the reissue of practising certificates, we were advised over the phone that we were to be reprimanded.
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Press intrusion
I read with horror your article and editorial in relation to the scheme to allow journalists access to family court proceedings.
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Criticism of CPS associate prosecutors is misplaced
Your correspondent Judith Mills (see [2009] Gazette, Letters, 26 March, 11) unfairly and inaccurately attacked the standard of Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors. I strongly refute her comments.
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EU threat to client money protection
Plans to enhance the security of client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts could be scuppered by an EU proposal to cap payouts following bank failures. The UK’s Financial Services Authority last week suggested increasing to £500,000 the upper limit of compensation for ‘temporary high balances’, ...
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LSC survey finds legal aid firms lacking in financial skills
Legal aid firms lack the financial expertise needed to meet the challenges presented by reforms such as best-value tendering, according to research published this week. A study of financial management skills carried out for the Legal Services Commission by management consultant Andrew Otterburn shows that fewer ...
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New cooling off rule could invalidate many personal injury CFAs
The government is to meet personal injury solicitors over concerns that new doorstep-selling regulations could invalidate many conditional fee agreements (CFAs) signed over the past six months. The new regime, the Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008, ...
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Appeal court warns against attempts to vary divorce settlements
The Court of Appeal has warned lawyers not to apply to vary the financial settlements of divorcees whose fortunes have been hit by the recession. In a strongly worded dismissal of an attempt by financier Brian Myerson to overturn a divorce agreement, three judges last week ...
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New rights for people trafficking victims in force in UK
Immigration lawyers have a new weapon in their armoury following the implementation of a European agreement to stamp out people trafficking.
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Firms face ‘legal exposure’ over cancelled contracts
Law firms risk ‘reputational damage and legal exposure’ as increasing numbers of firms seek to defer or cancel training contracts due to the recession, a leading employment lawyer has warned. City firms Denton Wilde Sapte and LG are the latest to ask their prospective September 2009 ...
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BSB obstructing Legal Services Act reforms, says solicitor
The Bar Standards Board is ‘single-handedly frustrating government policy’ by its tardiness in changing rules to permit barristers to join legal disciplinary practices (LDPs), according to a solicitor trying to set up a new-style partnership.
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Attorney general promotes diversity in the profession
The diversity agenda must be pushed forward but positive discrimination in the legal profession is not the answer, according to the attorney general, Lady Scotland. In an interview with the Gazette, Scotland said there is ‘clearly lots to do’. The profession must ‘consolidate the work we ...