Last 3 months headlines – Page 1694
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Fee-cap 'outrage'
Practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ government proposals to cap payments for acquitted defendants’ legal costs that would leave innocent people out of pocket. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week published a consultation on reform to the system of reimbursing the legal costs of people acquitted ...
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Pro bono lesson
Attorney General Baroness Scotland launched the seventh national pro bono week with a mock trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, led by the National Centre for Citizenship & the Law. BPP Law School students debated knife and gun crime with a jury of young people from the Behaviour Support ...
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'Fragmentation' fears over regulation review
A review of solicitor regulation must not be allowed to fragment the profession, sole practitioners have warned. Hamish McNair, chairman of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG), said: ‘Sole practitioners and solicitors at magic circle firms may have very different clients, but it is important to ...
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HMRC warned over barristers
HM Revenue & Customs prosecutors have relied too heavily on too small a pool of barristers to fight cases, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts said this week. According to its report on the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO), one set of chambers, ...
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Mixed half-year results picture
Big UK firms have endured mixed fortunes so far this year, with the half-year revenue estimates released so far showing large variations in growth. At the top end of growth, City firm Trowers & Hamlins estimated fee income up 16% to £42m for the first half ...
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Flying tonight
Crispy duck ovens are not all they are quacked up to be. Westminster City council, precipitating a crisis that threatened to banish the dish from eateries across Chinatown, had condemned the ovens for failing to meet European carbon monoxide emission standards.
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News
Mixed half-year results picture
Big UK firms have endured mixed fortunes so far this year, with the half-year revenue estimates released so far showing large variations in growth. At the top end of growth, City firm Trowers & Hamlins estimated fee income up 16% to £42m for the first half ...
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Local government: a new code of conduct
Pity the poor Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct Order) 2007 – the 18-month-old toddler, currently scampering innocently around local and police authority floors, has been given a proposed sentence of death by the government.
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Constitutional law
Abuse of power – Changos Islands – Colonial legislation – Legitimate expectation – Prerogative powers R (on the application of Louis Olivier Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: HL (Lord Hoffmann, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, ...
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Human rights
Immigration – Human rights – Asylum seekers – Children – Removal EM (Lebanon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL (Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown ...
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Martyn Day: fierce advocate for the people
One could never criticise Martyn Day for lacking the willingness to have a go. ‘I’m absolutely determined to find the right case,’ says the senior partner of claimant firm Leigh Day & Co, when asked if he would be prepared to have another crack at suing tobacco companies on behalf ...
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Beyond price
I’m delighted to report that the Law Society’s Excellence Awards were a tremendous success. Old Billingsgate, overlooking the Thames, made for a spectacular venue and Kirsty Wark from BBC2’s Newsnight was a great host. This year saw a record number of entries, and the awards are now widely considered to ...
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Playing by the rules
At a time of growing financial hardship, solicitors need access to as many legitimate channels of income as possible. A fortnight ago this column observed that few subjects in the Gazette’s ambit generate such impassioned opinions as regulation. One that certainly does is referral fees. ...
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New years resolution
From April 2009, a new Acas code of practice on discipline and grievances – and a supplementary, non-statutory Acas guide – will replace the 2004 statutory dispute resolution procedures.
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Bespoke suits
I was interested in Joshua Rozenberg's article on the doom-laden prognoses of Richard Susskind, who apparently believes that, in future, ‘bespoke’ legal services will be the exception (see [2008] Gazette, October 30, 10). With great respect, what utter tosh. The only examples of so-called ‘commoditised’ ...
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Independence and the vote
Your editorial (30 October 2008) on the result of the recent postal ballot reads like an extension of the Law Society’s publicity machine. It is disappointing that you do not seem to have applied independent thought to the issue. Even worse, you have ignored the fact that a two-thirds majority ...
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It ain't broke
Law Society members thankfully rejected the plan for an affiliate category for non-solicitors. The Society is for solicitors. We do not want the brand diluted, and extra administration and costs introduced in permitting others even to be ‘associated’ with the Society. Instead, the aim should be for simplicity and cost ...
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Number of the beast
National press interest in a ‘haunted’ solicitor’s office isn’t spooking Sarfraz Khan, marketing and managing consultant at Birmingham firm LAC. ‘We have no intention of moving or changing our address, because we’ve been very successful,’ he tells Obiter. ‘We haven’t lost a single case yet.’
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Bubble economy
At this time of economic meltdown, it is fitting that solicitors should be using their downtime creatively. To that end, we offer you the opening paragraphs of a new surreal novel by valued Gazette contributor, Anna Gramm. If you look ...