Last 3 months headlines – Page 1557
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IFA commissions clampdown welcomed
The organisation pushing for closer relations between solicitors and independent financial advisers (IFAs) this week welcomed the Financial Services Authority’s decision to clamp down on commissions paid to IFAs. The FSA will ban IFAs from taking commissions from finance companies for recommending the company’s investment products. ...
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Publicity provokes firm into file-sharing rethink
Fear of adverse publicity has prompted a law firm to stop taking on cases against individuals for alleged copyright infringement through illegal downloading of material.
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Barristers starting to take advantage of reforms
Barristers have started to make use of changes to their practice rules that allow them to operate in new business models.On 1 April the Legal Services Board approved changes to the bar’s code of conduct to enable barristers to practise together in partnership or to become partners in legal disciplinary ...
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SRA rules out practising certificate fee appeals
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided against providing a general appeals process for firms that end up paying significantly higher practising certificate fees under the new PC fee regime from 2011, it emerged last week. SRA board chair Charles Plant (pictured) told the Gazette that there ...
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Immigration legal aid contracts further delayed
The announcement of the outcome of the tender process for immigration legal aid work has been further delayed, the Legal Services Commission said last week. Firms were due to be notified last Friday whether they had been awarded new contracts to provide publicly funded work, ...
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Lawyer issues libel claim against 'solicitorsfromhell' website
A north-east solicitor has instructed libel lawyers Carter-Ruck to bring a claim for damages against the owner of a website that blacklists solicitors and law firms. Scott Eason, principal at Eason Law, is pursuing a claim for damages of between £50,000 and £100,000 and seeking a ...
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McGrigors chief offers ‘Tesco law’ rift solution
The head of Anglo-Scottish law firm McGrigors has put forward a proposal that could prevent the full implementation of ‘Tesco law’ in Scotland and heal a damaging rift over the future of the nation’s solicitors’ profession. Managing partner Richard Masters wants the majority ownership of a ...
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Baker & McKenzie using external firms to recover unpaid fees
US and City firm Baker & McKenzie is to instruct external law firms to recover any unpaid legal fees owed to it by clients, the Gazette has learned. It is understood the firm, in an unusual move, has instructed each of its practice areas to pay ...
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Fears over child care lawyer shortage
A shortage of child care solicitors has led to a rise in the use of unqualified paralegal staff to present cases on behalf of local authorities, the Gazette has learned. Jordan Gooch, public sector consultant at recruiters Badenoch & Clark, said there has been a significant ...
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Manifestos pledge to abolish HIPs
A small correction to your article on the main parties' approach to legal issues, in connection with home information packs. In fact, there is a Conservative Party manifesto commitment to ‘abolish home information packs...
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President's ill-informed claims over equal pay cases
The Law Society president is guilty of making extremely derogatory and ill-informed claims about the role of trade unions in equal pay cases.
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LibDems propose to scrap HIPs
A Liberal Democrat government would scrap home information packs, ID cards and the Labour Party’s prison building programme, according to its manifesto published yesterday. Nick Clegg’s party said its core aim is to ‘hard-wire fairness back into national life’. Like the ...
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Permanent administrators appointed to Quinn Insurance
The status of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies of more than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners has today been thrown into uncertainty after the Irish High Court appointed permanent administrators to Irish insurer Quinn Insurance. The Law Society said that its advice to Quinn ...
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Immigration rules ‘poisoned chalice’, warn lawyers
The government’s decision to add a new ‘highly trusted sponsor’ category to the points-based immigration system is a possible ‘poisoned chalice’ for education providers, immigration lawyers have warned. Educational institutions, such as language schools, can qualify for the new sponsor category, which came into force on ...
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Should legal aid be given to MPs to defend expenses charges?
The news that the Labour MPs accused of fiddling their parliamentary expenses, David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine, have been granted legal aid to defend the charges against them sparked an outcry, with the leaders of all three major parties falling over themselves to denounce it.
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How does your firm manage online enquiries?
When law firms first started to promote themselves online, their websites were little more than brochures: ‘This is who we are, this is where to find us and you can phone or email us for more information.’ Many firms have at least moved on to a more interactive experience for ...
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Labour manifesto targets legal aid to safeguard ‘frontline services’
Labour will implement more cuts in the legal aid budget if re-elected next month and also plans to increase the use of ‘virtual courts’ in criminal cases. The party has also pledged to press ahead with ID cards and continue to make ‘full use’ of CCTV and DNA technology to ...
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Future of Quinn Insurance cause for concern but don't panic
Your article last week (‘Quinn’s future hangs in the balance’, [2010] 9 April, 1] is likely to have caused significant anxiety within the profession, particularly for those currently insured with Quinn.
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‘Good firms’ should offer online services, say consumers
More than half of consumers expect ‘good law firms’ to offer their services online, research has suggested. A survey of 2,266 people carried out by YouGov and commissioned by Epoq Legal found that 56% of consumers said they expected good firms to offer services online. ...
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Conservative manifesto promise to ‘rebuild confidence’ in justice system
A Conservative government would carry out a ‘fundamental review’ of legal aid, and introduce measures to ‘rebuild confidence’ in the criminal justice system, it said in its manifesto published today. The manifesto, An invitation to join the government of Britain, promises to look at alternative ...