All articles by John Hyde – Page 342
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News
Why is government so keen to kill the PI sector?
When the Ford Transit plant in Southampton was at risk of closure last year, with 500 jobs under threat, David Cameron’s government offered a £10m grant. Yet when it comes to the personal injury sector, Cameron has not just stood aside and let it happen, he’s ...
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Another PI firm goes into administration
Personal injury firm Calibre Solicitors has been placed into administration resulting in 14 people being made redundant.
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SRA's assurances on enforcement under fire from super-regulator
The Solicitors Regulation Authority must focus more on performance and legal services consumers than on the theory of policy, an assessment by the Legal Services Board has found. The super-regulator said the SRA had achieved much since it was formed in 2007, but had yet to ...
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Time running out for ATE to beat Jackson
Applications for after-the-event insurance may miss the 1 April Jackson deadline if they are not made by next Monday, brokers have warned. Commercial litigation broker The Judge has written to all solicitor clients warning of a backlog of files set to slow down the system in ...
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Bulger killers: attorney general is right
The question of how to deal with society’s most undesirable people is one of the most difficult we face. In last week’s excellent Black Mirror TV drama (spoiler alert) the public had turned into voyeuristic vigilantes, replicating a killer’s most heinous act against the perpetrator. It’s ...
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Grayling confirms worst fears with RTA Portal fee cuts
Fixed recoverable costs for RTA Portal claims up to £10,000 will be cut to £500, justice secretary Chris Grayling has confirmed. In a consultation response published today which will confirm the worst fears of the sector, the Ministry of Justice said fixed costs will be cut ...
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High Court told of Downing Street deal with insurers
The government and insurers negotiated a deal to cut personal injury legal costs in a series of emails prior to a summit at Downing Street, the High Court heard this morning. In its submission to a judicial review hearing, lawyers acting for the claimant lobby highlighted ...
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Knives smuggled into courtrooms
Knives were smuggled past security and into courtrooms on 10 separate occasions in the space of nine months last year, the Gazette has discovered. A freedom of information request has uncovered security breaches in courts across England and Wales between April and December 2012. ...
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Valentine's Day massacre for PI sector
Lord Justice Elias was in full flow when the clerk stopped him mid-sentence. ‘I’m afraid the shorthand writer has disappeared,’ said the clerk, looking like a sous-chef who’d just informed Gordon Ramsey the salmon was off. It only added to the tension, as a packed Court ...
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Profits up at Direct Line despite fall in referral fees
Direct Line, one of the UK’s biggest motor insurers, received £21.1m in referral fees from solicitors in 2012, it reported today. In its annual financial statement, the insurer said revenue from referral fees fell by 24% due to a reduction in non-fault claims volumes. The ...
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Slater & Gordon reveals UK profits
Australian firm Slater & Gordon has promised to expand operations in the UK after posting a £2.4m profit on UK revenues of £23m for its first full six months in this country. The firm, which acquired national personal injury firm Russell Jones & Walker in January last year, said the ...
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SRA denies 2,000 firms in crisis talks
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has denied it has ‘serious concerns’ about the financial stability of 2,000 firms, as new figures show the number of firms declining to the lowest level since it began collecting data. Chris Smyth, former head of legal services for bank Cheltenham ...
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Top-40 firms seek ABS status, research shows
Almost a quarter of the UK’s top-40 firms may seek to join with a non-solicitors practice in the next two years, according to research. A poll of leading firms by accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson found nine firms are keen on forming an ...
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QS firms poised for ABS status
Several QualitySolicitors firms are considering moving to alternative business structure status, the group revealed today. Midlands firm QS Parkinson Wright today became the second of its stable to be licensed as an ABS by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It joined four other ...
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Status quo is best for Wales
Sometimes, no matter what the Scouts say, it’s best not to be prepared. I spent much of my journey to Wales this morning writing a brilliant piece on why Wales was making a mistake going it legally alone by setting up a separate jurisdiction. As it ...
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High-cost cases to escape new management rules
Commercial cases worth more than £2m will be exempt from new costs management rules, the judiciary has decided. A document issued today says that the exemption was made in an amendment to the Civil Procedure Rules finalised last week. Costs management is ...
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Government ‘hiding’ RTA Portal evidence, Society claims
The Law Society has accused the government of hiding key information on which it based controversial new personal injury fees. The Ministry of Justice has rejected the society’s freedom of information request for the full report into the future reform of the RTA Portal extension. ...
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MoJ considers ending lump sum PI damages
Ministers are to consider the case for successful personal injury claimants to receive damages over a period of time rather than in one lump sum. The Ministry of Justice revealed last week that it is considering a change to the current payments regime – as well ...
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US eases curbs on foreign in-house lawyers
Foreign-qualified lawyers are to be allowed to work as in-house counsel at US companies in all 50 states for the first time, the American Bar Association (ABA) has resolved.
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Wales to decide on legal jurisdiction
Wales first minister Carwyn Jones (pictured) is today set to reveal whether he backs a separate legal jurisdiction for the country. His long-awaited response to last year’s consultation is expected to recommend a separation of powers. A move towards a Welsh jurisdiction has been widely predicted ...