All articles by John Hyde – Page 349
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News
PII market shrinks as firms shop around
Law firms appear to have shopped around more in 2012 than in previous years as they spent £240m on professional indemnity insurance. The leading three insurers’ share of the market fell from 43% to 38%, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. XL ...
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Claims managers to cough up more for regulation
The government is to raise fees for claims management regulation as it prepares for an exodus of companies from the market. The Ministry of Justice, which regulates claims management companies (CMCs), plans to raise application fees in 2013/14 by 47% and remove the current cap on ...
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News
ABS takes the high road to Scottish market
Recent alternative business structure convert Parabis has announced a move into the Scottish market. The firm says its expansion has been driven by demand from clients in England and Wales and is reflective of a changing legal profession in Scotland. The new Parabis office in Glasgow ...
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News
US plea to curb third-party funding
A US lobby group has called for immediate government regulation of third-party litigation funding. The increasing influence of third-party funders has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. Both the US, and England and Wales, currently have voluntary regulation, but there have been repeated calls ...
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News
Citizens Advice can bid for Lottery cash
Citizens Advice bureaux and law centres can bid for a share of £65m promised by the Big Lottery Fund on condition that they prove they can modernise their approach and improve collaboration. Advice providers and community-based organisations will be in contention for the funds if they ...
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News
Repeat medical errors fuel NHS legal bill
Errors in maternity care that landed the NHS with a £3.1bn legal bill over 10 years are still being repeated, a new report has warned. The study by the NHS Litigation Authority found there were 5,087 maternity claims between 2000 and 2010. It was the most ...
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News
Council fined for lawyer’s error
A city council has been fined £120,000 after one of its solicitors sent a series of emails relating to a child protection legal case to the wrong address. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found Stoke-on-Trent Council in serious breach of the Data Protection Act after 11 ...
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News
PPI text spammers face £250k fines
Originators of spam text messages soliciting PPI and personal injury claims are in line for £250,000 fines. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will announce this week whether it will issue the penalty – the first for spam texts – against two individuals who it believes are responsible for millions of ...
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News
Aggressive lawyers ‘harm mediation’
Aggression around the mediation table can be counter-productive and damage your client’s chances of success, a leading QC has warned. Bill Wood, vice-chair of the Civil Mediation Council, said he had experienced cases where the two lawyers involved were more angry than the clients. Wood told ...
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News
Salford claims centre rates poorly with solicitors
Almost two-thirds of users of the Salford civil claims centre rate the service as poor, according to a survey reflecting continued frustration with the new central facility. The figure is among the findings of a poll of 47 legal firms, 40 of which ...
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News
Civil rights concern over costs-shifting
Lawyers representing claimants against the police have warned that abuses of state power will go unchallenged under costs reforms coming into force in April. The Police Actions Lawyers Group wants qualified one-way costs-shifting extended from personal injury to cover all civil liberties cases.
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News
Profit a ‘dirty word’ in law, says Dragon’s Den judge
Entrepreneur and investor James Caan has revealed he found a culture where profit was a ‘dirty word’ when he looked to buy a law firm. Former Dragons Den judge Caan, whose private investment company Hamilton Bradshaw bought Midlands firm Knights in June, said he had spoken ...
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News
Five years on: progress ‘largely static’ towards LSA nirvana
The Legal Services Act has made little difference to standards in the profession, according to a report released today by the Legal Services Board. The baseline report, published five years since the act, found that indicators such as diversity, quality of service and access to legal ...
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News
Don’t force accident victims to be speculators - APIL
Seriously injured victims should not have to invest in volatile stock markets to ensure they can fund their future care, claimant lawyers said yesterday. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers is lobbying the government to reduce the discount rate, the percentage deducted from the damages of ...
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News
No tears for fee-ban victims
My goodness, the SRA is pushing things tight on the referral fee ban. This week saw the consultation published for the nature and scale of the ban and how exactly the regulator chooses to enforce it. The consultation will be done by Christmas, before a series ...
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News
No loophole for fee-ban dodgers, SRA warns
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned it may not grant licences to alternative business structures set up solely to get round the referral fee ban. The organisation today promised to look carefully at ABS applicants’ proposed referral arrangements and block business models not truly operating as ...
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News
No place for private equity in law firms, say finance chiefs
More than three-quarters of finance directors at leading commercial law firms believe private equity investment is inappropriate. In a survey of directors at 25 of the top 100 firms, 77% were unhappy with law firms attracting capital through private equity investors. An even greater number - ...
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News
Super regulator goes shopping for legal panel
The Legal Services Board today opened the application process to join its panel of legal advisers. The super regulator says it requires support for public and private law, legislative drafting and litigation support. Most pieces of work are typically valued below £5,000 but more complex and ...
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News
Fund will assume risks of ABSs, says MoJ
The solicitors’ compensation fund will take on the risks of alternative business structures indefinitely following the shelving of plans for a separate fund, the ...
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News
Townsend admits light touch for new ABSs
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has made a conscious decision not to place too many conditions on new alternative business structures (ABSs), its leader has revealed. Chief executive Antony Townsend said the terms of the licence had deliberately been kept simple for the 33 entities that have ...