Last 3 months headlines – Page 1272
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Profits fall as Baker & McKenzie reports record turnover
Global giant Baker & McKenzie has reported a 2.1% rise in its fee income, taking its turnover to a record US$2.3 billion (£1.5bn) for the financial year ending 30 June 2012. However net income fell by 34%, from $1.2bn (£0.7m) to $790m (£506m). Profit per equity partner was down 9% ...
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Sampson in the lions' den
In the race to Room 101, claims management companies (CMCs) are rivaled in the public mind only by chuggers and those ‘freshen up’ toilet attendants. But unlike those second two groups, there is never the satisfaction of telling them in person where to go. The most ...
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Fair access to justice for vulnerable?
Insufficient screening procedures and routine support for vulnerable defendants are placing their right to a fair trial at risk, and solicitors have a key role to play in ensuring defendants get the right support. The Prison Reform Trust briefing Fair Access to Justice?, explains that vulnerable ...
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Seeing the world through lawyers’ eyes
It is the middle of the summer, and nothing legal stirs, at least in my part of the wood. So I have been reflecting on some of the profundities implicit in the condition of being a lawyer. No matter the trade or profession, we all suffer ...
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Shrill reaction from Fiji
Fiji’s interim government craves democratic legitimacy. Yet its members, and a supportive armed services, are unwilling to consider any option that carries the risk of losing power, or being held personally responsible for, actions they took to gain or hold power.
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Systemic cruelty inflicted on young refugees
Kids, who’d have ‘em? Not the British, by all accounts. We would rather pay more for our airfares, apparently, than risk the irritation of the child in front of us leaning back in his or her seat during a flight. What’s more, their GCSEs are easier than the ones we ...
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Grapes of wrath
Obiter’s reaction to the sight of someone eating grapes is normally to deliver a lecture on the virtues of patience. But it seems this isn’t the only danger involved. According to personal injury firm Edwards Hoyle slips and falls caused by grapes are among the ...
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Co-op, like Man Utd, gets an early wake-up call
There will be people looking at Co-op Legal Services’ interim financial results with the same glee as football fans savouring Manchester United’s defeat on Monday. United were the big spenders, the brand leaders, the swaggering, bold, competition-crushing favourites, brought down a peg or two. Victory for ...
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Private equity marches in to ABSs as Parabis application cleared
City-backed Parabis Law has become the first firm owned by private equity to be licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS). The announcement today brings to 20 the number of ABS applications to be cleared by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
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The destruction of the Forensic Science Service
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) was a government-owned company. It provided services to police forces across England and Wales, together with other agencies such as the Crown Prosecution Service, British Transport Police and HM Revenue & Customs. It also provided services to police forces in other countries.
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Conveyancing panels and separate representation
For at least the past two years, the Law Society has been working hard to respond to a series of unwelcome and often confusing changes to lender panel membership.
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Will litigators be lured by contingency fees?
With the starting gun for contingency fees in commercial litigation due to fire in April 2013, interest in how the new damages-based agreements (DBAs) will work has been building in recent months. Now, with the publication of a set of recommendations from the Civil Justice Council’s DBAs working group, a ...
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Oral contracts to be banned in claims clampdown
Claims management companies (CMCs) will be forced to end oral contract arrangements under rules proposed by the Ministry of Justice today. The MoJ’s Claims Management Regulator (the regulator) will insist that CMCs have to agree contracts with clients in writing before any fees can be taken. ...
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Crown jewels on display
Obiter is relieved to hear that there is no legal reason why new photographs of Prince Harry in the buff cannot be published. According to Andrew Sharpe, a solicitor with LexisPSL, LexisNexis’ practical guidance service, we’d be OK under the Data Protection Act 1998, which ...
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Santander puts panel review on hold
Santander has agreed to pause the ongoing quarterly review of its conveyancing panel and postpone the next review as talks with the Law Society over the process continue. The Society contacted the bank earlier this month seeking an urgent meeting to raise concerns over the review. ...
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Investment drive hits profits at Co-op Legal
Operating profits for Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) fell year-on-year by 63% during the first half of 2012, the organisation revealed today. In its half-year financial report, the Co-operative Group says its legal services arm made a profit of £700,000 as it spent heavily on recruitment and expansion. ...
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Petition fights clinical negligence clawback
Campaigners for accident victims have launched a petition to stop a levy being taken from successful claims funded through legal aid. The Ministry of Justice intends to impose the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS) from April 2013, to allow for up to 25% of damages awards ...
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The importance of legal office design
If you want to understand an organisation, take a look at the place it calls home. Offices by their very nature reflect what goes on inside them and how the organisation sees itself. And when an organisation changes, so too does its workplace.
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ABSs ‘put 2,000 firms at risk’
More than 2,000 law firms are at risk of failure in the next year because of competition from alternative business structures (ABSs). That is the claim of insolvency trade body R3, after studying data from Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database. The figures, which place existing businesses ...
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Eight days a week: a job description not a song
Lawyers and other legal professionals put in the equivalent of eight working days a week, a survey has revealed. And two-fifths of them feel more stressed by work than they did a year ago. In a survey of more than 2,000 British employees, international recruiter Randstad ...