Last 3 months headlines – Page 1397
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Numbers in custody must fall
by Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust and secretary general of Penal Reform International The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before parliament presents an opportunity to get to grips with a distorted, often ineffective system which places too much store ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, July 1951 As it was a hundred years ago – a sidelight on legal history ...
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LSC transfers cases from collapsed immigration advice provider
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it has begun transferring urgent files from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service to other providers. Following a call for existing immigration contract holders to submit expressions of interest to take on IAS cases, current providers indicated they had the ...
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Regulator clamps down on claims management companies
The regulator of claims management companies has reported a massive rise in the number of businesses refused authorisation. The Claims Management Regulation Unit warned there would be ‘no let-up’ in the coming year after seeing enforcement measures against firms leap from 35 in 2009/10 to 349 ...
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Law Commission reveals new areas for reform
Reviewing the law of contempt, European contract law and financial provision on divorce are among the 14 projects that the Law Commission has revealed it will look into over the next three years. The Commission has published its eleventh programme of law reform projects, selected from ...
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Commons committee targets human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) should take a ‘more robust’ position on human rights abuses across the entire Middle East, including countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain where the UK has close commercial ties, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said in a report published today. ...
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Better deal for interns proposed
A best practice code urging law firms to pay work experience interns at least the minimum wage and to recruit them from a broader social range was published yesterday by the Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum (GPCF), of which the Legal Services Board (LSB) is a member. ...
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Should we have the right to know a partner’s criminal past?
If I want to buy a car I can see the history of everyone that has owned it. If I am buying a house I can request a surveyor’s report and check every last detail before I commit to signing the deeds. And yet, in choosing ...
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Is the power of general counsel over-estimated?
Are law firms right to focus so much of their effort on relationships with general counsel? The question seems semi-heretical to me. For 10 years in-house lawyers were the main audience I wrote for, and I feel as though I have watched the sector grow in influence and respect, shaping ...
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A&O opens in Morocco
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy has announced its first move into Africa with an office opening in Casablanca. The firm is looking to build on a number of recent deals in the continent, focusing on the region’s emerging markets. The new ...
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Solicitor linked to drug dealer jailed
Legal practitioners have been warned not to turn a blind eye to criminality after a solicitor with links to a drug dealer was jailed for 16 months. James Thorburn-Muirhead was sentenced last month to 16 months in prison after abusing his professional posititon. ...
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Ombudsman reveals £8.3m operating costs in first six months
The Legal Ombudsman has spent £8.3m in operating costs in its first six months since it came into being on 6 October, according to its annual report published yesterday. The Ombudsman’s combined implementation and operation costs have been £21.4m from 1 July 2009 when the project ...
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A far-reaching study on lawyers in Europe
Just when the legal profession is staggering under the weight of so much change, another radical review approaches. In the EU, lawyers have long benefited from a special regime of laws dedicated just to us: the lawyers’ directives. No other liberal ...
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Rape and torture victims turned away from collapsed advice service
Rape and torture victims were turned away from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service last week, a former employee has told the Gazette. The employee said uniformed guards had blocked clients from entering the Manchester offices of IAS, which went into administration. The ...
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Ombudsman warns of ‘confusion’ over legal services
Confusion over regulation of legal services is leaving consumers vulnerable and exposed, the Legal Ombudsman concludes today. Adam Sampson will publish his first annual report to parliament later today, following the launch of the organisation in October 2010. Sampson said that despite ...
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Regulator to miss October deadline for ABSs
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will miss its 6 October deadline for an ABS licence.
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PII premiums not affected by ethnicity or conveyancing work
Law firms do not face higher insurance premiums because they conduct residential conveyancing work or are run by black and ethnic minority lawyers, an authoritative study has indicated. Law Society-commissioned research into last year’s professional indemnity insurance renewal found that while more firms overall had experienced ...
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LSC invites tenders for Immigration Advisory Service work
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is inviting expressions of interest from immigration contract holders wishing to take on some of the 8,000 file caseload of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS), which went into administration on 8 July. Administrator Cork Gully has disclosed that the open ...
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Cameron supportive of referral fees ban
A ban on referral fees has edged one step closer with David Cameron admitting he is ‘sympathetic’ to the idea this week. The prime minister was drawn into the debate on the fees by a question from Liberal Democrat MP David Ward during PMQs on Wednesday. ...
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Filesharing cases settled
The long-running filesharing cases brought by London firm ACS:Law have come to an end, as the Solicitors Regulation Authority has published the allegations faced by the solicitor at the heart of the controversial claims. Manchester firm Ralli, which acted for a number of defendants alleged to ...