Last 3 months headlines – Page 1206
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Society unveils consulting service
The Law Society today unveiled a new consulting service for members to support work to meet their regulatory requirements. The service aims to provide clarity and reassurance to law firms and in particular to offer guidance to newly-appointed compliance officers. ...
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Society: SRA should invite bids for failures’ caseloads
The Law Society has suggested that the Solicitors Regulation Authority should invite firms to bid for work from failed firms to cut the cost of interventions, the Society’s chief executive revealed last night. Desmond Hudson (pictured) was addressing the Conveyancing Association, following the SRA’s revelation earlier ...
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A glass half full
Despite not wishing to be thought a grumpy old lawyer I decided to look at the Legal Ombudsman’s recent report, The price of separation: Divorce-related legal complaints and their causes. This report made the news as it features lots of stories about wicked lawyers. The ...
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UK is best for litigation, says justice secretary
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has sent a message to the world that the UK is cheaper, quicker and more reliable for litigation disputes. Grayling gave a keynote speech at the UK headquarters of Allen & Overy yesterday to stress his commitment to exporting legal services abroad. ...
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Judge warns claimant firm on costs ‘manipulation’
A judge has warned law firms that courts will not tolerate attempts to change court orders for their own advantage. Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart told claimant firm Rosling King last week that it was verging on ‘contumelious’ [insulting] to produce a draft that its clients would prefer ...
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SRA to relax rules on reporting breaches
The Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to drop the much-criticised requirement for compliance officers to report all non-material breaches, an executive said today. Samantha Barrass, director of supervision, risk and standards, told delegates at the Law Society's Risk and Compliance Annual Conference in London that the ...
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Selecting the judiciary on merit
I recently received an email on behalf of the Judicial Appointments Commission, inviting me to complete a survey because ‘they would like to know your views on what motivates lawyers to apply – or not to apply – for judicial office... One of its statutory responsibilities is to reach and ...
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Wrong assumption on innocence
Ian Craine argues that the presumption of innocence ‘is not the same thing as an assumption’, and also seems to regard it as something more than a ‘rule of evidence’. He has against him the US Supreme Court which, in Taylor v Kentucky, stated: ‘The presumption of innocence … is ...
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In conflict with clients
The Jackson reforms undermine the most important principle of achieving fairness for victims of injustice. That is to ensure that the victim is returned to the position they would have been in but for the wrongdoing. Damages-based agreements will permit a direct deduction from damages. ...
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Domicile poser
In what was otherwise an excellent article, Jane Lee used the term ‘UK domicile’ in her Practice Points. The correct term is, of course, an English and Welsh, or Scottish, or Northern Irish domicile. James Aitken, Legal Knowledge, ...
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Unpaid overtime costs lawyers £14k
Legal professionals are among the most likely workers to do unpaid overtime, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A national study published this week found that 49.6% of legal professionals work unpaid overtime. Their average unpaid overtime, 9.7 hours a week, is exceeded only ...
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Negligence claim fears over ATE insurance
Solicitors have been warned they could face professional negligence claims if their client cannot secure after-the-event insurance before civil litigation reforms come in to force on 1 April. ATE insurers have told the Gazette they have been ‘inundated’ with law firms trying to secure cover while ...
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MoJ acts after court interpreter fiasco
The Ministry of Justice says it has accepted all of the recommendations made by the Public Accounts Committee in its report on the department’s ‘shambolic’ handling of the court interpreter contract. The committee last month published a damning verdict on the procurement and delivery of the ...
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Immigration debate has shifted from a meaningful exchange of ideas
There is a deficit of meaningful dialogue in the immigration debate. Despite unprecedented access to countless news sources, rich information and varied points of view, we often tend to only consume our favourite flavour of opinion. Partly because of the explosion of online media and the ...
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We are witnessing the triumph of ideology and cynicism
News that the army’s most senior legal officer during the Iraq war has signed a letter to the Daily Mail from hundreds of lawyers opposing secret courts (tinyurl.com/cnxcazg) raises a curious prospect. If there were a military coup in this country, we would be moving to the Left (apologies to ...
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The bar is wrong in its objections to non-trial advocates
by Andrew Bishop, a solicitor-advocate and managing partner at Bishop & Light Solicitors, Hove It now seems that both the bar and solicitors are strongly opposed to QASA, the proposed quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates.
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Positive discrimination in judiciary faces struggles
The appointment of three ‘top judges’ attracted predictably little press attention last week, even though Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge will make up a quarter of the Supreme Court. Perhaps that is a good sign; it suggests the public has no reason to doubt that the ...
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High Court throws out RTA fees cut challenge
The High Court today threw out a challenge to a new fees regime expected to cost personal injury firms £200m a year. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society were challenging a decision by the Ministry of Justice to cut ...
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BT Law is born as claims unit granted ABS licence
Telecommunications giant BT today announced its long-expected move into legal services with the launch of BT Law Limited. The subsidiary, which has received an alternative business structure (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, will offer services to corporate customers, initially in the motor claims ...