Last 3 months headlines – Page 1556
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Law Society calls for suspension of family tender result
The Law Society has called on the Legal Services Commission to suspend the implementation of the family legal aid tender round in a letter to its chief executive Carolyn Downs. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said ‘the public interest demands’ that the tender round should ...
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Family judges alarmed over legal aid tender
The head of the family courts has warned the Legal Services Commission that he has been ‘inundated’ by family judges expressing serious concerns over the outcome of the family legal aid tender, in a letter seen by the Gazette. Lord Justice Wall has written to the ...
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Lawyers see 'explosion' in cohabitation cases
The recession has caused an ‘explosion’ in the number of cohabiting couples seeking advice on relationship breakdown, according to family lawyers who have called for the ‘complex’ laws applied to them to be updated. Vanessa Lloyd Platt, founder of London firm Lloyd Platt & Co, said: ...
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Act fast to avoid PII misery
It’s not a sexy subject, and it’s not particularly fun to write a stream of gloomy reports on it, but solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) is a hot topic for the profession. We are exactly eight weeks from the 1 October renewals deadline and there is already plenty to ponder.
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LSB approves £428 practising certificate fee
The Legal Services Board has approved the level of the individual practising fee at £428 per solicitor for 2010/11. Solicitors, recognised European lawyers and recognised foreign lawyers (RFL) will pay the individual fee, while their firms will also pay a firm-based fee, which will be calculated ...
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Criminal procedure
Change of plea – Postal pleas – Right to change plea after hearing Michael John Rymer v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Rafferty): 21 July 2010 ...
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Human rights
Duty to undertake effective investigation – Inhuman or degrading treatment – Iraq Ali Zaki Mousa & Ors (claimants) v Secretary of State for Defence (defendant) & Legal Services Commission (interested party): DC (Sir Anthony May (President QB), Mr Justice ...
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Public health – back to the future
We humans are a discontented lot, constantly seeking release from the imprisonment of the present. Fashions ebb and flow; and if you wait long enough, what was already obsolete yesterday will surely become today’s ‘must-have’. Thus, as Shakespeare’s clown in Twelfth Night would have it, ‘... the whirligig of time ...
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No choice for mental health clients
The letter from Hugh Barrett of the Legal Services Commission refers to the allocation of new matter starts according to ‘client demand’. He implies that the LSC are responding to client needs rather than the interests of solicitors. A clever approach but misleading.
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, July 1980 Legal confidentiality and the press Home secretary Theresa May appeared to signal the ...
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Legal aid debacle
I have to add my voice to what can only be termed as the legal aid tendering debacle where established existing providers have been cast aside in place of big boys/providers. My practice is in the London borough of Havering. It has been established for over ...
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Horn ultimatum
There aren’t many people who can claim to have spent the best part of two months under a rhinoceros. But that is precisely what Sara Corley (pictured), a dispute resolution solicitor at Hillyer McKeown in Chester, has been up to. Corley created two impressive rhino sculptures as part of the ...
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Down and out
Obiter takes his swimming cap off to Hamlins intellectual property partner Ian Down, who is set to swim the English Channel for charity this week. Apparently, the first successful swim crossing was by Captain Webb in 1875, and the average time to swim ...
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SRA fee: double the pain
I have a firm turning over £2.2m with eight solicitors. In 2009/2010, we paid £10,610 for practising certificates and the compensation fund etcetera.
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Courting success
At last week’s press conference to mark the Supreme Court’s first year in business, chief executive Jenny Rowe indicated that the court would be unable to operate if it had to make a 40% cut to its budget. But from what Lord Phillips revealed about how things used to be ...
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Building the case for a bill of rights
Is the pendulum of justice swinging too far in favour of the prosecution? As a result of allegations of jury tampering, a recent high-profile case was heard by a judge alone. The Crown Prosecution Service has been heavily criticised for refusing to charge a police ...
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Ain't misbehavin'
Home secretary Theresa May appeared to signal the end of the anti-social behaviour order last week, as she announced a review of asbos. Figures show that more than half of them were breached between 2000 and 2008. But it’s not as if asbos have never been good for anything – ...
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Cuts to the civil justice system may cost far more than they save
by Seamus Smyth, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association We understand that all departments of the administration are required to reduce their expenditure by at least 20% – perhaps up to 40%. To the extent that this applies also to the administration of civil justice, ...
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Professional solidarity will be essential in year ahead
Having held the office of president of the Law Society of England and Wales for three weeks now, I am delighted to give my first monthly update to the profession. This month, I want to look at two significant problems facing the profession – professional indemnity insurance (PII) and legal ...
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Are Supreme Court justices more assertive than they were as law lords?
The president of the Supreme Court and his second-in-command could be forgiven for the enthusiasm with which they welcomed reporters to an end-of term briefing last week. ‘We think our first year has been a success,’ said Lord Phillips, with justifiable pride. The move from ...