All articles by James Dean – Page 35
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News
Call to divide AG's dual role
Parliamentary support for the government’s decision not to split the Attorney General’s legal and political functions has attracted scathing criticism from experts. Last Thursday, the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill published its report that, controversially, ignored the advice of the Justice Committee to ...
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Indian niche firms pique UK/US interest
Indian lawyers are leaving traditional family firms in increasing numbers to set up niche corporate operations – which are then being courted by UK and US firms, new research has shown. UK and US firms are keen to form ties ahead of the Indian legal market ...
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RICS drops Quinn from PII list
Quinn Insurance, which provides lawyers with professional indemnity insurance (PII), has been removed from the preferred PII list of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Gazette has learned. RICS, whose preferred insurer list mirrors the lawyers’ preferred insurer pool, removed Quinn after it withdrew ...
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'Quotas undermine diversity'
Intense competition between firms eager to demonstrate their diversity credentials and the use of quotas to measure recruitment of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff only serve to undermine equality, Stuart Popham, senior partner at magic circle firm Clifford Chance, has warned. Popham claimed the trend ...
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Microsoft sets sights on costs shake-up
Microsoft, the software giant, has told law firms across the globe that they must trim fees and scrap hourly-rate billing if they want to continue working for the company. In a letter from Microsoft HQ in Washington, seen by the Gazette this week, Brad Smith, senior ...
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Question of conflict
Leading employment lawyers have questioned the use by legal and professional services group Parabis of its subsidiary law firm to defend its employees in a poaching dispute. Parabis employees Martin Hynes, Sarah Preston and Heather Smith were defended by Plexus Law, one of four law firms ...
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City lawyers ‘earn ten times more’
Top City lawyers earn more than ten times the national average wage for legal professionals, a new survey has suggested. The lawyer members of wealth management club The Route bring home an average of £573,000 a year – compared to the national average of £50,649. ...
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Tax tribunal case hike
A sharp rise in the number of cases put before the two HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) tax tribunals may be a result of applicants pushing appeals through before the tribunals merge, a leading tax lawyer has said. Applications to the VAT and Duties Tribunal and ...
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Indemnity insurer to abandon PII market
Novae, one of the qualifying lawyers’ professional indemnity insurers (PII), is to pull out of the market completely, the Gazette has learned. According to sources, the insurer, which writes around £2m of PII, will shortly become the second company to withdraw cover from the market ahead ...
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MDPs lure 75% of counsel
The vast majority of corporate general counsel will purchase legal services from non-specialist firms once the Legal Services Act reforms are in place, a new study has revealed. Three-quarters of respondents to a survey by business advisory firm KPMG – seen exclusively by the Gazette this ...
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India pact 'years away'
A free-trade agreement between India and the EU – which should help open up the legal market to foreign firms – is still at least three years away, according to one of the EU negotiators. Sajjad Karim, a Conservative MEP on the international trade committee, also ...
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Put diversity on the agenda, urge counsel
Leading black minority ethnic (BME) in-house counsel have called on aspiring company lawyers to use their positions to promote the diversity agenda. Sandie Okoro, group general counsel at Baring Asset Management, said: ‘You have an enormous amount of influence as an in-house counsel, so get diversity ...
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Indemnity rates on the up in 'increasingly volatile' market
Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) rates will increase this year because insurance companies are not making ‘adequate’ returns, leading insurer Travelers has warned. Conveyancing firms – especially those with a bias towards residential property – will suffer the biggest hike, Jon Davies, assistant general manager ...
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Deals of the week
Flying deal: City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner advised Ascent, a consortium comprising defence company Lockheed Martin and defence contractor VT Group, on a contract to provide UK military flight and weapons system training to RAF, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps pilots for ...
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Law firm 'yet to feel credit crunch'
Half of law firms claim the credit crunch has not yet had an adverse impact on their businesses, according to a straw poll taken at Travelers’ On Risk conference. Just 12% of delegates – made up of more than 100 partners and risk managers from a ...
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Top 100 cautious despite growth
Major firms are forecasting single-digit growth in fee income for the coming year, despite continued double-digit growth up to April, according to business advisory firm Deloitte. The top 100 achieved 12% growth in the quarter ended 30 April compared to the same period in 2007, Deloitte ...
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City firms eye Malaysia market
City law firms are sizing up the Malaysian legal sector as a potential area for development, after the government there signalled its intention to lift curbs on foreign firms operating in the country. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Malaysia’s law minister, told reporters at a press conference last ...
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Citi brokers law firm private equity talks
Citi, the world’s largest bank, has brokered meetings between the UK’s biggest private equity houses and major law firms in a bid to strike investment deals before the Legal Services Act is fully implemented, the Gazette has learned. Citi’s specialist legal group has sent its private ...
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'Angry' Anwar escapes jail
A Scottish solicitor has escaped a possible jail sentence after judges at Edinburgh’s High Court ruled that comments he made following a terror trial at Glasgow’s High Court were not in contempt of court. If prosecuted, it is believed Aamer Anwar would have been the first ...
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Insurers set to weed out high-risk firms
Professional indemnity (PI) insurers are drawing up a special questionnaire designed to weed out high-risk law firms ahead of the renewals season, the Gazette has learned.