All articles by John Hyde – Page 353
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News
Quoted company buys PI firm in ABS first
A personal injury firm is to be bought by a listed company in a £19.3m deal to create an alternative business structure (ABS). Liverpool-based Silverbeck Rymer will be acquired by AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio for an initial £10.25m in cash, and the issue of up to 120.8m ...
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Kudos to trainee minimum wage
I’d like to say I became a journalist through a lifelong obsession with Woodward and Bernstein, a duty to inform and passion for the English language. In truth my career path probably owes more to a computer program named Kudos, which filtered your hobbies and dislikes to find your perfect ...
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Pinsent Masons in Anglo-Scottish merger talks
Top 20 London firm Pinsent Masons has confirmed it is in cross-border merger talks with Edinburgh-based McGrigors. If successful, the merger would create a business with a turnover of more than £300m, headquartered in London and with six offices across Asia. In ...
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Warning over minimum salary move
Junior solicitors have warned of exploitation and reduced access to the profession for the less well-off if regulators decide to ditch the minimum salary for trainees.
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MoJ still spending on consultants
The Ministry of Justice has defended its outlay on consultants after spending more than £43m on external experts since May 2010. A written question in the House of Commons discovered that net spend since the coalition government took power was an average of £2.28m a month. ...
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‘Insurers to blame’ for PI premium hike
The Law Society has said the insurance industry must take the blame for the rising cost of motor premiums, in a high-profile row over personal injury claims. The Commons transport select committee last week said the rising number of personal injury claims was the ‘main reason’ ...
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Hundreds of court posts axed
More than 1,200 posts were cut by HM Courts and Tribunals Service last year, just as it faced an upsurge in workload caused by rising numbers of litigants in person. A response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by the Gazette discloses that full-time equivalent ...
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ATE insurer enters solicitors PII market
A leading after-the-event insurer has confirmed it will enter the solicitors professional indemnity insurance market this year. Elite Insurance will open a book of £3m for smaller, niche firms it has worked with in the past.
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Health and safety guru warns of political misuse
The architect of the government’s health and safety strategy has raised concerns that his report could be ‘misused’ for political purposes.
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Society intervenes in landmark PII case
The Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority have been granted leave to intervene in a case that could have a major impact on professional indemnity insurance for law firms.
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Whiplash is a pain in the neck to write about
To borrow from Donald Rumsfeld, there are known knowns and there are things we know we know, but we also know there are unknown knowns. No sooner had the Commons transport committee waded into this minefield earlier this week than my inbox was flooded with responses.
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News
£185m rescue for NHS litigation fund
The Department of Health has confirmed that a £185m emergency bailout fund has been found for the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA). Clinical negligence claims against the NHS reached an estimated value of £1bn last year, after rising from from £5,697m to £8,655m over the preceding five years. ...
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SRA to consider dropping minimum wage for trainees
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to consult on whether to continue to set minimum pay rates for trainees. Current minimum salary levels for solicitors are £18,590 in central London and £16,650 outside, and have been frozen for the past two years. However the SRA board decided ...
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Referral fees in spotlight as MPs slam cost of whiplash claims
MPs today call for the bar to be raised if claimants are to receive compensation for whiplash injuries following motor accidents. A report by the Commons Transport Committee into the cost of motor insurance concludes that the rise in personal injury claims is the ‘main reason ...
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Cameron told: ‘engage with profession on PI’
The Law Society has urged David Cameron to engage with the legal profession following his attack on the health and safety ‘monster’ and personal injury fees. In a speech last week, the prime minister proposed capping fees for personal injury claims at £25,000 and including ...
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PI firms inundated over banned implants
Personal injury firms say they are receiving hundreds of enquiries every week from women treated with now banned PIP breast implants. Up to 40,000 women in the UK have been fitted with implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese. The Department of Health has offered ...
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News
Firms in ARP given April deadline
Firms remaining in the insurance Assigned Risks Pool have been given until April to secure cover or to shut down. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has contacted each of the 31 firms which, of 3 January, were still open and covered by the ARP, and will make ...
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Asbestos fund still on agenda, says government
The government has assured people suffering from asbestos-related disease that a ‘fund of last resort’ is still on the agenda, nearly two years after a report called for its creation. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister Lord Freud is understood to be in ...
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News
NewLaw makes ABS move
Cardiff-based firm NewLaw has confirmed it is among 44 organisations that have so far applied for alternative business structure status through the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The personal injury firm, established in 2004, submitted its application last week when the SRA became a licensing authority. ...
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News
Satellite jobs to go as Pannone aims south
National firm Pannone has announced that 12 jobs will be lost through the shutting of two satellite offices. The cuts will be a mixture of secretarial and fee-earning roles at offices in the Cheshire villages of Hale and Alderley Edge. Managing partner ...