All articles by John Hyde – Page 334
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News
Quindell snaps up law firm and claims manager in £60m deal
Fast-growing new legal entrant Quindell has announced a deal worth more than £60m to buy a leading claims management company and a law firm. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio, which has already bought two law firms this year, today confirmed an agreement with Abstract Legal Holdings, the parent ...
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Danny Nightingale hysteria sets worrying precedent
No one could fail to be moved by the pictures of Danny Nightingale reunited with his family yesterday. Most happy of all, I suspect, were the tabloid newspapers who lapped up the story with relish and conveniently found a reason to relegate the Leveson report to the inside pages.
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SRA awaiting 19,000 renewal applications with only two weeks to go
More than half the expected applications for practising certificate renewal are still to be received with just two weeks of the process remaining. The Solicitors Regulation Authority today revealed that more than 18,000 bulk or single applications are completed or nearing completion, out of an expected ...
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News
News Focus: RTA fees
Government plans to wipe £700 from each fixed fee paid in low-value personal injury cases will put firms out of business, increase the risk of negligence and harm victims of accidents, solicitors have warned.
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News
Society condemns new rules on IFAs
The Law Society has taken the unprecedented step of urging solicitors to ‘disregard’ their regulatory handbook, as a row brews over liberalisation of referrals for financial advice. The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed this week that it will change the rules to allow solicitors to refer clients ...
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CJC member rules out mandatory litigation funding code
There are no plans to change the voluntary code for third-party litigation funding, according to one of its creators. Professor Rachael Mulheron, a member of the Civil Justice Council, said the code was still appropriate one year on from its adoption. Speaking ...
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Fears over civil justice system ‘meltdown’
A six-month hiatus on sweeping personal injury reforms is necessary to avert a ‘meltdown’ of the civil justice system, Chancery Lane has said. The Law Society fears that an entirely new funding system, proposed last week by the Ministry of Justice, will be too much for ...
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News
IFA consultation: a patronising waste of time
There are plenty of ways to waste an evening. You could watch a serving MP eat kangaroo gonads or rent an Adam Sandler film. You could, perhaps, stand up to your waist in a river and pretend to be a TV news reporter.
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News
Text spamming fine puts claims farmers on notice
The Information Commissioner’s Office today fined two owners of a marketing company £440,000 after they plagued the public with millions of spam texts. The ICO used its power to issue a monetary penalty for the first time after the pair were found to have breached the ...
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News
Claimant lawyers ‘killed the golden goose’ - ABI
A top insurance industry lobbyist has claimed that claimant lawyers will have only themselves to blame for reduced profits having ‘killed the goose that laid the golden egg’. James Dalton, head of motor and liability at the Association of British Insurers, accused the claimant community of ...
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News
LSB chair wants more cash for research
The head of the Legal Services Board has claimed the group’s £250,000 research budget is ‘not enough’. LSB chairman David Edmonds revealed that funding for research projects is being cut by 17% in the next financial year as the regulator is encouraged to work more in ...
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News
Isle of Man funder to boost investment in litigation
A litigation funder backed by a private equity investor says it may increase its £100m investment next year due to high demand. Vannin Capital, based on the Isle of Man, announced in May it would quadruple its investment facility over six months with backing from private ...
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News
Mis-selling fear as SRA moves to relax rules on financial advice
Solicitors are to be allowed to refer clients onto any financial adviser, regardless of whether they are independent or not. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is set this week to relax the rule insisting lawyers’ clients can be referred only to independent advisers. ...
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News
Write clearer judgments, Neuberger urges judges
Judgments must be clearer and more concise if the public is to retain confidence in the justice system, according to president of the Supreme Court Lord Neuberger. In the annual Bailii lecture this week, Neuberger said the increasing appearance of the self-represented litigant has accelerated the ...
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News
‘Traditional’ law firm numbers plummet
The number of sole practitioners and traditional partnerships has fallen dramatically over the past three years, according to new figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Providing an insight into a profession in the midst of unprecedented change, the figures show that since October 2009, the ...
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News
Existing sanctions sufficient for disclosure failures, judges rule
Senior judges today rejected the creation of additional sanctions for disclosure failures against either the prosecution or defence in criminal cases. A review of sanctions, requested by former lord chancellor Kenneth Clarke and carried out by Lord Justice Gross and Lord Justice Treacy, instead advocates updates ...
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News
Judges’ pension cut threat to City's dispute resolution status
Reform of the judicial pension scheme will threaten the UK’s position as a centre for high-quality dispute resolution, a City lobby group warned this week. TheCityUK, which promotes London around the world, said including the judiciary in a one-size-fits-all plan for civil service pensions would have ...
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News
Grayling ponders legal aid ban over prisoner votes
Prisoners may be refused legal aid to sue the government if parliament decides to defy the European Court of Human Rights over voting rights, the justice secretary said today. In a debate following a statement announcing a draft bill on the issue, Chris Grayling said ...
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News
Silverbeck to double workforce following acquisition
National firm Silverbeck Rymer has announced plans to more than double its size over the next year. The personal injury firm, bought by listed brand extension company Quindell Portfolio for £19.3m in January, will recruit 300 people to add to its current staff of 250. Around ...
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News
Doomsday for personal injury solicitors
So now we know the government’s vision for the future: personal injury work almost exclusively reserved for the few claims handlers that can do it in bulk and on the cheap. RTA claims on a factory line, out of the reach of solicitors, stacking up befuddled ...