All articles by James Dean – Page 11
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Terror laws overused by police, research suggests
Less than 4% of people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 were convicted of terrorism-related offences in 2009, new research has found. Just eight people were convicted out of 207 arrests made under the act in 2009, according to Home Office statistics analysed by legal information ...
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Baker & McKenzie reports profits boost
The London office of US and City firm Baker & McKenzie has upped its partner profits by more than half, the firm reported yesterday. Average profits per equity partner (PEP) shot up 56% to £650,000 for the year ending 30 June 2010, from £418,000 for the ...
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How cost-cutting has yielded results at Baker & McKenzie
How do you conjure up £78,000 more pay for each of your equity partners without generating any more income than you did previously? Well, for a start, try asking the guys in Baker & McKenzie’s London office for a lesson in cost-cutting.
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Gazette survey on firms’ recovery from recession
The Gazette is asking solicitors to participate in a survey about how law firms are recovering from the economic crisis. In association with the Gazette, Wesleyan for Lawyers, part of a financial services mutual, is conducting a profession-wide survey examining how the financial crisis has ...
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Advocates to face tougher regulation under new proposals
Solicitor-advocates and barristers could be forced to work for longer in the lower courts before being granted higher court rights, under proposals put forward by the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG). At present, solicitors can appear in the higher courts after completing the Higher Rights of Audience ...
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Irish solicitors take court action over transfer rights
Irish solicitors have taken the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Legal Services Board to court over the regulators’ decision to take away their automatic right to practise in England and Wales. According to reports in Ireland’s Sunday Business Post, the Irish Law Society has issued High Court ...
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Firm oversteps ABS rules in outsourcing deal
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that Bradford, Glasgow and Newcastle firm Optima Legal overstepped the rules on alternative business structures (ABSs) in an arrangement with outsourcer Capita. Publishing an investigation into the agreement, the SRA said that ‘while Optima Legal’s original outsourcing and funding arrangements ...
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MoJ to slash £2bn from its budget
The Ministry of Justice will slash £2bn from its £9bn budget in order to meet government spending targets, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has claimed. Citing a letter understood to have been circulated to MoJ senior staff today, the PCS estimated that around 15,000 ...
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Act fast to avoid PII misery
It’s not a sexy subject, and it’s not particularly fun to write a stream of gloomy reports on it, but solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) is a hot topic for the profession. We are exactly eight weeks from the 1 October renewals deadline and there is already plenty to ponder.
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Top firms gear up for private investors
Two of the UK’s top-30 law firms are putting formal arrangements in place to take on private capital next year, the Gazette has learned. Jane Galvin, head of professional services at Barclays Corporate, said in an interview with the Gazette this week that two ‘brave souls’ ...
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RTA claims portal ‘loophole’
The chairman of the steering group overseeing the launch of the road traffic accident (RTA) claims portal has played down concerns from claimant lawyers that insurers are using a loophole to delay paying claims.
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Chartis delivers professional indemnity insurance blow
The UK’s largest professional indemnity insurer does not have an ‘appetite’ to take on new law firms with fewer than 10 partners, it told the Gazette this week. Chartis, previously AIG, which had a 15% share of the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market last year, ...
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Call to give Economic Crime Agency US-style powers
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pressuring ministers to ensure that tougher US-style powers are available to the new Economic Crime Agency (ECA) once it is formed, the Gazette has learned. The Gazette understands that the SFO, which would be wholly subsumed by and form the ...
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LSB approves £428 practising certificate fee
The Legal Services Board has approved the level of the individual practising fee at £428 per solicitor for 2010/11. Solicitors, recognised European lawyers and recognised foreign lawyers (RFL) will pay the individual fee, while their firms will also pay a firm-based fee, which will be calculated ...
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Pleural plaques compensation scheme opens
Pleural plaques victims frustrated by a 2007 House of Lords decision on compensation can now claim £5,000 from the government if they lodged a claim before the ruling. The Pleural Plaques Former Claimants Payment Scheme opened yesterday for applications, which must be lodged before 1 August ...
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New PII market entrant
A new insurer has entered the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market focusing on firms of up to five partners, the Law Society disclosed last week.
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Coal miners pursue law firms over ‘undersettled’ compensation
The first known court actions against law firms for alleged undersettlement of sick coal miners’ government compensation claims will begin preliminary hearings in mid-August, the Gazette has learned. A number of defendant firms have already settled out of court. Oldham County Court is due to hold ...
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Personal injury lawyers issue warning over CFA reform
Personal injury lawyers warned that the government was taking ‘a step backwards’ this week as it announced that it will consult on Lord Justice Jackson’s plans for reform of the way lawyers are paid in civil cases. Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said the government will focus ...
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Solicitorsfromhell owner in second High Court libel action
The owner of website solicitorsfromhell.co.uk is facing a second High Court libel action, the Gazette has learned. The news comes as it emerged that website owner Rick Kordowski has been invited by the BBC to assist with an investigation into alleged sharp practices by solicitors as ...
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Insurers set to move into small firm market
Broker Marsh is in discussions with two major insurers to open their doors to two- and three-partner firms, it has said. At a press briefing last week, Janine Parker, head of solicitors’ professional indemnity, said that Marsh is ‘trying to put together a solution for two- ...