All articles by John Hyde – Page 349
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Claimant firms warned of wind of change
A leading insurance solicitor has urged claimant firms to follow the lead of defendants and change their business model. Anthony Hughes, chief executive of national firm Horwich Farrelly, told the 2012 Claims Management Conference yesterday that change is inevitable in the personal injury market. ...
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No referral exemption for charities, Lords rule
The House of Lords has blocked attempts to exempt charities and trade unions from the referral fee ban. The house was debating proposed amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill.
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Harvey Nicks owner gives £20m to law faculty
A Hong Kong businessman has given £20m to King’s College London in what the college says is the largest individual donation ever made to a European law faculty. Luxury goods magnate Dickson Poon will fund a recruitment drive for eight new chair positions over the next ...
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‘Grossly overpaid’ interpreters to blame for courts fiasco, says minister
Justice minister Crispin Blunt has blamed the ‘grossly overpaid’ interpreters ‘taking advantage of the system’ for the need to outsource the court contract.
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Stop assessing firms, Law Society tells the LSB
The Law Society has called for the Legal Services Board (LSB) to forget about regulating the legal market and begin downsizing. The Society says most of the reforms in the Legal Services Act are now coming to fruition, with the establishment of a Legal Ombudsman and ...
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Law Society survey to probe wellbeing
Solicitors are to be questioned on how rapid changes to the legal landscape are affecting their state of mind. The Law Society will include research on members’ wellbeing as part of its survey of the membership this summer. A membership board report says the Society should ...
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Industrial disease wins exemption from CFA cut
Peers in the House of Lords have voted for sufferers of asbestos-related disease to be exempt from reforms to no win, no fee litigation. The House of Lords yesterday agreed two amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, allowing claimants continued access ...
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Unite joins interpreting campaign
Britain’s biggest trade union this week joined a campaign for the Ministry of Justice to bring courtroom interpreting services back in-house from a contract with Applied Language Solutions (ALS). ‘The courts system is descending into chaos, as suspects are not being informed of their rights and ...
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SRA sets back compliance officer deadline
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has postponed the date for firms to nominate compliance officers after another technological delay. The new deadline has not yet been announced. Firms had been expected to put forward two staff members by the end of this month, but with the online ...
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More time for LDPs to mull ABS options
Hundreds of legal disciplinary practices (LDPs) have been given more time to decide how to approach the new era of legal services regulation. Under the terms of the 2007 Legal Services Act, some 250 LDPs in England and Wales with non-lawyer managers must decide whether ...
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How long can the USA hold off ABSs?
With David Cameron and Barack Obama currently cementing their special relationship, the focus is very much on the links that bind the UK and US.
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CFA reform will not be retrospective, MoJ says
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) today sought to quell fears that Jackson reforms would be applied retrospectively to cases launched before April 2013. Changes to civil litigation are set to be implemented next year once the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill has been ...
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Federal court strikes down attempt to overturn ownership rule
A New York personal injury firm has failed in its attempt to overrule the state’s ban on non-lawyer ownership.
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Concern at move to make success fee recovery ban retrospective
Alarm has been raised at a move by the government that appears to give the Jackson reforms retrospective effect. Radical changes to the no win, no fee system are due to come into force in April 2013 as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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Survey shows top 100 fee income up by 7.2%
Firms just outside the top 25 are prospering more than anyone as fee income continues to rise across the upper echelons of the legal market. The latest quarterly survey by Deloitte of the legal service market - covering the third quarter of 2011/12 - found strongest ...
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Labour peers seek to halve portal fees
Labour peers have tabled proposals in the Lords to halve the fixed fees solicitors can claim from the low-value RTA Portal. Lord Beecham and Lord Bach (pictured) put down amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill for debate on Monday. The changes ...
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Educate, don’t mandate: Jackson on mediation
Lord Justice Jackson has called for a ‘serious campaign’ to teach lawyers and judges the benefits of mediation to settle disputes. The architect of the civil litigation reforms told a conference today that he is still a keen advocate of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a ...
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Thousands miss PC renewal deadline
Thousands of solicitors appear to have failed to apply in time for practising certificates this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed. The deadline for applications, extended because of difficulties with the mySRA online application system, passed last Friday.
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‘Vigorously’ defend cases after reforms, Djanogly tells insurers
Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has told insurers he expects them to ‘vigorously defend’ cases after civil litigation reforms are enacted. Djanogly told an insurance industry conference last week that civil justice reforms will provide a more level playing field between claimants and defendants. ...
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Liverpool Victoria wins bogus accident case
A leading insurer has secured the first known successful prosecution of a claimant who completely fabricated a car accident. Liverpool Victoria, which uses the trademark LV=, brought contempt proceedings against individuals who had reported a crash in Birmingham in 2008 and failed to attend court ...