Last 3 months headlines – Page 1267
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Legal framework for immigration ‘collapses’
The legal framework for UK immigration policy is in disarray following today’s Supreme Court ruling that UK Border Agency (UKBA) policies on corporate immigration are unlawful. The court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that much of the UKBA’s practice and policies for corporate immigration are unlawful ...
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Let Rome burn - we’re off on holiday!
That noise you can hear is MPs stampeding for the exits. Yes, today is the first day of their summer recess/holiday, just 36 days after their last (three-week) break.
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MPs to probe interpreter deal
A high-profile parliamentary committee has launched an inquiry into the controversial deal between the Ministry of Justice and the private company contracted to provide court interpreters. The Justice Select Committee today launched a call for written evidence to examine the service provided by Applied Language Solutions ...
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Why can’t lawyers get costs information right?
It’s over 20 years since the first guidance about costs - the Written Professional Standards - appeared, followed closely by Rule 15 and the Solicitors’ Costs Information and Client Care Code, yet complaints about costs, and the related information provided to clients, remain one of the highest causes for complaint.
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Society agrees PII deal with Aon as AmTrust enters market
The Law Society has signed up PII broker Aon to provide professional indemnity insurance to members of its Conveyancing Quality Scheme and Lexcel quality marks. The broker has an exclusive arrangement with two of the largest A-rated qualifying insurers, QBE and XL, for one-to-10 partner ...
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Gloria occasion
If the epicentre of London’s legal world, where Obiter spends long days, was better served by branches of Matalan, we would have been straight down there for some Union Flag-themed cagoules to mark our patriotism in this Jubilee ‘n’ Olympics year.
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Expert report warns government to hold off RTA portal extension
Government plans to extend the RTA portal from next year were today dealt a blow by one of its own advisers.
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Friends and family 'favourite source of legal advice'
Most consumers do not turn to a solicitor when first confronting a legal need, according to new research published by the Legal Services Board. The report says satisfaction with solicitors is high, with those using solicitors likely to get a better result than those who sought advice from other providers. ...
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Clarke presses on with judges’ pension cut
The lord chancellor has confirmed government plans to cut judges’ pensions to bring them in line with other public sector workers. In a written ministerial statement yesterday Kenneth Clarke said that the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne had confirmed to the House that the government ...
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‘Cut partner bonuses for diversity failures’
Law firm partners who fail to take ‘robust measures’ to meet diversity targets should be financially penalised, according to a leading pro-diversity group. A report from the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT Networks argues that the profession remains ‘stuck culturally in the mid-20th century’. ...
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City firm overturns TUPE ruling in Jarvis case
Employment contracts of solicitors made redundant when their employers go into administration should not automatically transfer to law firms acting for the administrators, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled yesterday. The ruling on transfer of undertakings, protection of employment (TUPE) regulations, will free administrators to instruct their own legal advisers. ...
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Should everything in the EU be divisible by 27?
I see it as my role to give the positive side of the European project - of which there is much to say - and to berate the UK press, which abuses the EU thoughtlessly day after day. But I am sorry to report that I shall have to continue ...
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Honorary degree for Rozenberg
Legal commentator and Gazette columnist Joshua Rozenberg has been awarded an honorary degree by Nottingham Law School. Later this week he will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the law school, which is part of Nottingham Trent University. The law school acclaimed Rozenberg as ...
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‘Alternative’ firm applies to be ABS
A self-styled ‘alternative’ law firm which acts for companies such as BSkyB and Nike plans to become an alternative business structure. Halebury has a roster of 14 lawyers contracted to the firm but working on a consultancy basis in-house with corporate clients. The firm was founded ...
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'Upsurge' in Scottish firms interested in ABS status
The Law Society of Scotland has reported an upsurge in law firms north of the border expressing interest in becoming alternative business structures, though it says new regulations enabling them to convert remain ‘some way off’. Today the Society has submitted a proposed regulatory ...
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Training review: a collegiate sense of déjà vu
There was a distinct sense of déjà vu about the sense of déjà vu I felt at the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) symposium in Manchester last week. The LETR, sponsored by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and Chartered Institute of Legal Executive ...
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Children in custody at five-year low
The number of children in custody has hit a record low five years after the start of a programme designed to limit the use of prison, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice today.
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Lawyers may face regulation as MPs reject lobbyist register
Lawyers who lobby professionally for their clients should be subject to regulation, according to a Commons committee report out today. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee says the government should scrap current plans for a statutory register of third-party lobbyists as not ‘fit for purpose’. Instead, ...