Last 3 months headlines – Page 1506
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Redundancies predicted over family legal aid tender
Some 90% of family lawyers think the legal aid tender result will lead to widespread redundancies across the profession, according to a survey of Resolution members. The poll also showed that 86% of respondents whose firms were unsuccessful in the tender have appealed. ...
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Thoughts from the American Bar Association's annual meeting
I was at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco last week. Here are some conclusions.
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Lack of capital putting firms at risk of Halliwells-style collapse
The legal market could see another law firm fall in a Halliwells-style collapse in the next 12 months due to lack of capital and high property costs, experts have told the Gazette. Accountants also warned that the demise of the north-west firm may make it more ...
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Law Society opens PII helpline
The Law Society today opened its professional indemnity insurance (PII) helpline to help steer solicitors through this year’s renewals season. The Society said that the free helpline ‘will support solicitors having difficulties with professional indemnity insurance during the renewal period’. The Law ...
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Baker & McKenzie reports profits boost
The London office of US and City firm Baker & McKenzie has upped its partner profits by more than half, the firm reported yesterday. Average profits per equity partner (PEP) shot up 56% to £650,000 for the year ending 30 June 2010, from £418,000 for the ...
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How cost-cutting has yielded results at Baker & McKenzie
How do you conjure up £78,000 more pay for each of your equity partners without generating any more income than you did previously? Well, for a start, try asking the guys in Baker & McKenzie’s London office for a lesson in cost-cutting.
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Terror laws overused by police, research suggests
Less than 4% of people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 were convicted of terrorism-related offences in 2009, new research has found. Just eight people were convicted out of 207 arrests made under the act in 2009, according to Home Office statistics analysed by legal information ...
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Firms await result of family tender appeals
Hundreds of legal aid solicitors are currently awaiting the outcome of the Legal Services Commission’s appeals process for family legal aid contracts. The deadline for submitting appeals was 6 August, and the LSC has 28 days to process the appeals.
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Conveyancers should be free to act for both sides, consumer panel says
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to scrap the conduct provisions that prevent a solicitor from acting for both seller and purchaser, and for both lender and borrower in a conveyancing transaction. Responding to the SRA’s current consultation on its ...
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Gazette survey on firms’ recovery from recession
The Gazette is asking solicitors to participate in a survey about how law firms are recovering from the economic crisis. In association with the Gazette, Wesleyan for Lawyers, part of a financial services mutual, is conducting a profession-wide survey examining how the financial crisis has ...
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Try a multifaceted approach to producing law articles
Many firms now provide a legal news service as part of their marketing efforts and as a way of providing extra value for clients. The problem is that while it’s easy to start a service highlighting legal developments, it can be difficult to maintain. After a few months, the enthusiasm ...
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Advocates to face tougher regulation under new proposals
Solicitor-advocates and barristers could be forced to work for longer in the lower courts before being granted higher court rights, under proposals put forward by the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG). At present, solicitors can appear in the higher courts after completing the Higher Rights of Audience ...
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Irish solicitors take court action over transfer rights
Irish solicitors have taken the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Legal Services Board to court over the regulators’ decision to take away their automatic right to practise in England and Wales. According to reports in Ireland’s Sunday Business Post, the Irish Law Society has issued High Court ...
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OFT seeking costs analysis over will regulation
The Office of Fair Trading is not opposed to will-writing becoming a reserved activity, but is seeking a costs benefit assessment before there is any extension of regulation in the field, it has told the Legal Services Board. Speaking at a recent LSB seminar on the ...
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Why civil partnerships for heterosexual couples could be a good idea
The Gazette reported last week that there has been a surge in cohabitiation cases as a result of the recession.
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Are KPIs useful when managing lawyers?
In my last blog on the role of coaching in law firms, I argued that a coaching style of management was appropriate when managing lawyers, most especially those who are senior and experienced. The blog attracted comments making the fair point that we should ensure we have the ‘right’ people ...
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Firm oversteps ABS rules in outsourcing deal
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that Bradford, Glasgow and Newcastle firm Optima Legal overstepped the rules on alternative business structures (ABSs) in an arrangement with outsourcer Capita. Publishing an investigation into the agreement, the SRA said that ‘while Optima Legal’s original outsourcing and funding arrangements ...
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Teaching in Tanzania
Professor David Higham describes his experience of teaching in East Africa with the International Lawyers Project ‘It’s blackboard and chalk; and bring your own chalk.’ With those words, the briefing meeting at Norton Rose’s riverside offices started. For a dyed-in the-wool PowerPoint® trainer like me, ...
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MoJ to slash £2bn from its budget
The Ministry of Justice will slash £2bn from its £9bn budget in order to meet government spending targets, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has claimed. Citing a letter understood to have been circulated to MoJ senior staff today, the PCS estimated that around 15,000 ...
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The Human Rights Act at war
Helen Grimberg and Mike Brown assess the impact of a recent Supreme Court decision on the right of soldiers to sue for damages when they are injured during foreign combat ...