Last 3 months headlines – Page 1308
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Serwotka threatens more disruption after ‘brilliant’ court strike
A union leader has threatened a further strike next month after industrial action by court workers across the country. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said yesterday’s one-day strike had received ‘brilliant support’ from members working in the courts service. The ...
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LSB chair brushes aside critics in robust defence of liberalisation
The chair of the Legal Services Board yesterday rebutted allegations that the quango is overreaching itself by seeking to 'micro-manage’ professional regulation. 'People and glasshouses spring to mind,’ David Edmonds (pictured) told a seminar on regulation at the Royal Festival Hall organised by Russell-Cooke and chaired ...
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Should solicitors help draw legal aid red lines?
How far should solicitors go to help the government formulate its criminal justice spending plans and what are the red lines that cannot be crossed when it comes to cuts? These were the questions underlying a thought-provoking speech given by the Law Society’s head of legal ...
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My first jumbo
I was reading one of those booklets that get sent out by indemnity insurers to remind us how to avoid claims. Most of them are very good. They are readable and clear and will not give you too many nightmares. No one likes waking up in the middle of court ...
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Future is fixed billing - Neuberger
Master of the rolls Lord Neuberger has warned that alternative business structures may sound the ‘death knell’ for hourly billing. Speaking at the Association of Costs Lawyers conference today, Neuberger said clients were increasingly put off by hourly billing and attracted by fixed fees. As well ...
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Twitter twits
Just why don’t lawyers get Twitter? This is a website with more than 300 million registered users worldwide, a figure that is growing all the time. It has extraordinary reach, allowing members to spread their own message or listen into what others are saying. It is, ...
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Apprenticeship scheme for legal services
The first legal services apprenticeships are to be made available from next year to employers seeking skilled paralegal and other legal support staff. The London Apprenticeship Company (LAC) announced today that it had teamed up with charity Skills for Justice to place young people into apprenticeships ...
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Beneath the hysteria over whiplash lies an injured man
Let’s call him Bob. Bob is 43, has 2.5 kids and works as a self-employed painter and decorator. Bob is involved in a car accident, and although initially he was a bit stiff he wakes the next morning to find that he really is, actually, injured. ...
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Proceeds of crime
Sentence - Confiscation order R v Bagnall and another: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Moses, Mrs Justice Macur and Mrs Justice Sharp): 18 April 2012 The Court of ...
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Benefit claims
This article was prompted by the case of Coventry City Council v Vassel [2011] EWHC 1542 Admin. It explores some of the technicalities that arise in connection with section 112 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended: ‘Failure to notify a change in circumstances.’ In particular, it looks ...
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Living life on the edge
I read with interest your feature ‘Time out’. As a solicitor who failed to achieve a work/life balance, I hope that my experience may be a lesson to others. I was a partner in a small firm for 23 years. For 21 of those years, I was a full-time working ...
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Competitive instinct
It was gratifying to read about the final of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting’s annual mooting competition, held at the Law Society.
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Tackling fraud
Kenneth Clarke is making the important problem of fraudulent whiplash claims unnecessarily complicated. The answer to the problem is not only staring the government in the face, it is positively jumping up and down and screaming.
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Advice warning
May I suggest that there are three reasons why solicitors should not accept the invitation extended by District Judge Richard Chapman in his recentComment.
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Employment
Age discrimination - Contract of service - Both parties appealing Homer v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: Supreme Court (Lords Hope DP, Brown, Mance and Kerr SCJJ, Lady Hale): 25 April 2012 ...
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Expert review
Solicitors who need to instruct a psychologist in a family matter may be wondering what to do after recent media coverage of the report from Professor Jane Ireland.
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Out of pocket
I read with interest the comment from Peter Lewis, head of CJS Efficiency Programme. I am beginning to lose count of similar claims and ‘recommendations’ for us to sign up to this new system.
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Disputing costs
The suggestion by Laura Kelly that £400 to £500 after-the-event policies are responsible for the ‘mess’ in the civil legal costs system should be taken with a big pinch of salt.
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So, farewell then
It is obvious to everyone in the road traffic accident claims business that in the last four to five years things have changed. The number of claims, whether false, exaggerated, or genuine but minor, has exploded.
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No career choice
With the season of work experience students upon us, I am very glad that we have accepted few applicants this year. I am sure they are enthusiastic young things who just want to ‘help people’, but I would be curmudgeonly enough to advise them not to bother with the legal ...