Last 3 months headlines – Page 1212
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High street super-survey paints upbeat picture
Business has increased or remained unchanged for nearly 60% of law firms over the past three years, despite the challenging economy and changing legal market, results of a unique joint survey reveal today. However nearly one-third of the 31% of participating firms undertaking legal aid said ...
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Call for criminal sanctions against care home owners
A former health minister today called for legislation to hold corporations criminally accountable for abuse and neglect in care homes. In a 10-minute rule motion, Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow proposed a new offence of corporate neglect where senior management allowed abuse to occur. ...
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Society warns against Euro justice opt-out
Opting out of European Union law-and-order measures could jeopardise the UK’s ability to fight cross-border crime, the Law Society has warned. Its warning comes as a House of Lords Committee began taking evidence on the opt-out, which is likely to be announced by the government ...
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Betfair founder backs new ABS Brilliant Law
A team of non-solicitors with financial support from the founder of betting exchange website Betfair has announced its arrival into the legal market. Former Minster Law chief executive Matthew Briggs (pictured) and one-time BSkyB director Jeremy Fenn will be joint managers of Leeds-based Brilliant Law. ...
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Lawyers can access unredacted records
In a groundbreaking Court of Appeal case, a distinguished panel of appeal judges (Lord Justices Kay and Munby) decided that the practice of redacting social care records was not usually necessary where litigation under civil procedure rules was being conducted. The judgment departed from reasoning in both lower courts, in ...
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Brand lessons from Claridge’s
If you watched the recent series on BBC2, Inside Claridge’s, you may have asked yourself how they can possibly charge several thousand pounds for one night of accommodation. The Claridge’s brand has been built over many years on a philosophy of putting the guest first and providing exceptional service.
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Society critical of employee shareholder contracts
The government’s proposals for employee shareholder contracts will only add to red tape for small businesses and create confusion about workers’ rights, the Law Society has warned. The plans, contained in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, are currently before the House of Lords having been passed ...
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Compensation fund review to take two years
A full-scale review of the compensation fund will take two years to complete, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Regulators want to weigh up whether existing arrangements provide effective protection for consumers of legal services, as well as address any solicitors’ concerns about the scheme. ...
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Law firms make gay-friendly top 100
Eight law firms feature in campaigning charity Stonewall’s list of the top-100 gay-friendly workplaces, published today. City firm Simmons & Simmons (pictured) leads the way, in ninth place. Baker & McKenzie is 19th, followed by Pinsent Masons, Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells, which all have ...
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LSB backs call for simpler complaints regime
A call by the competition watchdog for simpler complaints procedures in the legal profession has received the support of the Legal Services Board. The Office of Fair Trading’s recommendation followed the publication of research today showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on ...
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Does competition law suit the NHS?
Competition law seems especially vulnerable to ‘the law of unintended consequences’ in the current environment. This can be seen in operation, some argue, by the 8 January referral by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) of a proposed merger between two NHS trusts (located in Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch) to ...
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Brilliant Law? It’s just a wolf in wolf’s clothing
I’ve never quite understood the antagonism towards foreign football club chairmen. Sure, we may question how the likes of Abramovich and Glazer acquired their money (or even if they have any at all), but to me there’s something deeper afoot. These people are foreign outsiders: they’re ...
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DWF expands national presence with new merger
In the latest sign of consolidation in the legal sector, business firm DWF today announced a merger with insurance firm Fishburns.
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Regulator ponders guillotine on PPI complaints
The Financial Services Authority has opened talks on introducing a time limit for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. In a statement released this afternoon, the FSA admitted there had been ‘initial discussions’ to consider the merits of a limit. The talks followed an approach by the ...
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Cherie Booth’s consultancy among latest ABS approvals
An international legal consultancy chaired by Cherie Booth QC and a franchise for individual lawyers are among a glut of new year alternative business structure (ABS) announcements. In the space of 24 hours, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed seven new ABSs to bring the total ...
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Nicklinson posthumous right-to-die appeal
A widow has been granted leave to continue her late husband’s challenge to the existing law on murder and assisted suicide. The Court of Appeal has made an order that Jane Nicklinson (pictured, left), as the administrator of her late husband Tony’s estate, may take forward ...
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Co-op fined for PPI complaints-handling
The Co-operative Bank has been fined £113,000 for failing to handle payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints fairly. The bank had put a ‘significant proportion’ of its 1,629 complaints on hold in 2011 whilst the British Bankers Association’s ultimately unsuccessful High Court challenge to new Financial Services ...
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Flexed ABS and flip-flops – my predictions for 2013
I’ll admit it’s been a slow start to 2013 here at Gazette Towers. So slow, in fact, that my ‘2013 predictions’ piece is now three days overdue. If I left it any later this piece would have to be a recap on the year so far. So my apologies for ...
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Society calls for freeze on civil justice reform
The government must postpone all further civil justice reforms until lawyers have had sufficient time to prepare for change, the Law Society said today. Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff welcomed justice secretary Chris Grayling’s decision to halt April’s expansion of the RTA Portal – confirmed over ...