All articles by John Hyde – Page 365
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News
Half of accident victims do not claim
The UK may not have the ‘compensation culture’ that so many commentators claim, new research has suggested. A study conducted by the website personalinjurylawyers.co.uk has found that almost half of respondents who had been the victim of an accident never went on to claim compensation. ...
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Clifford Chance announces pay increases
Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance has announced salary increases for its senior lawyers, but a pay freeze for trainees and newly-qualified solicitors. The Canary Wharf-based firm will pay lawyers with three years’ experience a salary of £85,500, up by £1,000 on last year. Those with two years’ PQE will receive ...
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Lawyers are members of ‘rich minority’, say unions
Unions have held up the wages paid to members of the legal sector as proof of Britain’s growing earnings chasm. The TUC has today published a report that states that judges, barristers and solicitors have seen their salaries more than double since 1978 in real terms. ...
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Calls for change on drug policy are whistling in the wind
Trying to extrapolate a liberal drug policy from David Cameron is like punching fog: a gargantuan effort for no reward whatsoever. There is more chance of the Prime Minister running naked through Downing Street with ‘big society’ tattooed on his chest than there is of him ...
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Norton Rose in overseas mergers
City firm Norton Rose was this week expected to confirm mergers with firms in South Africa and Canada. The enlarged group will rank among the top-10 legal practices in the world by headcount when it completes a link-up with Canada’s Ogilvy Renault and Deneys Reitz in ...
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SRA approves scheme requiring advocates to be assessed by judges
The solicitors’ regulator has agreed to back proposals for a Quality Assurance Scheme despite some fears about how solicitors will be assessed. The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) yesterday endorsed plans to accredit advocates working in criminal cases. The scheme, ...
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Personal injury claims costs to rise despite reforms
Costs faced by the personal injury insurance industry are likely to rise despite government reforms of the system, according to a report by market analysts Datamonitor. The report found that insurers have little faith that litigation changes will see solicitors lower their fees. ...
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News
Claimants will miss out through CFA reforms, research suggests
Campaign groups have pleaded with the government to climb down over ‘no fee, no fee’ changes after publishing new research. A survey of recent claimants using the conditional fee arrangement (CFA) found that more half of respondents had an income below the national average of £25,000. ...
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News
The row over civil costs will not be over any time soon
The apparent banning of Marmite from Denmark’s supermarket shelves was a golden opportunity for marketing chiefs. I’m pretty certain the reverberations of losing a few Krone will be more than offset by the presence of the Marmite brand in every news outlet for the last couple ...
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News
PC fee expected to fall in 2011/12
Law firms and solicitors could see their regulatory fees slashed by almost a fifth this year. However, there is likely to be an increase in contributions to the compensation fund. Under SRA plans to be put before its board tomorrow, the individual ...
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Cost judges voiced fears over Jackson reforms, report reveals
Three costs judges from the Senior Court Costs Office broke ranks to object to radical reform of civil litigation, it has emerged. Masters Campbell, Haworth and Leonard said they were ‘unhappily’ unable to agree with the majority view of the costs judges who supported recommendations made ...
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City law firms urged to rethink strategy
City firms must reinvent themselves to keep pace with the changing corporate sector over the next decade, according to a report published last week. Legal consultancy Jomati, run by Tony Williams, former managing partner of magic circle firm Clifford Chance, said firms will need a new ...
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Solicitors Regulation Authority under attack from insurers
Insurers have criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority for being too slow to act when law firms breach the rules. Speaking at the Law Society Property Section’s annual conference in London last week, Andrew Nickels, risk manager at Zurich Professional, claimed the SRA fails to take action ...
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News
Fresh plea for asbestos victims 'fund of last resort'
Lawyers acting for people suffering from asbestos-related diseases have renewed their appeal for a ‘fund of last resort’ when insurance details cannot be found. Claimant lawyers said they had waited more than a year for the results of a consultation on setting up an Employers’ Liability ...
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Law firms ‘must improve practice management’
Business advisors have told law firms to improve their practice management if they want to emerge from the challenges of 2011. Members of the Institute for Turnaround (IFT) warned there are too many firms that are failing to recognise or deal with financial problems early enough. ...
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US firms show strong rebound from economic woes
Uncertainty may still reign in the UK, but across the pond the legal sector is feeling rather more optimistic, research has suggested. A survey published today indicated that most law firms in the US are seeing revenues rise, partner numbers increase and an end to salary capping. Leaders of the ...
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Firms freeze trainee recruitment, survey suggests
More than three-quarters of medium-sized firms have frozen graduate recruitment for the next year – despite an increase in applications. A survey of 82 firms with between 20 and 30 employees found that most firms planned to cut costs over the next 12 months. ...
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NHS ‘failing to learn lessons’ of litigation claims
The medical profession is failing to learn lessons from costly litigation claims, according to a leading clinical negligence lawyer. Writing in the latest issue of Clinical Risk, Irwin Mitchell partner Ian Christian says information from legal actions is not filtering back through the NHS. ...
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News
Neuberger sets out injunctions review
The UK’s leading judges have warned MPs not to abuse their parliamentary privilege to break the privacy achieved by injunctions. Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, appeared before the media this morning to set out a review of injunctions. The report ...
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Insurers attack high volume of whiplash claims
Insurers have decried the UK as the whiplash capital of Europe with nearly 1,200 claims made every day.