Last 3 months headlines – Page 1547

  • News

    Law firms need to work hard in the face of commoditised legal providers

    2010-04-01T00:00:00Z

    A couple of weeks ago Marketlaw made a presentation to the first Quality Solicitors national conference...

  • News

    Expansion of barristers’ role following relaxation of bar rules

    2010-04-01T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Board has approved a relaxation in the bar rules that will allow barristers to take advantage of the Legal Services Act 2007. Following the LSB’s approval of the Bar Standards Boards’ applications to relax the bar’s Code of Conduct, barristers will now be ...

  • News

    Lawyers warning over family experts fee cuts

    2010-03-31T00:00:00Z

    Slashing the fees of social work experts will put vulnerable children at risk and increase delays in the family court, their representative groups have warned. From October 2010, the Ministry of Justice will reduce by around 50% the fees paid to social workers who give independent ...

  • News

    SRA issues advice on Quinn administration

    2010-03-31T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority today advised 2,911 law firms to sit tight and take no action after Irish insurer Quinn Insurance, which provides their solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII), was forced into administration yesterday.

  • News

    Technology does not mean the dumbing down of professional services

    2010-03-30T00:00:00Z

    I occasionally hear lawyers bemoan the dumbing down of professional services, particularly where commoditisation is concerned.

  • News

    Quinn Insurance in administration

    2010-03-30T00:00:00Z

    Irish insurer Quinn Insurance, a major underwriter of solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies in the UK, has today fallen into administration. In a statement, the Irish Financial Regulator said that it has directed Quinn to cease writing new business in the UK. The statement said ...

  • News

    D-I-V-O-R-C-E, EU style

    2010-03-29T00:00:00Z

    The new justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, took to the stage this week as the country-and-western singer, Tammy Wynette. With big blonde wig and microphone, she belted out her hit from the 1960s, D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Although the member states in the audience had dressed in their Stetsons, string ties, and snakeskin boots, ...

  • News

    Legal challenge threat to RTA process

    2010-03-29T00:00:00Z

    A collective of personal injury solicitors is planning a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice over its new road traffic accident (RTA) claims process, the Gazette had learned. The Accident Compensation Solicitors Group (ACSG) claims that fixed costs under the new process ‘have not been ...

  • News

    Why you should be interested in World Intellectual Property Day

    2010-03-29T00:00:00Z

    The World lntellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is a UN agency dedicated to developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system. Based in Geneva, WIPO has a mandate to promote the protection of worldwide IP through cooperation among states and collaboration with other international organisations.

  • News

    New higher rights qualification approved

    2010-03-29T00:00:00Z

    New regulations that provide a single route for solicitors to qualify to appear in the higher courts come into effect this week, on 1 April. The Ministry of Justice has approved the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new system, which will see one route to qualification through an ...

  • News

    ‘Tesco law juggernaut halted’ in Scotland

    2010-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Scottish solicitors opposed to the introduction of alternative business structures yesterday hailed the ‘halting of the Tesco law juggernaut’ north of the border, following a heated debate over the future of the nation’s legal profession. At a special meeting held in Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium, the ...

  • News

    The legal aid status quo could not continue

    2010-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Since 2005 when the then lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, commissioned Lord Carter to undertake a review into the future procurement of legal aid, major change has been on the cards.

  • News

    Pitch writing: because it’s worth it

    2010-03-26T00:00:00Z

    Ask 100 lawyers why they entered the profession and my guess is that few would answer that it was because they wanted to write pitch documents.

  • News

    Data page for March 2010

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. Downloads Download the ...

  • News

    Examining the RTA provisions ahead of next month’s implementation

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2010 and update 52 come into force on 30 April. This article is confined to a summary of the most important aspects of these amendments, namely the new Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA Protocol). All lawyers ...

  • News

    Local government: general competence to restore vires confidence

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    If money does actually make the world go round (as enthusiastically asserted by MC and Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret) then it is confidence that fuels it. For, as we have all been experiencing, just as confidence ebbs, so does the economic system slow down and stagnate. And ...

  • News

    Intellectual property

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    Contracts – Commercial law – Media and entertainment – Electronic commerce Pink Floyd Music Ltd & anr v EMI Records Ltd: Ch D (Sir Andrew Morritt (chancellor)): 11 March 2010 ...

  • News

    Civil procedure

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    Civil evidence – Personal injury – Appeals – Fraud – Fresh evidence Martin Raymond Owens v Mark Noble: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Sedley, Elias, Lady Justice Smith): 10 March 2010 ...

  • News

    Family law

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    Conflict of laws – Ancillary relief – Divorce – Foreign judgements Agbaje (respondent) v Akinnoye-Agbaje (FC) (appellant): SC (Lords Phillips (president), Rodger, Collins, Kerr, Lady Hale): 10 March 2010 ...

  • News

    Contracts

    2010-03-25T00:00:00Z

    Contract terms – Formation of contract – Letters of intent – Waiver RTS Flexible Systems Ltd v Molkerei Alois Muller GMBH & Co KG (UK production): SC (Lords Phillips (president), Mance, Collins, Kerr, Clarke): 10 March 2010 ...