Last 3 months headlines – Page 1524
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What will the Legal Services Board do about referral fees?
Is the referral fee debate over? Two reports submitted recently to the Legal Services Board (LSB) would make one think that it is, even though the board itself has still to reach a final decision. First came an economic impact analysis, commissioned from Charles River Associates ...
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Law Society launches advertising campaign
The Law Society is to repeat its nationwide drive to promote solicitors in an advertising campaign that will begin on Monday. Adverts will run in more than 450 railway stations and on more than 40 buses, as well as in the national press. ...
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It’s time to go public about privacy
The privacy genie is out of the bottle. The Facebook generation, brought up on sharing even the most intimate details online, has no concept of confidentiality or need-to-know.
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Making change happen
Legal firms face probably their toughest challenges for years in the current economic environment. Implementing change successfully to meet client needs is critical, but there is increasing evidence that purely rational decision-making is insufficient.
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The World Cup offers opportunities for lawyers and solicitor-agents
‘Feel it! It is here!’ runs the unofficial slogan, but it would be hard to miss a football World Cup, the most watched sporting event on the planet, which is beamed to two billion TVs. Among its devotees are sports lawyers, who seize on this quadrennial opportunity to make themselves ...
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Employment
Damages - Contracts - Disciplinary procedures - Wrongful dismissal Michael Steven Delawar Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Lloyd, Moore-Bick): 26 May 2010 ...
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SRA to conduct root-and-branch review of client financial protection
The Solicitors Regulation Authority board has been considering the future of the assigned risks pool (ARP), the arrangement by which firms that have been unable to obtain professional indemnity insurance in the open market are provided with cover for a limited period.
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We have only vague pledges from the government
By rights, I should be analysing parliament’s legislative programme this week. Five weeks after a general election, you would expect to be reading about the latest crop of government bills.
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LSB stance on alternative business structures under scrutiny
The approval of a ‘toothless’ code of practice for non-lawyer will-writers can be viewed as both a step forward or a missed opportunity, depending on your outlook. We note that, in the very same week, the Scots have chosen to proceed with a system of ‘proper’ regulation that is set ...
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Princely sum
Obiter is beginning to think that HRH Prince Charles is a bit of a fan of solicitors. He certainly seems to hang out with them quite a lot. Although it could also be said that he appears to have the measure of the ...
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World Cup dos and don’ts
You can never have too much legal advice, that is Obiter’s (unbiased) view. And it’s just as well. For it seems that whatever is going on in the world – be it a rise in divorce rates, or a cloud of volcanic ash disrupting flights – law firms are increasingly ...
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Chuting pain
What are the words no one wants to hear their parachuting instructor say as they are freefalling through the sky at 120mph? ‘We have a problem.’ Unfortunately, that is what happened to brave Cheryl Palmer-Hughes (pictured), a 27-year-old trainee at the Birmingham office of national firm Irwin Mitchell, after she ...
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Flowery sentence
Those of us who do not possess green fingers have long regarded gardening as a form of punishment, but now it’s official. Instead of the usual community service chores of scrubbing off graffiti or picking up litter, offenders have been creating raised flower beds at a community centre in Carmarthenshire ...
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Family law
Local government - Social welfare - Child abduction - Local authority housing EA v (1) GA (2) Westminster City Council (3) Salford City Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Thorpe, Etherton): 27 May 2010 ...
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The five-year plan for immigration – five years on
We have repeatedly heard that the UK has experienced its biggest overhaul of the immigration system in half a century. This claim is false. The recent changes to our immigration system are more of a repackaging.
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HIPs: a mixed blessing?
While we should applaud the decision to scrap HIPs, they did at least introduce the concept of preparing in advance. The public and estate agents just do not understand that, to effect a smooth sale, the selling solicitor needs to plan ahead.
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Legal skills and careers
I am writing to respond to the author of the letter 'Hurt in the pocket' (see letters, 27 May). Accepting a pay cut of 49% is something you agreed to do, it was not an obligation. The firm is not obliged to increase your pay even if you have ...
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Law Society and Bar Council examine new funding options
The Law Society and Bar Council have set up a joint working party to look at new ways of funding cases as an alternative to legal aid. With the government poised to announce the details of public spending cuts, the two bodies said they had come ...
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‘Root-and-branch’ review of client financial protection
Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) will be the subject of a ‘wide-ranging’ review by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, chair of the SRA board Charles Plant reveals in his Gazette column today. The PII review forms part of a ‘root-and-branch review of client financial protection’ also covering ...