Headlines – Page 1564
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Legal aid cuts ‘drive barristers away from family work’
The family bar is ‘close to breaking point’ as repeated legal aid cuts are driving experienced barristers away from their work, leaving vulnerable women and children at risk, according to a study, commissioned by the Bar Council and the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA). The Legal ...
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UK solicitors bear extra money-laundering burden, Hudson tells Parliament
The Law Society’s chief executive, Des Hudson, has told a parliamentary committee that solicitors in the UK bear a heavier burden of compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. In the first oral session before a House of Lords European ...
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Litigation funder seeks new cash injection
The only UK-listed third-party litigation funder is raising a further £35m which it said it needs as the market ‘heats up’. Juridica Investments, based in Guernsey, raised £80m when it launched on the Alternative Investment Market in December 2007, but said it now requires more capital, ...
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White & Case to cut up to 95 in London
US firm White & Case will cut between 80 and 95 fee-earners and support staff in London as part of plans to make 200 associates and 200 support staff redundant worldwide. The firm said today (10 March) that it is also undertaking an ‘evaluation of its ...
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Society to host emergency summit on family court media access
The Law Society is to host an emergency summit later this month to air concerns about opening family courts to the media. Under new rules proposed by justice secretary Jack Straw, the media will be able to attend all levels of family courts. Chancery Lane believes admission should only be ...
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Complaints need careful handling
Practitioners can be forgiven for feeling under the cosh on too many fronts – the recession/depression and the wave of new competition soon to be unleashed by the Legal Services Act are but two urgent challenges. Then, of course, there is the transition to a new system of regulation, which ...
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Government move to slash costs in defamation cases
New proposals to limit costs in defamation proceedings were published today by the Ministry of Justice. Mandatory cost-capping and limiting recoverable hourly rates are both being considered. The development comes amid mounting concern about the high cost of legal fees in defamation cases.
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Freedom of information - holding data for others
An Ofsted inspection is a worrying time for school staff, students and parents.
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Data page for February 2009
The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the Data Page for February 2009 below ...
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Election fever
Never mind Westminster: election fever is already mounting in Chancery Lane, with Monday’s deadline for council members to put themselves forward as candidate to be the Society’s next deputy vice-president. In theory, any council member can put themselves forward by submitting a 250-word ‘statement and disclosure ...
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Taking the biscuit
In case you don’t know, the difference between a cake and a biscuit is that a biscuit gets moist as it stales, while a cake dries. This is a vital distinction as, of course, it underpins Marks & Spencer’s long-running case against HMRC, claiming a rebate for an awful lot ...
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For whom the Bell tolls
In these risk-averse times, hats off to City firm Wedlake Bell for getting involved in the last great nautical challenge: circumnavigating Antarctica solo by oar power. Adventurer Olly Hicks reckons his 15,000-mile ‘Virgin Global Row’ (spot the other sponsor) will take between 18 and 24 ...
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What’s in a name?
Part of the great pub quiz tradition is thinking up a silly team name. Often in two seconds flat. Usually, it’s safe enough to go for the rude or insulting because no one outside the room will know, and in the room most people are a bit squiffy or being ...
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A certain vintage
It is a lunchtime glass of wine, she tells Obiter, that keeps 73-year-old legal secretary Angela Rogers going through the afternoon. She has been with Shropshire firm Wace Morgan since January 1960 – that’s 49 years! – and has seen many changes. ‘I have worked through the invention of ...
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South Africa is producing the best wine it has ever made
In South Africa, the political classes are mobilising for an April election. The frontrunner, Jacob Zuma, is beset by allegations of corruption, which he contests, while critics of his party, the ruling African National Congress, fear a wave of nationalisations in agriculture, mining and industry. Driving out of Cape Town ...
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'No evidence' for the decline in the quality of justice
Your news item headlined ‘Pushing novice advocates into court "harming justice"’ reported a number of comments made by the chairman of the criminal bar, Peter Lodder QC, in evidence to the Justice Committee (see [2009] Gazette, 12 February, 3).
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Covering our backs
Your correspondent Ian McLachlan believes that conveyancing is a ‘disorganised mess’ and he is probably correct (see [2009] Gazette, 19 February, 11). However, it is not a mess made by conveyancers. Clients and solicitors no longer trust each other, so everything has to be documented – even the ownership of ...
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Otiose requirements
I am utterly astonished by the content of Ian McLachlan’s letter. Yes, the public do want their homes to be transferred as quickly and cheaply as possible. For that to be achieved they are mainly dependent on money supply, and the needs and wishes of the ...