Last 3 months headlines – Page 1516
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News
Hundreds of Quinn firms yet to seek PII
More than half of the 1,900 sole practitioners who currently have professional indemnity insurance (PII) with Quinn Insurance have so far failed to apply to the broker attempting to find them alternative cover. The news comes after Danish insurer Alpha Insurance last week said that it ...
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Young set to rule out TV ad ban for personal injury
Lord Young will not seek to ban TV advertising for personal injury work in his review of the ‘compensation culture’, but is expected to call for a strengthening of referral fee regulations. Sources close to Lord Young of Graffham’s review, due to report this month, ...
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Government Legal Service facing deep cuts
The 2,000-strong Government Legal Service is facing job cuts of 20% to 40%, as government savings targets translate directly into headcount reductions, the Gazette has learned. The news comes as the Attorney General’s Office confirmed that government departments will also be seeking to ‘look critically’ at ...
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LinkedIn group: membership tops 2,000
Membership of the Gazette’s LinkedIn group broke through the 2,000 mark this week – a rise of 1,000 so far this year. The social networking group, which is open to all solicitors, features topical discussions on issues affecting the profession, as well as regular updates of ...
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Solicitors under fire from bar over referral fees
The new Criminal Bar Association chair has criticised solicitors for ‘abusing’ the referral fee arrangements for Crown court advocacy, claiming that solicitors are pocketing money for work done by barristers. In his first interview as CBA chair, Christopher Kinch QC told the Gazette: ‘The criminal bar ...
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LSC extends family contracts pending judicial review hearing
The Legal Services Commission has confirmed that all current civil contracts will be extended for one month, after the Law Society won an expedited hearing of its judicial review last week. At a directions hearing last Friday, the High Court granted the Law Society’s application for ...
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Websites and why HIP replacements are overdue
Is your firm’s web site still offering home information packs? A pat on the back if not. But I see a lot of firms’ websites, and I’m still coming across many that have not been updated since the demise of HIPs several months ago.
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Firm claims sex discrimination in legal aid tender
A London firm has claimed sex discrimination in judicial review proceedings challenging the Legal Services Commission’s refusal to award it immigration and community care contracts. Hereward & Foster issued proceedings in the Administrative Court on 7 September and has requested an expedited hearing. ...
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Scholarship to study law in France, Spain or Canada
Trainee and newly qualified solicitors have been given the chance to apply for a grant to study a postgraduate legal course in France, Spain or Canada. The Hubbard scholarship of up to £15,000 is available to trainees or newly qualified solicitors within three years of admission. ...
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What about firms that can’t afford to promote social mobility?
Accustomed as I am to receiving gloomy news about legal aid and vulnerable people being denied access to justice, a press release heralding a rare piece of good news brightened my inbox this week.
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Firms see boom in high-value litigation
A quarter of litigation disputes involve claims of more than £3m, and legal costs exceed £500,000 in 10% of cases, a survey of the heads of litigation at the UK’s top 200 law firms has revealed. The research, commissioned by Harbour Litigation Funding, showed that commercial ...
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Handling launch of legal directories
Today sees the publication of the 2010 Legal 500. Reputations and egos will be bolstered or dented and questions will be raised: ‘Why is such-and-such still ranked above us, when we all know that we are better?’
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The struggle over the European Law Institute
Prepare yourself for a battle of similarly sounding initials. This is a story of how ELIA has been struggling with EUI, and how they have then decided to make common cause to be able to carve out the spoils of the battle between themselves, and so decide who else should ...
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News
Barristers offer ‘lifeline’ to criminal solicitors
Barristers’ chambers could provide a ‘lifeline’ to small criminal law firms, Bar Council chairman Nick Green QC has told the Gazette. ...
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LSC extends family contracts
The Legal Services Commission has agreed to extend the family legal aid contracts for a month, as the Law Society won an application for an expedited hearing of its judicial review at a hearing last week. At a directions hearing at the High Court on Friday, ...
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News
LSC extends family contracts
The Legal Services Commission has agreed to extend the family legal aid contracts for a month, as the Law Society won an application for an expedited hearing of its judicial review last week. At a directions hearing at the High Court on Friday, the court granted ...
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News
The SRA must amend the Code of Conduct or law firms will close
This autumn the media will be replete with stories about the number of small firms of solicitors who have ceased to practise. A recurrent theme will be the lack of competition between those firms who remain, and an absence of choice for the consumer. There are three reasons for my ...
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SRA steps up ARP enforcement action
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has visited 88 firms in the assigned risks pool (ARP) since July, as part of its tougher enforcement strategy to clamp down on ‘financially unstable’ firms in the pool. The regulator announced a new enforcement regime in July designed to address the ...
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Rules on ABS discussions unlikely to be relaxed
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is unlikely to relax its rules on allowing firms to enter into deals with other businesses in advance of the licensing of alternative business structures, a paper prepared by the regulator has indicated. The paper, which will be discussed by the SRA ...
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Should corporations be bound by human rights treaties?
Human rights treaties bind states, not big business. And yet some multinational corporations are virtually states in themselves.