Last 3 months headlines – Page 1492
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Will the Supreme Court survive the coalition's purge of public bodies?
Tomorrow, the UK Supreme Court celebrates its first anniversary. Might it also be the court’s last? According to proposals leaked from the Cabinet Office and published by the BBC last week, the future of Britain’s highest court was still shrouded in uncertainly as recently as 26 August.
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Supreme Court ‘under review’ as legal quangos face axe
Solicitors have voiced deep concern about the future of the Supreme Court, after it appeared on a leaked list of public institutions and quangos facing review or abolition by the coalition government. According to the leaked Cabinet Office list, nine legal quangos are among 177 ...
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Reform of the law relating to murder is long overdue
by Julian Young, senior partner at Julian Young & Co I have in front of me a copy of an Order for Assize and General Gaol Delivery, dated 1955, ordering the execution of a defendant for ... ‘the crime of wilful murder’. That sentence was carried ...
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How can this be access to justice?
I read with interest the letter from Hugh Barrett , executive director, Legal Services Commission. He seems to have forgotten that two important components of access to justice are independent advice and conflicts of interest.
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Family lawyers must brace themselves
Lord Justice Wall shoots from the hip when it comes to problems in the family justice system. He even took the step of writing to LSC chief executive Carolyn Downs, warning her that family judges were alarmed by the effect of the tender outcome on ‘well-respected ...
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Anti-piracy firm website breach
The website of London anti-piracy firm ACS:Law has been attacked, leading to the leak of email archives and personal data of thousands of internet users. It is understood that the names and addresses of more than 5,000 people alleged by the firm to have engaged ...
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Flood liability warning for conveyancers
Conveyancers could be exposing themselves to liability by failing to obtain information about flooding, which is set to become the latest ‘uninsurable risk’, a leading commercial property solicitor has warned. Suzanne Gill, a commercial property partner at McGrigors in London, said that flooding is affecting an ...
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Let CMCs operate within the rules
I am writing to respond to John Holtom’s letter last week. Banning claims management companies would return us to the position we were in before the Ministry of Justice launched the regulation of claims management companies (CMCs) in 2007 – where CMCs could get away with cold-calling, giving misleading ...
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Lawyers protest over proposed closure of Mayor’s and City court
City lawyers have criticised government proposals to close the oldest local civil court in England, which they claim is one of the most efficient and successful county courts in London. The government is consulting on closing the historic Mayor’s and City court, along with 54 ...
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Law Society president and colleagues fight for members
As a partner in a small property-based firm that started just 18 months ago, I have been greatly concerned by two issues in particular – mortgage panels and professional indemnity insurance. Like many colleagues in the provinces, it has often appeared to me that the ‘powers that be’ within the ...
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Tributes paid to Trevor Aldridge, the first solicitor QC
Solicitors have paid tribute to Trevor Aldridge, the first solicitor to become a QC, following his death earlier this month aged 76. Aldridge was a former law commissioner and a longstanding member of the Law Society’s Conveyancing and Land Law Committee (CLLC). He remained an active ...
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‘Allegations’ against solicitors in decline
The number of ‘allegations’ made against solicitors which have led to risk assessments by the profession’s regulator has fallen, with a sharp drop in the number relating to mortgages and property, figures have shown. A paper submitted to the Law Society’s management board last week suggested ...
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Legal Services Board rules out fresh referral fee ban
The Legal Services Board has today effectively ruled out a ban on referral fees, but is likely to impose greater standards of transparency in their use. In a paper outlining plans to improve regulation of referral fee arrangements, the LSB says there is not ‘sufficient evidence’ ...
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Djanogly sticks to October 2011 timetable for ABSs
‘All lawyers’ should be preparing for the introduction of alternative business structures in October 2011, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week, as the coalition government gave the first public confirmation that it will press ahead with the reforms and will stick to the timetable already in place. ...
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Five solicitors shortlisted for Gazette Legal Personality of the Year Award
Five solicitors have been shortlisted for the Gazette’s Legal Personality of the Year Award, with the winner to be announced at the Law Society’s Excellence Awards ceremony in October.
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Five firms ‘put in intensive care’ by banks
Five of the UK’s top-30 law firms have been put into ‘intensive care’ by banks, a top solicitor claimed this week. Mark Jones, chairman of national firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London that he fears another law firm failure ...
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Bonanza for lawyers - it’s all in the angle
I came across an article on the Telegraph website the other day which is almost certain to outrage hardworking lawyers – but hey, I’ll force it upon you anyway because once we get over the annoyance, there’s a lot to be learnt from it.
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Injury claims carry a ‘social stigma’
The public’s ignorance of the law is one of the major obstacles that is preventing people from gaining access to justice through personal injury claims, and most believe that making a claim would be ‘working the system’, according to a report by National Accident Helpline based on a poll of ...
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Law Society wins family tender challenge
The Law Society has won its High Court challenge to the Legal Services Commission’s family tender process. Lord Justice Moses said the process was ‘irrational’. He said it was ‘contrary to the LSC’s own ends’ not to have given firms the details ...
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Family contracts quashed
Family contracts have effectively been quashed following today’s judgment in the Law Society’s successful judicial review of the family tender process. Giving judgment this evening, the High Court declared the LSC’s failure to give advance notice of the requirement for panel membership as unlawful. It also ...