All articles by John Hyde – Page 357

  • News

    SRA to consider dropping minimum wage for trainees

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Referral fees in spotlight as MPs slam cost of whiplash claims

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Cameron told: ‘engage with profession on PI’

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    PI firms inundated over banned implants

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Firms in ARP given April deadline

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Asbestos fund still on agenda, says government

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    NewLaw makes ABS move

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    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. ...

  • News

    Satellite jobs to go as Pannone aims south

    2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    US giant sets up English law practice

    2012-01-09T00:00:00Z

    Major US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell is to set up an English law practice in a bid to break new markets from London. The move marks a new stage in the rivalry between New York and London jurisdictions. The firm, which opened in London ...

  • News

    Marvo Dave and the albatross trick

    2012-01-09T00:00:00Z

    David Cameron truly is a magician. Not in the Paul Daniels sense, of course, although I’m sure SamCam would make an equally lovely Debbie McGhee. His main trick is the power of persuasion. He has convinced the working man and woman to sneer at the words health and safety in ...

  • News

    Profits flat at Allen & Overy

    2012-01-06T00:00:00Z

    Relocating staff to a single central London site cost magic circle firm Allen & Overy almost £25m, it has emerged. The full cost of the move was revealed in its LLP annual report and financial statements for 2010/11. The one-off outlays meant that continuing costs rose ...

  • News

    Retention rate for trainees up

    2012-01-05T00:00:00Z

    The number of trainees staying with their firms after qualifying recovered in 2011 after a two-year dip, according to a survey of more than 120 commercial firms. The Chambers Student Guide found that 1,813 of the 2,251 trainees who qualified in 2011 stayed on. That retention ...

  • News

    Everyman Legal launches franchise scheme

    2012-01-05T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors are to be offered the chance to set up their own practices under a franchise scheme launched today by commercial firm Everyman Legal. The firm, which in October became the first practice to target a stock exchange listing, will support members through its marketing and back-office systems.

  • News

    Leveson plea on ‘either way’ offences

    2012-01-05T00:00:00Z

    The chairman of the Sentencing Council has called on magistrates to send fewer ‘either way’ offences to the Crown court. The number of such cases reaching the Crown court rose from 310,000 in 2007 to 353,000 in 2010. Lord Justice Leveson told the House of Commons ...

  • News

    Cameron extends PI fees cap in attack on ‘albatross’ safety culture

    2012-01-05T00:00:00Z

    David Cameron today announced plans to cap lawyers’ fees from personal injury claims at £25,000. Speaking to an audience of small companies, the prime minister launched an attack on the so-called compensation culture and blamed it for holding back the growth of UK businesses.

  • News

    SRA ‘ready and waiting’ for ABSs

    2012-01-05T00:00:00Z

    Applications by firms to become alternative business structures (ABSs) could take up to nine months to process, the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed this week. The SRA, which on Tuesday became a licensing authority after two years of preparation, said it is ‘ready and waiting’ to accept forms from new entrants ...

  • News

    Tesco law is no big bang, but change is still on the horizon

    2012-01-04T00:00:00Z

    I’ve never quite understood the obsession with celebrating new year’s eve. There’s an enormous build-up, endless boring chat about the future and a few party poppers. Then it’s over, with just dark wintry evenings and uncertainty to look forward to.

  • News

    Consultation opens on separate jurisdiction for Wales

    2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

    Welsh Assembly members have begun consulting on the establishment of a separate legal jurisdiction for the principality. The assembly’s constitutional and legislative affairs committee will spend the next two months assessing how a separation from England would work in practice. The issue ...

  • News

    ‘Titanic battle’ predicted as ABS processing begins

    2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority today began processing applications for companies looking to become an alternative business structure (ABS). The SRA officially became a licensed regulator for ABSs before Christmas and set the first working day after the new year to start accepting applications. Depending on the ...

  • News

    PI firm attacks Jackson reforms in £1m campaign

    2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

    A personal injury firm has launched a £1m advertising campaign to attack government reforms of the no-win no-fee system. Birmingham firm Claim Today Solicitors (CTS) will spread its marketing drive across newspapers, television and the web for at least three months. The campaign is timed to ...