All articles by James Dean – Page 10
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News
Firms make applications to assigned risks pool
Some 409 firms applied to enter the assigned risks pool (ARP) on 1 October, the deadline for professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. The SRA said this is roughly the same number of deadline day applications as ...
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Paralegal forces removal of posting from solicitorsfromhell website
A London paralegal has forced the removal of a ‘malicious and inaccurate’ posting on the solicitorsfromhell.co.uk website after issuing a claim for defamation against the owner, the Gazette has learned. Max Campbell, a paralegal at McCormacks, spotted the posting on 1 September, which related to his ...
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Law firms fear school panel axe
Seventeen law firms signed up to advise local authorities on the Labour government’s lucrative school building project will soon learn whether or not their legal panel is to be scrapped. The Department for Education (DfE)’s £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project was abolished ...
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National Accident Helpline launches charter for panel firms
National Accident Helpline (NAH) has launched a customer charter for the solicitor firms on its panel, which it said will ‘offer new guarantees of the highest service standards to consumers accessing justice for personal injuries’. NAH, which refers personal injury claims to a panel of 105 ...
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Hundreds of Quinn firms yet to seek PII
More than half of the 1,900 sole practitioners who currently have professional indemnity insurance (PII) with Quinn Insurance have so far failed to apply to the broker attempting to find them alternative cover. The news comes after Danish insurer Alpha Insurance last week said that it ...
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Top law firms reject conflict rules change
Top City law firms have rejected ‘foolhardy’ proposals to change the conflict of interest rules put forward by the profession’s regulator, warning it against making ‘rushed changes’.
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Lib Dem peer attacks partners over tax avoidance
Some partners at certain magic circle law firms are still not paying their fair share of tax, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman claimed this week, after first raising the issue back in June. Lord Oakeshott said in the House of Lords then that, according to ‘a ...
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Young set to rule out TV ad ban for personal injury
Lord Young will not seek to ban TV advertising for personal injury work in his review of the ‘compensation culture’, but is expected to call for a strengthening of referral fee regulations. Sources close to Lord Young of Graffham’s review, due to report this month, ...
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Danish insurer enters PII market
A Danish insurance company has entered the solicitors professional indemnity insurance (PII) market to provide cover to small and medium-sized law firms, as the 1 October renewals deadline approaches. Copenhagen-based Alpha Insurance A/S will issue PII policies for firms of between one and 25 partners, in ...
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FSA underlines policyholder right to choose solicitor
The Financial Services Authority has ordered legal expenses insurers to prove to the regulator that they comply with European law that gives policyholders certain rights to choose their own solicitor. The FSA’s insurance sector director Ken Hogg warned insurers that, in light of a European Court ...
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The transatlantic gold rush
A spate of US/UK law firm mergers marks a scramble for position in a changing international legal market.
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Hammonds in talks on transatlantic merger
City firm Hammonds and US firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey are discussing a merger that would create a 1,300-lawyer transatlantic practice with combined revenues of more than £400m. In a statement released this afternoon, the firms said that they are ‘evaluating the possibility’ of a tie-up, ...
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Immigration cap will ‘strangle’ City law firms, Chancery Lane warns
The government’s plan to impose an annual cap on immigration will ‘strangle’ City law firms, the Law Society warned today. The cap will ‘severely restrict’ firms’ ability to conduct overseas work; prevent firms from attracting overseas lawyers and moving employees to London from their international offices; ...
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Indemnity insurer ‘breaking FSA rules’, says Chancery Lane
Insurers are breaching Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules by telling law firms to accept professional indemnity insurance (PII) quotes within seven days, the Law Society has said.
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Professional indemnity insurance boost for sole practitioners
Travelers, the second-largest professional indemnity insurer, has struck an exclusive agreement with Quinn’s former broker, Prime Professions, to offer cover to sole practitioners left in limbo by Quinn’s expected departure from the market. Quinn presently insures around 1,900 sole practitioners and about 1,000 small firms.
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Law firm found to have broken ABS rules
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that a law firm overstepped the rules on alternative business structures in an arrangement with an outsourcer. Publishing an investigation into the agreement between Bradford, Glasgow and Newcastle firm Optima Legal and outsourcing company Capita, the SRA said that ‘while ...
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Fox Hayes partners face £1m fine
Eight former partners of collapsed Leeds firm Fox Hayes have been held personally responsible for a fine of nearly £1m which was levied against the firm 18 months ago by the Financial Services Authority and remains unpaid. The upper financial services tribunal decided earlier this year ...
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Miners in court over alleged undersettlement of claims
The first known court actions against law firms for alleged undersettlement of sick coal miners’ government compensation claims began this morning. As first revealed by the Gazette in July, 18 cases will be heard today and tomorrow in Leeds County Court.
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Midlands merger creates £30m turnover practice
Birmingham firm Shakespeare Putsman and Nottingham firm Berryman will merge to create a Midlands practice with £30m in combined turnover. The firm will employ 440 people across the East and West Midlands. Shakespeare Putsman merged with Stratford firm Needham & James in ...
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Law Society opens PII helpline
The Law Society today opened its professional indemnity insurance (PII) helpline to help steer solicitors through this year’s renewals season. The Society said that the free helpline ‘will support solicitors having difficulties with professional indemnity insurance during the renewal period’. The Law ...