Last 3 months headlines – Page 1304
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OFR: the first stumbling block?
So where are we after six months of operating under outcomes-focused regulation (OFR)? Well the world hasn’t ended, the profession hasn’t imploded and we haven’t seen any public floggings. We have of course seen some high-profile criminal charges against individuals caught appropriating funds from their firms which hasn’t done the ...
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Caplen next in line for deputy vice president
The Law Society council has elected Andrew Caplen as the next deputy vice president of the Society. Caplen, a criminal and commercial property consultant at Southampton firm Abels, will take up the role in July and become president in 2014. He has been a council member ...
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Society wins clarity on independent advice
A Law Society campaign has led the government to re-draft legislation to remove uncertainty over whether a dismissed employee’s solicitor may be said to provide ‘independent’ advice on a compromise agreement. Compromise agreements are undertakings between employers and dismissed employees, whereby in return for a severance ...
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Hamza deportation no breach of article three, rights court rules
Abu Hamza and four other alleged terrorists are set to be extradited to the US following today’s European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that detention conditions and length of sentences in the US would not amount to ill-treatment. Proceedings against a sixth alleged terrorist, who ...
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Lawyers and the push for growth
We are entering the third phase of responses to the economic crisis. First, there was the effort to put right through new law or regulation what had gone wrong before - not very strongly or accurately, since banks are still paying bonuses and credit rating agencies still doing whatever they ...
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LSB defies calls to 'change direction'
The Legal Services Board super-regulator looks set to defy calls from the profession to scale back its role. In a review published yesterday of the five years since the Legal Services Act, the board says there is ‘no need at this stage for a change ...
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LSC to terminate CLAC contracts
The Legal Services Commission has signalled its intention to end all community legal advice centre and network (CLAC/N) contracts next year. It has written to all contract holders and partner local authorities to inform them of the proposal to end the contracts on 31 March 2013. ...
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Copyright - access and similarity
The creation and development of characters and storylines can be tricky, whether they are entirely fictional or based on fact, as two recent copyright cases have shown. In Mitchell v BBC, a question arose on subconscious copying of cartoon characters; while in Hodgson v Isaac, a dispute arose as to ...
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Stamping out misconduct
The role of tax planning in legal advice is under increased scrutiny. Tax planners are now in danger of being viewed as ‘tax avoiders’ (HM Revenue & Customs) or even ‘tax evaders’ (Solicitors Regulation Authority) - and the implications could be career shortening for solicitors. Here is why. ...
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Committal fee change lawful, High Court rules
The High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to scrap lawyers’ fees for committal proceedings was lawful. Dismissing a judicial review sought by the Law Society, Lord Justice Burnton cited the impact of legal aid fee cuts on lawyers. No one, he said, ‘could not ...
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Asbestos ruling ‘will not open floodgates’
A leading trade union lawyer has dismissed expectations that a Supreme Court ruling will prompt a rush of asbestos-related litigation. The 'trigger case' judgment last week ruled in favour of allowing insurance claims by families of people who died after exposure to asbestos. Following the ruling, ...
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Cautious reception to SRA ‘racism’ report
Claims by the Society of Black Lawyers (SBL) that the Solicitors Regulation Authority is ‘institutionally racist’ have been given a cool reception by other individuals representing minority ethnic lawyers. The SBL’s report Breaking the Silence: who is regulating the regulator? accused the SRA of intervening on ...
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Client emails to be evidence in mis-selling claims
Emails between bank staff and owners of small businesses who bought interest-rate hedging contracts will be evidence in mis-selling claims totalling up to £1bn, the Gazette can reveal. Norton Accord, the company that has secured funds to launch up to 4,000 cases, said that client emails ...
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NHS reforms ‘will mean more litigation’
The government’s reforms to the NHS in England are set to cause a wave of legal difficulties for local authorities, solicitors were warned this week. Ben Troke, partner at Midlands firm Browne Jacobson, told the Solicitors in Local Government annual weekend school that the Health and ...
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Court proceedings times main cause of adoption delays
The most significant cause of delay for children needing adoption is the length of time taken to complete court proceedings, the education inspectorate Ofsted said this week. The Right on Time report found care proceedings took an average of 14 months to complete. It was ...
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‘Daft’ FoI requests can be ignored
Public bodies can safely ignore requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) for their plans to deal with zombie invasions. Graham Smith, deputy information commissioner, told the Solicitors in Local Government annual weekend school last week that ‘silly and daft’ requests would be covered by existing guidance on vexatious ...
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Biggest dissatisfaction is with lawyers' costs
The older I get, the more I feel uncomfortable about the binary nature of our discourse. OK - a pretentious sentence, even by my standards. What do I mean?
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Who’s in the running for top jobs at the ECtHR and Supreme Court?
By the time the courts adjourn for their next holiday break, we shall know who will be taking two highly influential judicial posts. The UK judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will sit on every case brought against the British government in Strasbourg. The president of the ...
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Legacy10 campaign highlights benefits of drafting will through solicitor
From 6 April, an estate of which at least 10% is left to charity benefits from a reduced rate of inheritance tax on the balance of the estate. This change is an opportunity for everyone within the UK to help increase their support for good causes, at little cost to ...