All articles by John Hyde – Page 356
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News
DAS takes 'leap forward' in online legal push
Legal expenses insurer DAS has taken a step towards offering online legal services after buying web-based Everything Legal. The insurer, which has long held ambitions to become an alternative business structure (ABS), announced the acquisition of the Bristol-based company this week.
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SRA will license ABSs by the end of 2011
The statutory barrier to the Solicitors Regulation Authority gaining a licence to authorise alternative business structures has been lifted. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice told the Gazette: ‘We expect the Solicitors Regulation Authority to become a licensing authority by the end of this year. ...
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Quality marks must not ‘usurp’ regulators
The legal sector’s consumer watchdog has today warned that voluntary quality marks should not be made mandatory to access part of the market as this could ‘usurp’ the role of regulators. In a new report, the Legal Services Consumer Panel also called for such schemes to ...
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Court workers set for strike
Record numbers of court workers will walk out as part of nationwide public sector strikes next Wednesday, union leaders have claimed. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union says around 15,000 members employed by the Ministry of Justice - most working in the courts service ...
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PI lawyers criticise Clarke’s coroner policy
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has criticised justice secretary Kenneth Clarke’s refusal to allow appeals against a coroner’s verdict. Clarke has scrapped plans to abolish the post of chief coroner after heavy opposition from charities such as the Royal British Legion.
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MASS chief calls for ‘honesty’ over fees ban
The chair of the Motor Accident Solicitors Society has appealed to the insurance industry for ‘honesty’ in the debate over the effects of a ban on referral fees. Addressing the Association of British Insurers conference on Tuesday, Donna Scully, partner at Liverpool firm Carpenters, called ...
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Backlog drives up value of compensation claims
The value of outstanding claims to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s compensation fund has jumped by 27% in a year. Figures released by the SRA show the value of claims in progress was £214m at the end of October, compared with around £170m 12 months previously. ...
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Top analyst predicts rash of legal mergers
A leading legal market authority has predicted a rash of mergers at top 50 firms in the next five years. Tony Williams (pictured), founder of consultancy firm Jomati and former managing partner of Clifford Chance, told a conference last week that further consolidation is inevitable as ...
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News
Lawyers must embrace case management reforms, says Jackson
Lord Justice Jackson has stressed that lawyers need to embrace his proposed reforms of case management if the necessary ‘culture change’ he envisages is to be realised. The architect of the government’s reform of civil litigation hopes that by securing the co-operation of the Law ...
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Bank reveals £5m litigation funding outlay
International bank Investec has revealed it has lent around £5m this year to legal clients pursuing commercial litigation. The bank started a pilot of the scheme eight months ago and claims it is the first to offer specialist finance to pursue a civil claim in court. ...
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News
Referral-fee refusenik enters PI market
A new law firm has entered the personal injury market promising neither to pay nor charge referral fees. Acorn Law, backed financially by national firm MTA Solicitors, says it is the first to be set up since the government announced plans to ban referral fees in ...
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News
End of the line for Solicitors From Hell
The founder of the controversial Solicitors from Hell website has finally admitted defeat after the High Court ordered him to remove the site from the internet. Rick Kordowski said he will bow out from what he described as a ‘campaign to expose apparent wrong-doing’ in the legal profession. ...
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Coalition to lobby Lords on referral fees
A coalition of insurers and lawyers is to lobby for tougher measures banning referral fees. The Civil Justice Group aims to promote a private member’s bill introduced by the former justice secretary, Jack Straw, which would make paying or receiving referral fees a criminal offence. A ...
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Ex-Minster Law chief unveils claims.com
A Leeds-based claims management company which paid a seven-figure sum for its web address opens for business this week, with a strategy that includes buying its own law firm and becoming an alternative business structure. Chief executive Matthew Briggs, who formerly led the Yorkshire personal injury ...
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News
Under starter’s orders - but they’re off already
There’s a wonderful moment of organised chaos at the start of every Grand National. No-one knows when the starting tape will lift, so the horses jostle and fidget, overcome by nervous tension and desperate to get started.
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City law firms must remain ‘open for business’ - Hudson
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has urged the government not to consider any further cuts to business migration limits. This week a report commissioned by the City of London Corporation warned the UK was in danger of creating a perception it was not open for ...
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Solicitor faces £20,000 bill for not co-operating with regulator
The Legal Ombudsman has won a landmark court case against a solicitor who failed to co-operate with an investigation. Howard Robert Gillespie Young, a solicitor who practised in Bolton, Lancashire for CMG Law, did not provide documents requested by the ombudsman after a complaint was made ...
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Will consumers settle for 'legal advice lite'?
You remember that arcade game where you whacked crocodiles with a mallet? No matter what you did another would pop up - it was as frustrating as it was futile. I imagine running a small law firm must be similarly exasperating right now. The likes of ...
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Trainee redundancies ‘unlawful’
The Law Society is investigating claims that trainee solicitors whose contracts are terminated are being made redundant unlawfully. David Taylor, a partner at London firm Hanne & Co, said the number of redundant trainees seeking advice has risen this year for the first time since 2008. ...
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Memory lane
Law Society's Gazette, November 1981 Brian’s brief fails to convince Maybe it was the joyous announcement that the future Duke of Cambridge had been conceived, but the Gazette letters page had a light-hearted edge throughout the month. ...