Last 3 months headlines – Page 1692
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Which? plans legal push
Which? Legal Services will aggressively target customers through pricing and brand awareness as it drives to increase its membership by a quarter over the next year. The consumer group’s new head of legal services, Steve Coyle (pictured), revealed the ambition this week in his first ...
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Laundering reports fall by nearly half
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) wants solicitors to make more and better reports on suspected money laundering over the next year, after reports submitted to the agency fell by more than 40%. In its second annual report, SOCA says it will encourage organisations most ...
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Random selection call
Judicial panels hearing cases before the new UK Supreme Court should be picked at random rather than by the opaque procedure used by the House of Lords, a leading silk suggested this week. Lord David Pannick QC criticised the current system under which even Law Lords themselves do not know ...
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Baby P 'scapegoat' claim
Local government solicitors have defended colleagues at the London Borough of Haringey against press criticism of their role in the case of ‘Baby P’. Suzanne Bond, chair of Solicitors in Local Government, said that some media coverage of the case had been ‘chilling’ in ...
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QC review by Nichol
The Law Society and Bar Council have appointed Sir Duncan Nichol to review the operation of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments system, three years after its introduction. The independent selection panel, developed by the two professions, replaced a process run by the former Department for ...
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Council members vote 'no' to a reduction in seats
Plans to reduce the size of the Law Society Council look to have been killed off following a members’ vote last week. Law Society chief executive Des Hudson predicted it will now be ‘some time’ before any future decision is made on the Council’s size ...
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Warning over video link for defendants
Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...
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Late surge boosts PC numbers
A late surge in applications for practising certificates over recent days has reversed an apparently startling decline in numbers. Latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show 97,291 submissions as of 16 November – 477 more than at the same time last year. The previous ...
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Civil costs rates 'next month'
New guideline hourly rates for civil costs may be published by Christmas, the chairman of the committee charged with recommending the rates announced last week. In a rare public address, Professor Stephen Nickell admitted that producing the rates has not been an easy process, with the ...
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Tumultuous period for costs draftsmen continues
An imminent root and branch review of the costs system and an overhaul of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements, with Justice Secretary Jack Straw threatening to cap success fees, could change the landscape for costs draftsmen. Sir Rupert Jackson, recently promoted to the Court of Appeal, ...
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New procedure for recovery of costs in pro bono cases
Pro bono came of age on 1 October. That was the day when section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into effect. Section 194 confers legislative recognition of pro bono legal services and enables a valuable new source of financial support for organisations ...
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Media: danger in the detail
We are all told to pay attention to detail at school and as lawyers it is paramount. Many a case has been won when a tiny, apparently trifling detail has been uncovered, often at the last minute. The late George Carman was a master of ...
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International law
European Union – Legal Certainty – Orders in Council – UN resolutions - Vires (1) A (2) K (3) M (4) Q (5) G v HM Treasury: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice ...
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Criminal procedure
Armed forces – Anonymity – Court martial – Hearings in chambers (1) Times Newspapers Ltd (2) Guardian News & Media Ltd (3) soldier B (appellants) v (1) R (2) soldier A (3) soldier C (4) soldier D (5) soldier ...
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Criminal law
Life imprisonment – Minimum term – Mitigation – Murder – Sentencing guidelines R v (1) John Height (2) Malcolm Anderson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice, Lords Justice Thomas, Leveson, Mr Justice Owen, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke): 29 October ...
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Civil Procedure Rules changes, part two
The most important forthcoming change to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) is the new part 6 on service (see [2008] Gazette, 18 September, 25]. This article considers other reforms.
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Freedom of expression remains secure for internet users
The online community breathed a collective sigh of relief at the end of September. The European Telecoms Package was passed, but without a number of controversial amendments that would have threatened the right to freedom of expression for internet users – in particular, the amendments that looked set to enable ...
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Review: The Barristers
The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...
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Review: All Wind and Pistol
On the inside back cover of All Wind and Pistol, we find, as is standard in hardback novels, a short biography of the author. Roger Butters, it says, ‘practised as a solicitor until he took early retirement in order to pursue his many interests, which include Buddhism, karate, aviation and ...
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Jersey offers British lawyers a choice opportunity
For a couple of weeks a year, a select few British lawyers become the envy of their peers. Instead of struggling down the Strand to argue cases before unsympathetic judges, they sit as judges themselves – indeed, as no less than a court of appeal. ...