Last 3 months headlines – Page 1214
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Website delays
With a growing percentage of new enquiries arriving via solicitors’ websites these days, online is undoubtedly a law firm’s most valuable marketing tool.
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Chancery Division upgrade planned
The Chancellor of the High Court has today announced a review of the practice and procedure of the Chancery Division in light of the imminent Jackson and legal aid reforms. The review will consider the working of the court both in and outside London, making recommendations ...
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Top-40 firms seek ABS status, research shows
Almost a quarter of the UK’s top-40 firms may seek to join with a non-solicitors practice in the next two years, according to research. A poll of leading firms by accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson found nine firms are keen on forming an ...
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Opportunities in Mexico
Mexico may be a distant market, but for internationally focused commercial firms with the right strategy, there is significant potential for growth in this rapidly expanding economy. With BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) experiencing slower growth than in the years that put their economies on the map, investor ...
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Interpreters contract: inept and dangerous
I write with regard to the court interpreter contract. Catherine Baksi is quite right still to be pursuing this particularly inept – and dangerous – example of outsourcing. Inept, since the terms of this monopolistic contract are holding the criminal justice system and we service providers to ransom.
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Lions led by donkeys
Those of your readers with a historical interest have no doubt heeded the conduct of the first world war generals. Strategy was decided ‘on high’. Little heed was paid to the men in the trenches. Policy came from an elite talking to itself. The verdict of history? Lions led by ...
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Air ambulance confusion
In the past few months the air ambulance community has discovered a problem where wills are being written listing the ‘Air Ambulance Service’ as a beneficiary. While the name ‘Air Ambulance Service’ has been used as a general phrase to describe services across the ...
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LSC drops legal aid contract changes
The Legal Services Commission has agreed to drop controversial changes to ongoing legal aid contracts following talks with the Law Society. The commission is tendering for new contracts in the runup to legal aid reforms coming into effect on 1 April and had sought to ...
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City firms eye China scheme
An initiative to promote business and legal ties between China and the UK has attracted leading City firms, its backers said this week. The UK-China Legal Partnership Initiative (LPI), to be formally launched this month, will run annual seminars, to be held alternately at China’s ...
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European AML directive ‘unlikely to be effective’
The fourth European money laundering directive, published last week, is likely to impose significant but ineffective burdens on solicitors over the ‘vexing issue’ of identifying beneficial owners, the Law Society has warned.
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Fraud hotline set up for homeowners
A fraud hotline has been opened by the Land Registry for homeowners who fear their property might be subject to a fraudulent sale or mortgage. It will allow owners who believe they may be victims to alert specially trained Registry staff. The Law Society said ...
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Cobbetts creditors must wait and hope
Further details have emerged of defunct firm Cobbetts’ financial troubles as administrators begin talks with creditors.
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Majority against IFA referral move
A decision to lift restrictions on referrals to independent financial advisers was made despite the majority of consultation respondents opposing the move, the Gazette has learned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority decided last November to allow solicitors to refer clients to any financial adviser regardless of ...
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The nature of Cobbetts’ rescue prompts questions
Four hundred jobs are to be saved at defunct firm Cobbetts, an outcome that sparked much back-slapping among the insolvency practitioners involved. KPMG will be counting its winnings, though the outcome is, of course, a rightful cause for celebration for the legal profession in general and those lawyers saved from ...
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Keystone offers £1 top-up insurance cover
Top-up legal expenses insurance cover with premiums that can be recovered after 1 April are being sold for just £1, the Gazette can reveal. After-the-event (ATE) insurer Keystone Legal is offering a product for cases insured by other legal expenses insurers that run out of cover, ...
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Francis report successfully points the way towards creating a safer NHS
by John Tingle, reader in health law at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University The Francis report on the failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust represents a wake-up call to the whole NHS.
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Sri Lanka bars lawyers
The Sri Lankan government has refused to allow an international delegation of lawyers to visit the country to assess the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. One delegate, former Supreme Court of India chief justice J. S. Verma, said he had his entry ...
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Unsuitable assessment
I wonder how many COLPs and COFAs answered the ‘suitability test’ correctly? The form on page two asks the question ‘have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence not falling within section 1.1?’ The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed to me that any speeding conviction ...
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Cause for complaint
I note that one of the changes to the Legal Ombudsman scheme rules is to accept complaints from prospective clients who could reasonably have expected to receive a service. This appears to be inconsistent with the principles of risk management in Lexcel, whereby the risk manager ...