All articles by James Dean – Page 30
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News
Clifford Chance freezes pay
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today (31 March) announced a pay freeze for all lawyers and business services staff worldwide. Around 3,800 lawyers will be affected, across the firm’s 30 global offices. In a statement, Clifford Chance said it will hold salaries ...
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Court actions soar over bad debts
Top corporate firms are increasingly resorting to court action to secure unpaid legal fees, the Gazette has learned. In the past six months, the number of cases filed in the Queen’s Bench division of the High Court between top-50 firms and clients has more than doubled, ...
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Tories consider private solution to legal aid shortfall
A future Conservative government may look to the private sector to top up the legal aid budget, the Gazette has learned. Tory policymakers are considering how the UK’s legal aid budget could be financed if they take power at the next general election. Earlier this month, ...
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Baker & McKenzie to cut staff in London
US firm Baker & McKenzie is to axe up to 85 staff in London, including between 20 and 30 lawyers, as part of a new redundancy consultation. The firm is also anticipating a pay freeze and scrapping its all-staff bonus. Gary Senior, London managing partner, ...
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Don't overreact to downturn, says professional services group
Law firms operating in the UK will fall behind firms in foreign markets unless specific regulatory burdens are lifted, according to government officials and law firm chiefs. In its first report, submitted to Chancellor Alistair Darling this week, the Professional Services Global Competitiveness Group (PSGC) ...
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Mission to open the legal services market in Ukraine
City law firms and British government officials will travel to Ukraine next month to try to boost the presence of English firms in Europe’s largest country. The mission, scheduled for the end of April, will include delegates from 10 City firms and officials from UK ...
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Fund more free advice, urges Tory MP
Emergency funding for free legal advice must be made available to help people suffering in the downturn, Parliament will hear this week. Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said she would use an adjournment debate on Tuesday evening to urge the government to provide ...
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Law Society and bankers clash over money laundering rules
Professional bodies representing bankers and accountants have clashed with the Law Society over its views on the severity of the UK’s anti-money laundering regime. Giving evidence to the House of Lords Inquiry into Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism last week, the British Bankers’ Association ...
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London boroughs pool legal resources
A coalition of local government legal teams aims to unite legal resources across London councils and drive down spending on private practice lawyers, the Gazette has learned. The London Boroughs Legal Alliance (LBLA) will unite the London boroughs of Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and ...
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Treasury warns firms of money-laundering threat
The government has warned law firms and others subject to anti-money laundering regulations that a number of countries pose a ‘serious threat’ to their businesses. The Treasury today named several countries which it says do not have proper procedures or systems in place to prevent money ...
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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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Eversheds stays top in adviser rankings
National firm Eversheds advises more stock market clients than any other law firm, according to the latest quarterly rankings from investment adviser Hemscott. However, nearly all the firms featured in Hemscott’s rankings saw client numbers fall in the most recent three-month period surveyed. Eversheds topped the ...
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Pro bono services ask City firms to keep up support
Some of the UK’s biggest pro bono advice services have called on recession-hit City firms to continue supplying their lawyers for voluntary work amid escalating demand. Citizens Advice, the Law Centres Federation and LawWorks told the Gazette this week that they are concerned about City job ...
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Firms increase their provisions for bad debt
Some top London corporate firms are expecting to double the percentage of outstanding legal fees they classify as unrecoverable, the Gazette has learned. Data gathered from top firms’ latest accounts and industry sources suggested that firms are upping their write-off estimates to as much ...
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HMRC publishes tax law rewrite bills
Two draft bills aimed at cleaning up UK corporation tax and international tax legislation have been published by HM Revenue & Customs. The bills, drafted by the Tax Law Rewrite project, form part of a scheme begun in 1996 to rewrite the majority of direct tax ...
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In-house lawyers urged to contribute to litigation study
The judge conducting a review of the costs of litigation has called on in-house lawyers to respond, to rectify a ‘dearth’ of evidence from those who pay for the costs of litigation. Lord Justice Jackson, who will present his preliminary report on the costs of ...
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Hammonds to cut up to 20 partners
National firm Hammonds is the latest big name to announce a round of recession-linked redundancies, with up to 20 partners across the country set to go. The firm’s new redundancy consultation, covering almost 10% of its partnership, has already led to the departure of a handful ...
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Allen & Overy to cut 282 lawyers worldwide
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy will cut up to 282 lawyers worldwide as part of the largest recession-triggered redundancy consultation to date. The firm’s announcement last week means that around 630 lawyers are in line to be axed by the top 10 UK law firms – around 3% of ...
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Firm closures: new figures
Nearly 120 more law firms closed in 2008 than in 2007, while four fewer firms opened, Solicitors Regulation Authority statistics show. Despite more firms closing down, 889 new practices were opened in 2008, while 442 closed that year. An SRA spokesman said: ‘The number of firms ...
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Claims companies warned on misleading advertising
Claims management firms that mislead consumers by claiming they can arrange for debts to be written off have been warned that they face enforcement action by the Ministry of Justice. Justice minister Bridget Prentice delivered the warning as the MoJ issued new guidance on misleading advertising which sets out ...