Last 3 months headlines – Page 1488
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Higher education review may put off aspiring law graduates
Who’d want to be approaching adulthood today without a private income? Jobs are scarce; wages are stagnant or falling; affordable housing remains way out of reach; and cheap and secure pension schemes that do not rely on the lottery of investment returns are an endangered species. ...
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Family lawyers await LSC appeal move
Uncertainty mounted over the future of family legal aid contracts this week, as solicitors await a decision by the Legal Services Commission on whether it will appeal a High Court ruling that its tender process was unlawful. Some firms that did win contracts in the tender ...
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Herts firm to sue over conveyancing panel removal
A Hertfordshire firm that was removed from the Santander and Lloyds Banking Group conveyancing panels is seeking support to take legal action against the lenders, the Gazette has learned. Paul Judkins, a partner at Judkins, with offices in Hertford and Cheshunt, is seeking advice from counsel ...
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Accountants to apply for probate rights
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has begun its second application to the Legal Services Board for a probate services licence, with takeup expected to be high among small accountancy firms. The institute announced its intention to apply for the licence last week. ...
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Venue hire, Liverpool FC, banking, and sukuk issue
Venue hire: Sports law firm Couchmans advised Barclays on becoming the official retail bank at London’s O2 Arena. Fair Kop: US firm Shearman & Sterling advised New England Sports Ventures, which ...
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Firms may have folded to avoid high cost of PII premiums
A leading market expert has estimated that up to 175 firms closed their doors ahead of this month’s professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal deadline rather than face the high cost of premiums, while a handful of firms are believed to be trading illegally because they cannot afford cover.
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US delays ABS decisions
A decision in the US on whether or not to allow UK alternative business structures to operate across the Atlantic is unlikely to be made until well after 2012, the new American Bar Association (ABA) president Stephen Zack told the Gazette in an interview this week. ...
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Banks to seek assurances from LLPs
The era of banks making unsecured credit freely available to firms may come to an end as banks review the risk profile of practices that have converted to LLP status, it was suggested last week. Chris Marston, head of professional practices at Lloyds TSB, told delegates ...
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Lawyers must protect vulnerable from effect of budget cuts – Djanogly
Lawyers and the legal system will need to find efficiencies and new ways of working to protect the vulnerable from the effects of budget cuts, legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly told the Gazette this week. He said: ‘Our priority is not what lawyers do, or ...
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More general counsel facing regulatory investigations
UK general counsel have reported a huge increase in the number of regulatory investigations initiated against them, according to research by the London office of US firm Fulbright & Jaworski. The firm’s Litigation Trends survey of 128 UK in-house lawyers across a range of sectors found ...
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Employment solicitor sets up legal aid support network
An employment solicitor has set up a website dedicated to offering support to legal aid firms that are closing down, merging or moving away from publicly funded work.
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Chancery Lane publishes Jackson review response
The Law Society today warned against piecemeal implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s proposals on civil litigation costs, telling the government that this could be ‘very damaging’ to access to justice. Jackson himself has said that his reforms will not succeed unless they are implemented as a whole.
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TUC brands asbestos ruling 'obscene'
Victims of a deadly disease caused by work-related asbestos exposure could miss out on compensation following a Court of Appeal ruling last week, campaign groups fear. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and trade union Unite branded the victory for insurance companies as ‘obscene’. The ...
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Stock market jitters hit equity capital markets teams
A year of failed and suspended stock market listings has hit the fortunes of equity capital markets (ECM) teams across the City, senior corporate finance lawyers said this week. A far higher than average number of unfinished initial public offerings (IPOs) has dampened fee income, damaged ...
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Forced mediation 'may not serve interests of children'
Family solicitors have warned that government plans to divert private law disputes over children away from the courts and towards mediation may not lead to child-focused outcomes. One of the options being considered by the government’s family justice review is to make mediation compulsory in ...
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From social media to business tool
These days it is not a question of whether or not we should embrace technological changes and emerging social media but more a question of how do we keep up with the waves of changes and innovations? If we don’t keep on top of these things and make the most ...
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MoJ confirms quango cull
The Ministry of Justice has today confirmed that the Youth Justice Board and two court rules committees are among the legal quangos to be abolished as part of a drive to cut costs and ‘reinvigorate public trust’ in democracy. The bodies to be scrapped include: the ...
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How fair is Britain?
Recent research claims that the ‘inherently masculine’ UK legal profession still has a long way to go before it achieves an acceptable level of diversity and equality.
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New sentencing guidelines proposed for assault
The Sentencing Council has proposed changes to the guidance given to judges on sentencing people for assault. In a consultation paper published today, it proposes that those convicted of assault should be sentenced based on the harm caused to the victim and their culpability, rather than ...
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How law firms can reduce the cost of property liabilities
Without question, the use of property by legal firms as both a financial and strategic tool has evolved very quickly in the past three years, aided by the recession. It has transformed from a traditional ‘place to do work’ to one with a myriad of agendas. ...