All articles by James Dean – Page 7
-
News
Court of Appeal dismisses US-style class action bid
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt to bring a US-style class action against British Airways for participating in an airfreight price-fixing cartel, just nine days after the European Commission (EC) fined the airline more than €100m (£85m) for its role in the cartel and told claimants that they ...
-
News
Wigster comparison site signs up Shoosmiths’ consumer arm
The consumer services arm of national firm Shoosmiths has joined 125 firms that have signed up with legal price comparison website Wigster, which launched at the start of this month. Access Legal from Shoosmiths is the biggest firm to sign up to the comparison site ...
-
News
Stolen data used for email scams
Employees at foreign call centres that were engaged by claims management companies have stolen customer data that was later used to launch email scams in the UK, the Gazette has learned. The Ministry of Justice claims management regulator said this week that, after some claims management ...
-
News
Online law degree launched in Scotland
A Scottish university will next year launch what is believed to be the first online law undergraduate degree. The online LLB from the department of law at Robert Gordon University’s Aberdeen Business School will run from September 2011. The university already runs online law masters courses. ...
-
News
India will liberalise ‘in time’
The Law Society remains optimistic that sustained trade negotiations with the Indian government will eventually open the country’s legal market to English law firms, its vice-president John Wotton said this week. Wotton’s comments came after Veerappa Moily, Indian government minister for law and justice, told the ...
-
News
‘Compensation culture’ peer quits over gaffe
Lord Young of Graffham will not now assist the government with the implementation of his report on the ‘compensation culture’ after quitting his advisory role this afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed to the Gazette. The government backed the Tory peer’s report, Common Sense, Common Safety, and ...
-
News
Civil legal aid facing ‘devastation’ after £154m cut
Lawyers warned this week that civil legal aid services could be devastated by government plans that would see the total annual income of legal aid providers slashed by up to £154m. The proposed reforms would cut state help to all but the very poorest, the Law ...
-
News
Shopping for legal advice at Quality Solicitors
Yesterday morning I visited QualitySolicitors Freeman Harris for a free consultation. For those who haven’t heard, the firm is believed to be the first to open inside a shopping centre. I visited not as a journalist, but as a customer. I have never instructed a solicitor ...
-
News
Judicial Appointments Commission survives quango cull
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman will not fall victim to the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’, the government has revealed. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke told parliament last week that the two agencies will remain in place ‘as valued independent ...
-
News
Judicial approval for costs pilot a ‘success’
Forcing solicitors to win judicial approval of their fee budgets in civil cases has been proven to reduce the costs of litigation, according to the judge who proposed the idea. Lord Justice Jackson (pictured), author of a major report on civil litigation costs, told the Commercial ...
-
News
Neuberger: mediation is no substitute for justice
Mediation ‘cannot be a substitute for justice’, the master of the rolls warned this week, in a view that appears sharply at odds with government proposals to replace many legal aid-funded cases with alternative dispute resolution. Unveiling the government’s legal aid reforms this week, justice secretary ...
-
News
Legal fees drive up motor premium costs, claim insurers
Insurance companies should and could do more to stop people driving without a licence, the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) has told a House of Commons inquiry into escalating motor insurance costs. In its written submission to the Transport Committee inquiry, MASS said that uninsured drivers ...
-
News
Indian legal services market to stay closed
The Indian government has no plans to allow foreign law firms to practise in the country, it said in a statement on Monday. Veerappa Moily, minister of law and justice, said in response to a question in the Indian parliament that ‘at present there is no ...
-
News
Government unveils overhaul of legal aid and civil litigation costs
Legal aid providers as a whole will see their income slashed by up to £154m annually, it emerged today, as the government unveiled its plans for reform of the system. A wide range of civil cases will no longer be eligible for legal aid, and fees ...
-
News
Research reveals widening social divide in the profession
More than one in seven lawyers come from private schools, despite just one in 50 of the population receiving private education, new research has suggested. While 93% of the population are state educated, only 85% of lawyers went to non-public schools, according to an analysis of ...
-
News
SJ Berwin drops merger plans with US firm
City firm SJ Berwin and US firm Proskauer Rose have decided against a merger, the firms announced today in a statement. ‘At this stage in our discussions, we recognised that the timetable necessary to reach the agreements that would ensure the successful integration of our firms ...
-
News
GC100 rejects government's disclosure proposals
General counsel at Britain’s biggest companies have rejected government plans to force companies to disclose more information about corporate social responsibility and risk. The GC100, the association for general counsel and company secretaries in FTSE 100 companies, said the requirement might leave companies vulnerable to legal ...
-
News
Top-50 firms see revenues grow
Top-50 law firms have successfully grown their revenues in the first half of the financial year, figures released by firms this week suggest. Among City firms, Norton Rose posted a 9% rise in fee income for the six months ending 31 October, indicating fee income of ...
-
News
'Solicitors from Hell' owner vows to persevere after another libel loss
The owner of solicitorsfromhell has vowed to keep the site going, despite losing the latest in a string of libel cases. In the High Court last week, London firm Brett Wilson forced site owner Rick Kordowski to make an undertaking to the court: not to publish ...
-
News
Judicial Appointments Commission survives quangos cull
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman will not fall victim to the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke (pictured) told parliament today that the two bodies will remain ...