Last 3 months headlines – Page 1503
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Lloyds Banking Group axes 2,500 firms from conveyancing panel
About 2,500 firms have been axed from Lloyds Banking Group’s conveyancing panel in its recent cull, the Law Society has estimated. Over the last month the group, which includes Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Birmingham Midshires, has reviewed its panel membership to remove firms ...
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Frustrated Lawyers R Us. Plan ‘B’ mutiny?
‘The sun is out... the sky is blue... there’s not a cloud... to spoil the view... but it’s raining... (doodle doodle doom)... raining in my heart.’
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Danish insurer enters PII market
A Danish insurance company has entered the solicitors professional indemnity insurance (PII) market to provide cover to small and medium-sized law firms, as the 1 October renewals deadline approaches. Copenhagen-based Alpha Insurance A/S will issue PII policies for firms of between one and 25 partners, in ...
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LSC reveals winners of Manchester CLAS contracts
The Legal Services Commission and Manchester City Council have commissioned Manchester Citizens Advice Bureau in conjunction with Shelter, local law firms Glaisyers and Platt Halpern, and Cheetham Hill Advice Centre to run Manchester’s new Community Legal Advice Service. The service will operate from six sites and ...
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Treasury attacked over equality impact of budget
HM Treasury has missed the deadline for responding to papers filed by a gender equality pressure group seeking a judicial review of the coalition’s first budget, it emerged last week. The Fawcett Society is claiming that the Treasury failed to fulfil its gender equality duty when ...
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The transatlantic gold rush
A spate of US/UK law firm mergers marks a scramble for position in a changing international legal market.
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Law firms plan to escalate LSC tender challenge nationwide
The Legal Services Commission can expect a ‘nationwide’ challenge to the lawfulness of its recent tenders, according to an alliance of 12 family firms which plan to take the fight to the agency. The firms, based in London, Exeter and Hull, all failed to get new ...
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FCO decision on human rights report 'puts businesses at risk'
The Law Society has warned that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) decision to cease publishing its annual report on human rights abuses worldwide could mean that British businesses will be exposed to an increased ‘risk factor’ overseas. In 1997 the then foreign secretary Robin Cook ...
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Legal executives seek right to conduct reserved probate work
Will-writers and legal executives could be given the right to apply for grants of probate by next March, under powers being sought by the Institute of Legal Executives. However, the Law Society has warned that the move could give ‘false comfort’ to consumers. ...
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Language wars – a preliminary skirmish on patents
The patent blogs – yes, there are such things – have been buzzing this week with the opinion given by the advocates-general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) on the legality of the proposed scheme to make the patent process more competitive in the EU. And ...
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Media management skills becoming a must for in-house lawyers
In-house lawyers don’t expect a high profile in the press over the summer months. But July and August this year were different.
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Law Society commences court action over tender process
The Law Society is taking the Legal Services Commission to court seeking a declaration that the family tender process and outcome are ‘unlawful’, and asking for a suspension of the new contracts. Chancery Lane has today formally commenced judicial review proceedings of the LSC’s recent tender ...
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Could acting for both sides change the nature of the conveyancer’s role?
The Gazette reported recently that the Legal Services Consumer Panel, which is the body set up by the Legal Services Board to advise it on what is in the best interests of consumers, is generally in favour of letting one solicitor act for both buyer and seller in a conveyancing ...
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You can buy in advice, but not organisational change
Organisational change is in the headlines everywhere this summer. The NHS is a particular focus with BHS boss Sir Philip Green being asked to make recommendations for change. In a recent Radio 4 Today programme interview on this issue, businessman Sir Gerry Robinson and Professor Colin Talbot's comments on Sir ...
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High Court judge brands welfare tender ‘irrational’
A High Court judge has today branded some of the criteria used by the Legal Services Commission in its recent social welfare tender ‘utterly absurd and totally irrational’. Mr Justice Collins also said the ‘tick-box’ exercise adopted by the LSC was not appropriate for tendering to ...
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Social mobility and exclusion in the legal profession
Last summer, when arch-Blairite Alan Milburn produced a report for the Cabinet Office on social mobility and the professions, it got limited publicity.
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Law Commission consults on criminal law reforms
The Law Commission has proposed a cut in the number of criminal offences for regulatory breaches. In a consultation published today, the commission said using civil penalties for technical breaches of farming, food safety, banking and retail laws would save the criminal justice system £11m a ...
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Hammonds in talks on transatlantic merger
City firm Hammonds and US firm Squire Sanders & Dempsey are discussing a merger that would create a 1,300-lawyer transatlantic practice with combined revenues of more than £400m. In a statement released this afternoon, the firms said that they are ‘evaluating the possibility’ of a tie-up, ...
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Good timing makes law firm marketing easier
As with so many things in life, timing is vital when it comes to writing law articles as a way of marketing your firm. Good timing can improve your chances of getting your article published in the media and it can help maintain a steady flow of material for your ...
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Indemnity insurer ‘breaking FSA rules’, says Chancery Lane
Insurers are breaching Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules by telling law firms to accept professional indemnity insurance (PII) quotes within seven days, the Law Society has said.