All articles by John Hyde – Page 358
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News
Don’t cut corners, LeO warns firms
Competition from new market entrants is forcing law firms to offer services and prices they cannot hope to deliver, according to the Legal Ombudsman. In his second annual report, Adam Sampson (pictured) raises concerns that under-pressure firms are cutting corners and making unrealistic promises. He ...
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Djanogly: QOCS applies to all
Qualified one-way costs-shifting (QOCS) will apply to all personal injury claimants no matter what their financial means, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed. In a written ministerial statement today, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) said there would be no financial test to determine eligibility. The new ...
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SRA eases insurers’ disclosure rules
Professional indemnity insurers will not be required to tell solicitors if their credit rating changes during the year of cover, regulators have decided. Following lobbying from the insurance industry, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has eased rules regarding insurers’ disclosure. Under the Qualifying Insurer’s Agreement approved earlier ...
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Claims managers get the blame for PI spike
The legal profession has rounded on claims management companies after a sharp spike in personal injury claims following road accidents. Figures from the Institute of Actuaries released this week show the proportion of accidents involving bodily injury rose by 18% last year. This was at a ...
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Freshfields and Linklaters dampen magic circle celebrations
Magic circle rivals Linklaters and Freshfields have recorded modest financial results to end a week of announcements by the UK’s biggest firms.
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PC fee up 5%, Law Society council agrees
The Law Society council today approved a practising certificate fee increase of £16 for 2012/13. The fee for each solicitor will rise from £328 to £344. Individual Compensation Fund contributions rise from £60 to £92. The contribution for firms will increase from £722 to £1,340. ...
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Indian call for legal liberalisation
India’s top law firms and largest companies are desperate for the country’s legal market to be liberalised, according to new research. A YouGov poll, in association with magic circle firm Allen & Overy, found near-unanimous agreement among more than 300 Indian legal stakeholders. In total, 96% ...
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Review of super-regulators calls for more openness
The Legal Services Board and the Office for Legal Complaints should open their board meetings to the public and publish all items of spending over £500, a Ministry of Justice Review has recommended. The report of the first triennial review of bodies established under the 2007 ...
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SRA rule change will increase choice but harm consumer
Choice is a wonderful thing. Living near Olympic Park I can currently choose between looking at adverts for Coke or McDonalds. Neither is likely, I imagine, to boost my chances of qualification for the 2016 Games. But what if increased choice means increased access to harmful ...
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Legal Ombudsman delays complaints publication
Publication of complaints made to the Legal Ombudsman about solicitors has been deferred, the Gazette can reveal. The ombudsman (LeO) had intended to collate all complaints from the first quarter of the 2012/13 financial year to post firm-by-firm details online this month. But the LeO’s office ...
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NHS reveals £1bn litigation bill
Spending by the NHS Litigation Authority on negligence claims has passed the £1bn mark for the first time. Annual accounts for the 2011/12 financial year show that £1.095bn was spent on clinical claims by NHS trusts, foundation trusts and primary care trusts in England. A further ...
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Solicitor shooting: man charged
A man appeared in court today charged with attempting to kill a Wiltshire solicitor. Michael Chudley, 62, from Rowde, Wiltshire, was also charged with threats to kill, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and carrying a firearm with criminal intent. At ...
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A&O profits steady
More than 400 partners at Allen & Overy will earn at least £640,000 this year, the firm revealed as it kicked off the magic circle reporting season today. Allen & Overy’s results for the year ending 30 April show profits up by 7% to £486m on ...
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Profits leap at Clifford Chance
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance says it has defied market uncertainty to post a ‘strong performance’ for the last financial year. The firm today said that its 2011/12 profits leaped by 13% to £431m while revenues rose by 7% to £1.3bn. Profit per equity partner was ...
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News
Man shot in solicitors’ office
A man is in a life-threatening condition after a shooting at a solicitors’ office in Wiltshire. The victim suffered serious head injuries after a single shot was fired at Morris, Goddard and Ward in Devizes on Monday afternoon, a police statement said. He was airlifted to ...
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Quindell snaps up claims networker to sidestep referral fee ban
One of the biggest new entrants to the legal market has invested in a networking business that brings together claims management companies (CMCs). AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio, which already owns a law firm and has applied to become an alternative business structure, said the move was designed ...
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High Court vindicates RSA on ‘in-house’ repair deals
An insurance company was entitled to set its own rates for vehicle repairs after claimants suffered accidents, a High Court judge has ruled. In his preliminary judgment on the case of Coles v Hetherton released today, Mr Justice Cooke said RSA Insurance was entitled to ...
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SIFA warns against liberalisation of referrals process
Solicitors referring clients for financial advice will be exposed to indemnity claims if the process is liberalised, the profession has been warned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is considering relaxing rules which dictate that lawyers can refer clients only to independent financial advisers, as opposed to advisers ...
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Chancery Lane warns of ‘anomalies’ in referral fee ban
The Law Society has warned of a ‘danger of anomalies’ in the government’s plan for banning referral fees. The Ministry of Justice is finalising the specifics of the ban, which will apply only to personal injury cases. Payment and receipt of the fees will be prohibited ...
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Women ‘out-perform men in judicial appointments’
Women made up around half the judicial appointments during a six-month period, despite forming as little as a fifth of the candidate pool. The sixth set of official statistics published today by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) shows women starting to outperform men. Based on 13 ...