All articles by John Hyde – Page 338
-
News
Motor insurers face competition probe
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today referred the motor insurance industry to the Competition Commission after finding that motorists are being charged too much after an accident. The OFT provisionally decided to refer the market in May this year after a study found evidence that ...
-
News
College of Law orders exam resits
The College of Law has ordered that 18 students retake two exams after papers were left overnight in a car that was then stolen. The scripts were driven off-site by a tutor from the Birmingham centre on August 29 but taken after burglars stole her handbag ...
-
News
Top 25 firms 'eclipsed' in growth figures
Law firms outside the top 25 in the UK are growing at a faster rate than those inside the top 25, new figures have revealed. Research by Deloitte into the first quarter of 2012/13 found firms between 26 and 50 grew fee income by 4.5%, whilst ...
-
News
LCJ voices new fears over rise in litigants in person
The lord chief justice today expressed concerns that litigants in person will increase further when legal aid cuts come into force next year.
-
News
SRA talks tough on COLPs and COFAs
Six hundred law firms had failed to nominate compliance officers by mid-September, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. The organisation this week warned firms they could have their licences revoked if their officers for legal practice, and finance and administration (COLPs and COFAs) are not in ...
-
News
‘Clear risk’ of negligence claims if IFA referral is liberalised
Solicitors will be vulnerable to negligence claims if they are allowed to refer clients to financial advisers who are not wholly independent, the Law Society has warned. In its response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation on financial advice, the society pointed to the danger of ...
-
News
Damages uplift ‘will cost defendants £300m’
Insurers told the High Court today that defendants stand to lose more than £300m if claimants are given the ‘windfall’ of a risk-free rise in damages.
-
News
Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme is abandoned
The government has abandoned a scheme to take up to 25% of damages awards from clinical negligence victims. The Supplementary Legal Aid scheme was intended to fund cases that would still come under the scope of legal aid from next April. Campaigners argued it amounted to ...
-
News
Chief coroner sets out new regime in first speech
Only lawyers will be appointed as coroners from next June, the first holder of the new post of chief coroner for England and Wales has announced in his first public speech. Judge Peter Thornton QC told the annual conference of coroners today that new appointments ...
-
News
PI specialist is thirtieth alternative business structure
The former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has steered his firm to alternative business structure status. David Bott, who stood down as president in April, will bring practice manager Paul Hinchcliffe and finance manager Gary Froggatt, both non-solicitors, into equity partner status at ...
-
News
Mortgage fraud solicitor jailed
A former criminal defence solicitor has been jailed for two years for her part in a £1.3m mortgage fraud in east London. Elena Quinlivan (pictured), 35, planned to build a rented property empire, using forged identity documents, bank statements and payslips, Southwark Crown Court heard. ...
-
News
Firms risk missing PII deadline
Law firms that have yet to secure professional indemnity insurance (PII) face the prospect of missing the 1 October renewal deadline, a leading specialist broker has warned. Simon Lovat, divisional director for UIB, said his firm had more than 1,000 unsecured law practices on its books. ...
-
News
Deadline for PC renewals
Practising certificate renewals for 2012 must be completed by 14 December, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced. The organisation says it has completed a programme of improvements to its IT infrastructure supporting online renewals and the application forms. In particular, firms will this year be able ...
-
News
Insurers prepare for court fight on damages uplift
Insurers will go to the High Court next week seeking to overturn July’s landmark decision on increased damages. The Association of British Insurers has challenged the Court of Appeal’s ruling confirming a 10% uplift on all general damages from 1 April 2013.
-
News
Complaints figures merely prove how good solicitors are
You can come out now, it’s safe to look. Monday was judgment day, when the Legal Ombudsman would finally get its way and publish complaints data on solicitors.
-
News
Chancery Lane hits out at ‘potentially misleading’ complaints statistics
The Law Society has described as ‘partial and potentially misleading’ new data on complaints against named law firms published by the Legal Ombudsman this week. A table shows the collated names of 770 lawyers or law firms involved in complaints leading to a formal ...
-
News
Complaints data naming law firms goes live today
The Legal Ombudsman has today published an online list of complaints relating to 770 law firms across England and Wales. The list shows the collated names of lawyers or law firms involved in complaints which have led to a formal decision by an ombudsman. It will ...
-
News
FFW and Osborne Clarke decline comment on merger
Top 40 law firms Field Fisher Waterhouse and Osborne Clarke have separately confirmed that they are keen to secure a merger – but refused to comment on speculation that it is with each other. Speculation mounted today that the firms – which together posted turnover ...
-
News
Complaints hike follows surge in unrepresented litigants
An increase in litigants in person has been cited as the reason for a sharp spike in complaints against barristers, alleging discrimination. The Bar Standards Board yesterday heard there were eight complaints in the first quarter of 2012/13, compared to just nine in the whole of ...
-
News
McNally gets legal aid as MoJ portfolios announced
Liberal Democrat peer Lord McNally has been handed the legal aid portfolio following last week’s government reshuffle. The Ministry of Justice today confirmed McNally (pictured) – the only justice minister to survive the reshuffle – will take over that responsibility from Jonathan Djanogly. McNally, who helped ...