Last 3 months headlines – Page 1468
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News
Noise control
The Law Society brought the might of celebrity behind its legal aid publicity campaign last week, receiving a ringing endorsement from actress Joanna Lumley (Lumley noted that without legal aid, cases like the gurkha justice campaign could never have been fought), and gathering a host of gurkhas for a photo ...
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Pitching for a game
Obiter thanks London firm Howard Kennedy and their super-efficient PR Giselle Daverat for organising a recent five-a-side footie match with the Gazette – from which this magazine’s team was ungracious enough to emerge victorious. Any other firms brave enough to take on the ...
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Real reason for cuts
Has it occurred to anyone that the motivation behind cuts (begun by New Labour remember) in legal aid – particularly in the civil arena – may be a good deal more sinister than the coalition would have us believe? Any first-year law student should spot that ...
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Conveyancing: bigger is not better
As a firm dealing with conveyancing matters on a comparatively small scale we feel hugely threatened by the pressures on our business from the increase of indemnity premiums largely resulting from the requirements of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, who of course include all the major banks and financial institutions. ...
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Poorly drafted wills
I read (online) the Gazette article about the benefits of Will Aid (and the comments posted on that article). Friends of mine had their wills prepared by a small firm of solicitors under the Will Aid scheme. I offered to check the wills for them before ...
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Butchery and ABSs
I have attended a number of seminars and read a number of different articles regarding alternative business structures that are due to be permitted from October 2011. As I understand it, a ‘manager’, who may be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, would be able to participate in ...
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Weighing up the balance sheet
What a cheerless world is portrayed in Maureen Broderick’s article . Are we really just a ‘time and materials’ business? It is a very long time since there was any debate about the basis of our professional ethics. There are still some of us who worry ...
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Consumer conference challenged perceptions of legal sector
As president of the Law Society, I see it as my job to ensure that we solicitors are well equipped for the legal services market of the future. Like you, I have long been worried by the unwarranted negative perception that surrounds the profession. Lazy ...
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Legal aid cuts ‘do little to protect public interest’, says bar regulator
The government’s proposals for legal aid reform have no positive regulatory impact and do little to protect or promote the public interest, according to the bar’s regulator. In its response to the green paper, the Bar Standards Board said the planned scope and eligibility cuts will ...
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Thousands respond to Ministry of Justice legal aid consultation
The Ministry of Justice received 5,000 responses to its consultation on legal aid cuts, Jonathan Djanogly told the Justice Committee this morning. The legal aid minister told the committee he could not discuss what the responses to the consultation, which closed on Monday, but said the ...
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Personal tax planning for partners: additional considerations
A few weeks ago, I addressed the topic of year-end personal finance planning, with a specific focus on pension contributions and tax relief. There are, however, several additional considerations that partners should also bear in mind as this tax year winds down and planning ...
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Common sense needed in rape cases
The Crown Prosecution Service has just launched a consultation on guidance governing when individuals who retract allegations of rape or domestic violence should face prosecution. The interim guidance takes immediate effect. It follows a number of high-profile cases, in which women ...
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Protection of Freedoms Bill ‘disappointing’, says Law Society
The new Protection of Freedoms Bill fails to live up to government promises and instead hints at a ‘growth of the surveillance society’, the Law Society has warned. The Society said the legislation, which the coalition claims will scale back on Labour’s ‘intrusive’ policies, will take ...
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SRA streamlines staff levels in move towards risk-based regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to reduce its staff levels by 12.5% by the end of the year, in an organisational restructure announced today. The reduction in staff numbers forms part of the regulator’s transition to outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of alternative business structures, which ...
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Who can be a lawyer? Two more cases
I meet regularly with representatives of other professions at European level. The legal profession has a number of special features: it is regulated in every EU country, which is not the case with most, if not all, of the others. Secondly, ...
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Jackson’s proposals can’t deliver access to justice at proportionate cost
by Helen Smith, senior broker at TheJudge, a litigation risk transfer broker The legal press has been consumed in recent months with commentary on the imminent doom that will befall the ATE insurance market together with the eradication of recoverability of success fees, should Lord ...
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Butler-Sloss issues warning over legal aid cuts
The government’s planned legal aid cuts will have a ‘serious adverse long-term effect’ on the justice system, a former president of the family division of the High Court has warned. In a speech to the Society of Conservative Lawyers, Baroness Butler-Sloss said that the plans would ...
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Bar Council cautions against ‘DIY litigants’
The government’s ‘crude and brutal’ legal aid cuts will trigger a surge in ‘DIY litigants’ that risks ‘gridlock’ in the courts, the Bar Council has warned. Responding to the government’s consultation on legal aid, which closes today, the bar’s representative body said the cuts, which are ...
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Pro bono figures are a credit to the profession
Last week’s report by the Law Society on pro bono activity by solicitors was a real credit to the profession. The study showed that private practice lawyers performed a whopping £475m of pro bono work in 2009/10, up 19% on the previous year. ...
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Stoke personal injury firm launches iPhone app
Stoke-on-Trent personal injury firm Attwood has launched an iPhone app that allows users to upload images of their injuries prior to launching a claim. Launching the app today, which allows users to value and make a claim, the firm said that uploaded information can be downloaded ...