Last 3 months headlines – Page 1516
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Taking the law into your own hands
For anyone who has ever started a sentence with ‘If I were running the country…’, the launch of Nick Clegg’s ‘Your freedom’ website last week must have been manna from heaven. The site gives Joe Public a forum for suggesting ideas for how Nick (pictured) and Dave should ‘redress the ...
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Criminal law - procedural amendments
On 5 April 2010, the Criminal Procedure Rules were consolidated into a new edition, but the opportunity was also taken to make a series of amendments. Part 29 now provides for special measures to assist defendants in relation to witness anonymity orders.
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Employment
Administrative law – Health – Compensation – Compensation agreements Rose Gibb v Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Laws, Sedley, Rimer): 23 June 2010 The ...
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Human rights
Pensions – Discrimination – Gender reassignment – Retirement age Christine Jennifer Timbrell v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Thorpe, Moore-Bick, Aikens): 22 June 2010 ...
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Landlord and tenant
Local government – Date of termination – Death – Tolerated trespass Austin (FC) (appellant) v Southwark London Borough Council (respondent): SC (Lords Hope, Walker, Brown, Kerr, Lady Hale): 23 June 2010 ...
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Criminal law
Businesses – Commercial offences – False descriptions – Labelling R v Elizabeth Lee: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Aikens, Mr Justice Royce, Judge Radford (Recorder of Redbridge)): 24 June 2010 ...
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Social security
Education – Carer's allowance – Courses – Full-time students Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Amanda Deane: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Ward, Hughes, Lady Justice Hallett): 23 June 2010 ...
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Cutting-edge technology is transforming the way solicitors work
There are too many heavyweight topics upon which one might opine today: reviews of family and criminal justice, to name but two. We crave your indulgence therefore to comment instead upon something less momentous but, in its own way, no less diverting. That is the ...
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Legal ombudsman will take non-legal approach to complaints handling
by Adam Sampsonchief legal ombudsman for the new complaints-handling scheme In all the speculation about the consequences of a new government and its approach to managing the nation’s budget deficit, we all anticipated a period of review and reflection. Some of the certainties of the previous ...
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'Typical' PC fee set to fall
Practising fees will fall by more than a quarter in 2010/11 for the ‘typical’ fee-payer, if proposals submitted to the Law Society Council are approved next week. October will see the introduction of the so-called ‘fairer fees’ regime, under which 40% of the cost of ...
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Call for 'international convention’ on parent relocation
A senior Court of Appeal judge has called for an international convention to establish a common approach in contested cases on the relocation of children, where one parent wishes to move abroad. Head of international family justice Lord Justice Thorpe said that English caselaw had consistently ...
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SRA considers scrapping minimum trainee salaries
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to examine whether it should stop setting a minimum salary level for trainees as part of its overhaul of regulation, in a review that will begin this autumn. The regulator is also considering whether to freeze the current minimum salary level ...
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Law centre to take on child asylum appeals
A law centre is to improve access to justice for asylum-seeking children by taking on and funding appeals referred to it by legal aid firms, it emerged last week. Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre (HFLC) has invited publicly funded firms to submit cases to it that ...
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Courts Service failed to collect £1.3bn of fines
The Courts Service has failed to collect more than £1.3bn of fines and other penalties, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) published this week. The report on the financial management of the Ministry of Justice, which oversees HMCS, shows the amount of ...
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Solicitors vie for judicial office
The number of applications from solicitors for the role of civil district judge almost doubled in the last selection round, according to data published by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) last week. Of the 81 candidates recommended for appointment, 72% were solicitors, who make up 40% ...
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Law firm 'conservatism’ slowing LPO market growth
Market hype and law firm conservatism have hindered the growth of the legal process outsourcing (LPO) market, according to a report by data analyst Ovum seen exclusively by the Gazette. While the LPO industry is ‘set for significant growth over the next few years’, it is ...
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Insurers planning professional indemnity 'surcharge'
A number of insurers intend to include a ‘surcharge’ in their professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums this year, partly to highlight the soaring cost of the assigned risks pool, the Gazette has learned. It is understood that Travelers, among other insurers, is considering adding the charge ...
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A third of 'trusted' immigration practices face closure
Nearly a third of ‘trusted’ immigration firms could face closure following the outcome of the Legal Services Commission’s bid round last week, solicitors’ groups have warned. Lawyers also foresaw more bad news ahead for civil legal aid practices as firms await the ‘crunch date’ of the ...
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Self-help on referral fees
My name is Edward…and I am a referral fee-payer Having read correspondence in recent Gazettes about the question of referral fees, I have decided to form a new self-help group called Referrers Anonymous (RA). Anyone who pays referral fees to an introducer is welcome to attend, ...
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It’s not the economy, stupid
The Gazette reported recently there was ‘no evidence that referral fees harm consumers’ according to an ‘economic analysis’.