All articles by John Hyde – Page 366

  • News

    Irwin Mitchell in financial advice tie-up

    30 June 2011

    National firm Irwin Mitchell has linked up with a financial advice group to offer legal services directly to its customers. The law firm will offer a range of services for clients using the Guardian Wealth Management (GWM) group. Irwin Mitchell has already ...

  • News

    ABSs will tempt investors, top banker predicts

    30 June 2011

    A leading banker has predicted that investors will be queuing up to enter the legal services market when alternative business structures (ABSs) come into force from October. Former barrister John Llewellyn-Lloyd, now head of mergers and acquisitions for Espirito Santo, said the market was an attractive ...

  • News

    Dianne Hayter resigns as chair of legal services consumer watchdog

    29 June 2011

    The first chair of watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel has resigned after two years in the post. Baroness Hayter (pictured) has decided to step down because of her commitments in the House of Lords, the Legal Services Board said in a statement. ...

  • News

    Clyde & Co enters Canadian market with merger

    29 June 2011

    City firm Clyde & Co has become the latest UK practice to move into the Canadian marketplace. The firm, which has 24 offices around the world, has confirmed a merger with Canadian insurance firm Nicholl Paskall-Mede (NPM). NPM’s 40-strong team, including 15 ...

  • News

    Firms failing on client needs, study reports

    24 June 2011

    Law firms are failing to understand their clients’ needs, creating a significant expectations gap, a study has found. DLA Piper joint chief executive Sir Nigel Knowles said the findings should serve as a ‘call to arms’ to practices to improve in this regard. ...

  • News

    British businesses buried by European legal avalanche

    24 June 2011

    Businesses are struggling to keep abreast of the hundreds of new laws published last year by the European Union. Legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell says 806 new laws impacting the UK were created in 2010. The majority of those were made ...

  • News

    UK's top law firms see fee income growth

    23 June 2011

    The UK’s top 100 law firms achieved overall fee income growth of 3.9% in the last financial year - but the gap between top and bottom is continuing to grow. Deloitte’s latest Quarterly Legal Sector Survey shows top firms increased productivity by 1.6% up to the ...

  • News

    ‘Big is not beautiful’ says LSB in report on smaller regulators

    23 June 2011

    An independent report commissioned by the Legal Services Board into the future of the smaller regulators has stressed that they must not be forced into radical changes in response to the Legal Services Act. The report, by former Ministry of Justice official Nick Smedley, predicted there ...

  • News

    Government set to press ahead with legal aid cuts and Jackson reforms

    23 June 2011

    The Law Society and legal profession this week vowed to continue campaigning against the government’s legal aid cuts, following publication of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke. The bill, issued as the Gazette went to press, confirmed the ...

  • News

    Huge debt burden would have deterred most of today’s lawyers from university

    22 June 2011

    A new survey of qualified lawyers has found that under half would have gone to university today, when aspiring solicitors can expect to wrack up massive debts. Legal recruitment firm Laurence Simons found the majority of 224 respondents would have baulked at the total costs of ...

  • News

    Elite blames SRA for decision not to enter indemnity market

    22 June 2011

    A leading insurer has said that the SRA’s failure to implement reform more quickly has deterred it from entering the solicitors’ professional indemnity market. Elite Insurance said it will not join the market this year despite initial suggestions it would be writing premiums. ...

  • News

    Beachcroft in merger talks with Davies Arnold Cooper

    22 June 2011

    Beachcroft and Davies Arnold Cooper are discussing a potential merger that would catapult the combined firm into the UK’s top 25 by revenue. The pair said today that together they aim to create one of the largest law firms serving the insurance market, both nationally and ...

  • News

    Victims of crime failed by criminal justice system

    21 June 2011

    Members of the public have little confidence in the criminal justice system and feel the rights of the accused outweigh their own, a new survey suggests. National charity Victim Support reveals the extent of discontent with the system among recent victims of crime in its latest ...

  • News

    Legal aid and sentencing reforms set to be announced later today

    21 June 2011

    The delayed Justice Bill will be unveiled in the House of Commons this afternoon by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke. He is expected to outline deep cuts to the legal aid budget and plans for an overhaul of civil litigation funding – including plans to charge ...

  • News

    Legal aid and the negligence of the press

    21 June 2011

    If you’re angry at cuts to legal aid (and you should be), then don’t just direct your ire at David Cameron. For those unlucky enough to sit through this morning’s press conference announcing changes to the justice system, let me give it to you in a ...

  • News

    Legal aid and the negligence of the press

    21 June 2011

    If you’re angry at cuts to legal aid (and you should be), then don’t just direct your ire at David Cameron. For those unlucky enough to sit through this morning’s press conference announcing changes to the justice system, let me give it to you in a ...

  • News

    The Big Society, votes and the law

    17 June 2011

    Maybe it’s the rain, maybe it’s the lack of cricket in the Test match, but I’m in a wretched mood today. But the government, at least, has given me something to get my teeth into with two law-related stories catching my eye. Let’s start with justice ...

  • News

    DLA Piper boss’s warning for legal sector

    16 June 2011

    The head of global legal giant DLA Piper warned this week that a ‘paradigm shift’ is about to hit the sector. Sir Nigel Knowles (pictured), joint chief executive of the firm, predicted many firms will flounder in the next 10 years after alternative business structures (ABSs) ...

  • News

    DLA sees profits climb amid expansion drive

    16 June 2011

    Global law firm DLA Piper saw its profitability improve sharply in 2010, though income was flat. The firm, which has over 4,200 lawyers in 30 countries, recorded a 5.9% rise in profits to £503m on income up just 1% to £1.27bn. It declined to disclose average ...

  • News

    Magistrates resign as courts close

    15 June 2011

    Resignations from the magistracy have increased by 18% since the announcement of court closures, according to government figures. Responding to a written question tabled by Mike Wood, MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly revealed that 487 magistrates had resigned from ...