All articles by Jonathan Rayner – Page 36
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News
Immigration Advisory Service in administration
The Immigration Advisory Service, a charity that gives telephone advice to 36,000 clients and opens 7,000 appeal files every year, went into administration over the weekend. Cuts to legal aid are thought to be one reason for the charity’s financial problems. According ...
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News
‘No political will’ to reform marriage laws
There is ‘no political will’ to address the record levels of family breakdown that currently cost the country an estimated £40-100bn a year, a leading family lawyer claimed during a Law Society public debate yesterday. Ayesha Vardag, principal of London firm Vardags, one of a panel ...
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News
LGBT lawyers believe judicial selection process is discriminatory
Some 70% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) lawyers believe that the judicial selection process discriminates against them, while the same proportion say they would be likely to apply for a judicial role themselves if there were more existing judges who were openly gay, according to a report published ...
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Solicitor wins right to bring age bias claim against law firm
A solicitor dismissed for failing to meet billing targets has won the right to bring an age discrimination claim against his former employer. However, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) struck out his race and sex discrimination claims. Samarasingher Methuen began working for ...
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Society protests against treatment of Chinese lawyers
The Law Society is to take part in a ‘mass intervention’ to protest at the maltreatment of human rights lawyers in China, after an Amnesty International report published last week revealed that the Beijing government has intensified its clampdown on their work. The report said the ...
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News
Call for political involvement in judicial appointments
Political involvement in the appointment of judges is needed to bring about a more diverse judiciary, a leading academic told a House of Lords constitution committee inquiry into the fairness and effectiveness of the present judicial appointments system today. Experts also said suggested that widening the ...
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Trainee solicitor minimum salaries remain unchanged
The minimum salary for trainee solicitors will remain unchanged for the third successive year, at £18,590 per annum in central London and £16,650 elsewhere, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed. The rates equate to less than £9 an hour in central London and £8 elsewhere, based ...
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Treasury to scrap money-laundering penalties
The Treasury is to abolish more than 24 criminal penalties that can currently be imposed on law firms and other businesses for failing to comply with money-laundering regulations. Civil penalties will remain however, and regulators may be given the power to impose additional penalties. ...
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Law Society in position to cut practising certificate fee
Next year’s practising certificate fee could be cut by more than 15% following a £56.9m surplus reported by the Law Society in its annual report 2009/10, published today (15 June). The four factors behind the surplus include higher than expected receipts from the first year ...
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News
Bruising times at the UKBA
You have to be something of a bruiser to take on the job of minister for borders and immigration. It’s a tough job, with the right accusing you of going soft on ‘bogus’ asylum seekers and the left condemning you as a heartless fascist (more of ...
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Human Rights Institute questions Sri Lanka's judicial independence
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has written to the Sri Lankan government to voice its concerns about the erosion of judicial independence in the country. IBAHRI expressed particular concern about constitutional amendments limiting the chief justice’s term of office to five years, and ...
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News
HMRC may stall lawyers’ taxis
Late-working City lawyers could soon find themselves rubbing shoulders with office cleaners and other shift workers on the night bus if plans to abolish tax relief on late-night taxis are carried through by HM Revenue & Customs. Where employees are required to work significantly later than ...
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News
Scottish government to review role of Supreme Court
The Scottish government has set up a panel of experts led by a former solicitor general for Scotland to review the ‘aggressive’ intervention of the Supreme Court in Scotland’s legal affairs. The review was sparked by growing disquiet among Scottish politicians and lawyers at the Supreme ...
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News
EU access to representation proposal nears
The European Commission (EC) is this week expected to move a significant step closer to ensuring that all those facing criminal charges across the EU have access to legal representation. As the Gazette went to press, the EC was expected to publish a legislative proposal ...
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News
College of Law offers voluntary redundancies
The College of Law has begun a review of staffing levels and is to offer a voluntary redundancy package to staff across its eight centres. A spokesman for the College said: ‘We hope no compulsory redundancies will be necessary. 'This review ...
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News
Russian lawyers denied visas for Society human rights event
Twelve lawyers from Russia were denied visas to attend a three-day Law Society human rights training course in London last month. The Russian lawyer who co-ordinated the visas, which would have enabled the lawyers to receive training on the rule of law, described the decision not ...
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News
Work-based learning without training contract dubbed ‘success’ by SRA
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given a thumbs up to ‘work-based learning’ as a route to qualification without the need to secure a training contract after analysing the results of a two-year pilot scheme. A report on the pilot results, produced by Middlesex University, concluded ...
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News
Colombian lawyers under threat, report claims
Six judges, 12 prosecutors and 334 defence lawyers were murdered in Colombia’s ‘judicial war’ between 2003 and 2009, a report by a delegation of British and international lawyers has claimed. The report, published last week, found that Colombian lawyers still live in constant fear of assassination, ...
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News
Excellence awards open for entries
The Gazette opened nominations for its Legal Personality of the Year award this week, following the success of last year’s inaugural award. The Gazette award forms part of a suite of Law Society Excellence Awards designed to recognise outstanding individuals and teams within the profession. ...
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News
Law firms maintain staff bonus levels
Some 91% of law firm bonus schemes have remained unchanged over the last 12 months, but personal injury firms are expected to buck this trend by reducing bonuses next year, a survey of 400 regional law firms by recruitment consultancy BCL Legal has found. Other key ...