Last 3 months headlines – Page 1413
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Jackson reforms could trigger business debt headache
Insolvency experts have warned that civil litigation funding reforms could deter small businesses from trying to reclaim debts. Provisions in the government’s forthcoming Justice Bill will prevent successful claimants from recouping their solicitors’ success fee from losing defendants, or recovering an after-the-event insurance premium. ...
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Tighten rules to protect young witnesses, say charities
Children’s charities have called for ground rules to be enforced in court to prevent the exploitation of young witnesses. A report released this week by the NSPCC and Nuffield Foundation found that inadequate procedures and a lack of training for legal professionals were having detrimental effects ...
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Gutted law firm reopens after 10 days
An Essex firm that was devastated by fire last month managed to open for ‘business as usual’ just 10 days later. Jefferies in Westcliff on Sea had its office destroyed on 8 May when a blaze ignited at the retail outlet beneath it. ...
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HMRC may stall lawyers’ taxis
Late-working City lawyers could soon find themselves rubbing shoulders with office cleaners and other shift workers on the night bus if plans to abolish tax relief on late-night taxis are carried through by HM Revenue & Customs. Where employees are required to work significantly later than ...
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Scottish government to review role of Supreme Court
The Scottish government has set up a panel of experts led by a former solicitor general for Scotland to review the ‘aggressive’ intervention of the Supreme Court in Scotland’s legal affairs. The review was sparked by growing disquiet among Scottish politicians and lawyers at the Supreme ...
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Sound Off campaigners deliver Downing Street letter
Supporters of the Law Society's Sound off for Justice campaign delivered a letter to Downing Street yesterday urging Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene and withdraw the planned £350m cut to legal aid. The letter was delivered by members of the Law Society and Rheagan Hendry, ...
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Instituting change
If you thought the Women’s Institute was all about making jam and cakes, think again. Members of the WI took part in protests against legal aid cuts last week, demonstrating the extent to which the campaign has now moved beyond just lawyers. ...
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Full cream ahead
For licensing lawyers in the food sector there has been plenty to digest recently. After the humble Cornish pasty joined the ranks of champagne and stilton in achieving protected status earlier this year, the Devon cream tea may now be heading for a similar designation, ...
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Game blame
Matrimonial lawyers will probably be familiar with the latest trend reported by internet divorce provider Divorce Online. The service conducted a survey of 200 cases in which women had cited unreasonable behaviour, and found that a sizeable 15% had filed for divorce because their husband ...
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Head for heights
Kingsbury solicitor Manish Patel (pictured) is to embark on a 13-day trek to the Mount Everest base camp in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal next February, in aid of the International Childcare Trust. He will endure some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth. ...
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Human Rights Institute questions Sri Lanka's judicial independence
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has written to the Sri Lankan government to voice its concerns about the erosion of judicial independence in the country. IBAHRI expressed particular concern about constitutional amendments limiting the chief justice’s term of office to five years, and ...
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Defence solicitor accused of fraud
A criminal defence solicitor and two legal associates plotted to cheat the legal aid fund by ruthlessly inflating and forging every possible expense, a jury was told last week. Solicitor Reuben Ewujowoh, 44, principal at Rae & Co in Southwark, London, and co-defendants legal assistant Lloyd ...
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EU access to representation proposal nears
The European Commission (EC) is this week expected to move a significant step closer to ensuring that all those facing criminal charges across the EU have access to legal representation. As the Gazette went to press, the EC was expected to publish a legislative proposal ...
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Online costs help for legal aid lawyers
An innovative IT project aimed at legal aid lawyers could help solicitors reduce costs, barristers set Matrix Chambers claimed last week. The chambers has set up LegalAidLink (LAL), a website enabling legal aid providers to establish private online communities in which they can interact securely and ...
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Televised courts arguments can be disingenuous
One factor will surely trump all others in the nuanced debate over whether broadcasters should be allowed to televise civil and criminal court proceedings. What Rupert Murdoch wants, government ministers of all stripes (Vince Cable excepted, it would seem) fall over themselves to give him. ...
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Human Rights laws stand before May's calls to stop student radicalisation
by Julian Gizzi, a partner in Beachcroft’s public sector group Home secretary Theresa May has said this week that universities need to be more active in preventing the radicalisation of their students by extremist Islamic groups.
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Government seeks views on stripping back Equalities Act
The government has today begun the process of stripping back unwanted elements of the Equalities Act. The Home Office claims that last year’s legislation scrapped 100 sets of regulations in an effort to lighten the burden of red tape on businesses. But ...
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The funding solution
Sound financial management has become a key issue for law firms as for the first time banks are closely scrutinising lending to these legal companies and implementing new credit policies. It is worth looking at how law firms can effectively demonstrate their financial acumen in ...
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Nine non-solicitors to join and vote on Scottish law society council
The Law Society of Scotland has appointed nine new non-solicitor members to its council, to comply with new legislation. They have full voting rights and will replace the current three lay observers. The new appointees come from a diverse range of backgrounds ...