Last 3 months headlines – Page 1388
-
News
Society welcomes amendment to Localism Bill
The government has amended the Localism Bill, following Law Society warnings that a certain provision could have caused uncertainty in the property market. The provision proposed strengthening local authorities’ powers to tackle abuses of the planning system where there had been a breach of planning control ...
-
News
Chartis will not offer new PII business
Insurer Chartis has said that it will not take on any new business in the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market due to the high costs of the Assigned Risks Pool. The insurer said it will concentrate on renewals within its existing book instead. ...
-
News
Law firms setting up stall
The profession seems to keep dreaming up ideas to make its own life a bit more difficult. This week I had to go to a Midlands town and arrived at a shopping precinct next to the station. There were two stalls in the middle of the mall offering legal advice. ...
-
News
OPG calls for more use of non-lawyers to avoid ‘costly legal solutions’
The Office of the Public Guardian is seeking to encourage the use of non-lawyers to act as deputies for those with impaired capacity, so they can avoid ‘costly legal solutions’. In a call for evidence published last week, the OPG is seeking the views of care ...
-
News
Lancashire firm targets deaf clients as staff learn sign language
A Lancashire law firm is set to become the first practice in the country dedicated to providing legal services to the deaf and hard of hearing. Joseph Frasier in Blackburn will next week launch a campaign – Representing Your Right to Be Heard – to help ...
-
News
Targeting a section of the client base is the way forward
It was heartening today to learn of the strategy adopted by Lancashire firm Joseph Frasier, which is setting out to become the first practice specially dedicated to deaf and hard-of-hearing clients. The move to target a particular niche area of the market is precisely what consultants ...
-
News
Cardiff Law School launches GDL conversion course
Cardiff Law School is to add the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) conversion course to its portfolio of legal training courses from September 2012. The law school said that that the GDL scheme, which enables non-law graduates to train for a career in law, has become ...
-
News
Tottenham law firm damaged by fire
The Tottenham offices of London firm EBR Attridge have been damaged by fire during last weekend’s riots. In a statement issued through the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the firm said that despite suffering smoke damage, most files remain intact and are being ‘reassembled’. ...
-
News
Developments on the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights
This story does not have Rebekah Brooks in it, nor details of high-wire acts to save the dollar and the euro. There are no wars or celebrities in sight. In other words, it is perfect summer reading.
-
News
Code of conduct for litigation funders moves closer
The Civil Justice Council is expected to agree a new code of conduct for third-party funders of litigation by the end of the year, to be combined with the launch of a new association of litigation funders. Compliance with the new voluntary code will be monitored ...
-
News
Guildford lawyer launches conveyancing tool
A Guildford solicitor has helped develop a new online tool to streamline conveyancing, enabling the mortgage lenders’ compliance process to be completed in ‘five minutes’. Julian Sampson, a partner at Wright & Wright, created the ‘Jet’ programme with Alan Dring, the former director of online conveyancing ...
-
News
Mystery shopping should be used as a carrot not a stick
I was not surprised to read that the results of the Legal Services Consumer Panel’s mystery-shopping investigation into wills indicating varying quality among qualified and unqualified providers. Sadly, it seems the good-quality samples do not generate the same media coverage as those below standard – as is best practice in ...
-
News
Quality solicitors for all
Having followed the QualitySolicitors debate in the Gazette you may feel we have been in a type of ‘phoney war’ for the past couple of years. Now the battle for the domestic and SME legal services sectors has started with the launch of QS’s Legal Access Points in WHSmiths around ...
-
News
SPs eligible to become Judicial Appointments Commissioners
Sole practitioners are eligible to apply for a position as a Judicial Appointments Commissioner, the recruitment agency acting for the Ministry of Justice has confirmed, despite confusion over the wording of the job specification. The specification for the role states that candidates seeking to become a ...
-
News
Wotton stresses ‘opportunity’ presented by ABSs
Law Society president John Wotton will today spell out his belief that alternative business structures can present a significant opportunity for the legal sector.
-
News
ITV clarifies Holden’s comments on QS
ITV’s This Morning has today clarified comments which were made by Amanda Holden in relation to QualitySolicitors. Following representations from the Law Society, QualitySolicitors agreed to ask the show to correct some comments made by the television presenter when she appeared as a guest of the ...
-
News
Conflict of laws
Jurisdiction - Challenge to jurisdiction Merchant International Company Ltd v Natsionalna Aktsionerna Kompaniya 'Naftogaz Ukrayiny': Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice David Steel): 14 July 2011 The Queen's Bench ...
-
News
Landlord and tenant
Recovery of possession - Tenant's insolvency Sharples and another v Places for People Homes Ltd: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lords Justice Mummery, Etherton, Mr Justice Wilson): 15 July 2011 ...
-
News
Immigration
Leave to remain - Appeal Rahman v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Court of Appeal, Civil Division: 15 July 2011 The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that ...