Last 3 months headlines – Page 1520
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Green paper warning from mental health professionals
The government’s pledge to divert mentally ill people away from the criminal justice system and towards health services is ‘strong on rhetoric’, but understates the extent of the problem, mental health professionals have warned. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke’s green paper on sentencing and rehabilitation, published this ...
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£1bn paid out to law firms for handling coal miners’ claims
Some 19 law firms each received more than £10m in fees for handling claims on behalf of former coal miners who contracted lung disease in the course of their work, parliamentary records show. More than 500 firms handled at least one claim for chronic obstructive pulmonary ...
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City claims EC proposal would 'dilute English law'
A European Commission proposal to consolidate contract law across the EU would hamper international trade by diluting the strength of English law, City lawyers have warned. Responding to a Ministry of Justice call for evidence on a European Commission green paper proposing a new European contract ...
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Law Society sets up lobbying working party
The Law Society has set up a working party to address government plans to force law firms to disclose the identities of their lobbying clients, after the coalition government said it will establish a register of lobbyists in a bill to be introduced next year. ...
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Judiciary has failed to lure City lawyers, lord chief justice admits
The head of the judiciary has admitted being ‘unsuccessful’ in persuading City lawyers to become judges. Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge told the Lords Constitution Committee yesterday that, if he could persuade City lawyers and their firms that a judicial career is a plausible option, ‘we ...
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Will your brand stand up to the new competition?
The spectre of increased competition in the legal market has prompted wildly different responses from law firms. Some are rolling up their sleeves and preparing for the fight; others seem to have given in already or have senior partners whose main strategy is to hope they ...
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SRA consults on simplifying regulation for sole practitioners
Sole practitioners should no longer be required to have their practising certificate endorsed every year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has proposed, publishing a consultation on the matter this week. Instead, the SRA has proposed that sole practitioner firms will be indefinitely authorised from 31 March 2012. ...
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Firms set to be forced to publish diversity data
Law firms and barristers’ chambers will be forced to publish data about the diversity of their legal staff, under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Board today. Publishing a consultation, Increasing diversity and social mobility in the legal workforce: transparency and evidence, the LSB said that ...
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10% of your earnings to charity?
Three of the five magic circle firms publish corporate social responsibility reports, outlining, among other things, their charitable giving in terms of time and money. According to these reports, and where figures were available, in 2009/10, Linklaters donated £2.5m to charity and Clifford Chance £2.4m. Over ...
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Impact of the VAT rise on law firms
On 4 January 2011 the standard rate of VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20% – the third change in the standard rate in the last two years. This impending rise may have prompted some savvy partners to buy their new refrigerators or computers now instead of next year, but ...
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Will parliament spot the real problem with legal aid cuts?
by Paul Rumley, a partner in the clinical negligence team at Withy King As shown in president Linda Lee’s excellent summary piece it is clear that the government has a simple arithmetical problem (over and above the deficit itself). The debate on legal aid today in ...
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Allen & Overy faces lawsuit over employee sacked for erotic blog
A former Allen & Overy solicitor sacked for writing an erotic blog that allegedly used the names of her co-workers and a client is claiming £3.5m compensation from the firm for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. Former senior associate Deidre Clark, 44, who wrote under the ...
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Government announces court closures
The justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today that 93 magistrates’ courts and 49 county courts will be closed as part of the government’s drive to improve the justice system. The government says the move will save an estimated £41.5m, alongside a possible £35.8m raised from the ...
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A single telephone number for Europe
Here’s a good idea. The European Commission is consulting on a single numbering service for businesses in Europe which have branches in more than one member state.
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Consumers unattracted by non-legal brands, survey suggests
Two-thirds of consumers would not want to buy their legal services through non-legal brands, according to a survey of 2,000 clients seen exclusively by the Gazette. In the poll by law firm referral service Contact Law, 66% of consumers said they would not be happy to ...
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Leading Sheffield firm falls victim to downturn
Century-old Sheffield law firm Ashton Morton Slack LLP has collapsed into administration, becoming the latest regional casualty of the economic downturn. Administrators from BDO, appointed by the limited liability partnership’s members last Friday, blamed the firm’s demise on cashflow problems arising from declining volumes of work and increasing overheads. ...
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Is more mediation in divorce cases missing the point?
In recent speeches legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has emphasised the government’s commitment to increasing the use of mediation, particularly in disputes over arrangements for children, property and finances that arise when family relationships break down. As well as the obvious desire to achieve savings that ...
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Youth crime has fallen, report suggests
The volume of crime committed by young people has fallen by 25% over the last decade, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. However, the report reveals that those offenders who receive serious community sentences or custodial sentences remain just as likely ...
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CSI put on trial
One does not imagine that lords justices of the Court of Appeal come home at the end of a long day to flop down onto the sofa and reach for the remote control, but why should they not? Lord Justice Leveson has clearly been watching the goggle box, and there ...
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Tuning into mediation
Simon Cowell is determined to bag the Christmas Number One, after splashing out £1m to record five different winners’ songs for X Factor contestants. However, the bullish impresario now has a formidable rival, in the unlikely form of Norwich solicitors Hatch Brenner. Partner Mark Fitch has written and recorded a ...