Last 3 months headlines – Page 1549
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Explosion in demand for paralegals, thinktank reveals
The number of paralegals has doubled in the last decade and is set to rise further, according to a report from government-sponsored thinktank the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The report, which explored the country’s present and future skills needs, disclosed that the number of ...
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Success fee cut in defamation cases delayed by former Commons speaker
Government plans to cut success fees for lawyers in defamation cases have been delayed by the former House of Commons speaker Lord Martin of Springburn (pictured). Martin has tabled a ‘motion of regret’ against the proposal to reduce from 100% to 10% the maximum uplift that ...
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Women solicitors believe flexible working damages career
Many women solicitors believe their careers will be damaged if they take up more flexible working arrangements, a large-scale study has revealed. A survey of 800 women solicitors conducted by King’s College London together with the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) found that half of ...
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Purge of criminal legal aid firms planned
Up to 75% of criminal legal aid firms will be removed from the market under far-reaching provider reforms set to be implemented from next summer. The plans, announced by the Ministry of Justice this week, envisage a consolidated market in which contracts for larger volumes of ...
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SRA consults solicitors on overhaul of regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today launched its biggest consultation to date, on root-and-branch changes to regulation of the legal sector. The campaign, Freedom in Practice: Better Outcomes for Consumers, will see the SRA enter a comprehensive dialogue with solicitors in England and Wales on the ...
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Chancery Lane calls for ‘radical rethink’ of legal aid funding
A loan fund akin to the student loans scheme and a ‘polluter pays’ funding mechanism are among ideas advanced today for legal aid funding by the Law Society. Launching its interim Access to Justice Review, the Society called for a ‘radical rethink’ of legal aid ...
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Discrimination debate – the trials of being a woman
Three women have just been subjected to corporal punishment under sharia law in Malaysia for having sex out of wedlock. It takes two to tango, of course, and yet no man was punished. Discriminatory or what?
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Libel reform bill planned after the next election
Justice secretary Jack Straw yesterday announced that a bill reforming the law of libel will be introduced in the next parliament. The planned legislation, which arises from a report from the Ministry of Justice’s Libel Working Group, is designed to improve the rules covering defamation on the internet and ...
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EC raps UK government over environment failure
The government is facing ‘costly and embarrassing’ legal action for not providing affordable access to justice for individuals seeking to challenge decisions affecting the environment, lawyers have warned. The European Commission has issued the UK with a reasoned opinion, or final warning, following its failure to ...
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Marketing in the community – join up and join in
With all the debate about referral fees, it is important to recognise that all marketing activities have a cost. Often, rather than hard cash, this is the cost of your time invested in building your personal network.
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One in five consumers surfs internet to find a solicitor
The internet has become the second most popular means of finding a solicitor for conveyancing or advising on a will, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has shown. A YouGov poll of 2,266 people commissioned by online solicitor directory legallybetter.com revealed that personal recommendation remains by ...
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Lawyers and torture: should we see the memos?
One of the characteristics of the US is that they take good things to excess - witness their presidential election process, or the 37 different varieties of salad dressing offered in a deli. At present, they are taking another good thing to excess: arguing over the role of lawyers in ...
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Sleepwalking complaint
I was interested to note that Zahida Manzoor, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, has announced in her valedictory annual report that LCS managers and staff are to be praised for meeting all three of targets of the service (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 2)
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Too little, too late
While the announcement that the Legal Services Commission will be delaying payments to solicitors should not, in itself, have any long-lasting impact upon the profession, it just goes to show how much power the LSC has over us.
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Top firms fear fee pressure
Commercial law firms see downward pressure on fees as the greatest threat to their profitability in the year ahead, research has revealed. A survey of finance directors at the top 100 law firms, commissioned by publisher Sweet & Maxwell, showed that 60% thought fee pressure would ...
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MoJ reveals top-earning legal aid firms
London firm Duncan Lewis topped the tables published today by the Ministry of Justice of the firms that earn the most from legal aid. In the year ending March 2009, Duncan Lewis received £9.9m from the community legal service’s annual £900m budget, almost twice as much ...
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Accreditation reforms
I am writing with regard to the letter headed 'No level playing field' (letters online, 11 March). The credibility of the immigration system and the lawyers that work within it rests on this accreditation scheme, which took its current form in 2004 to provide a high level of assurance on ...
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Could unqualified prosecutors lead to miscarriages of justice?
The regulator of the Institute of Legal Executives, ILEX Professional Services, is consulting on proposals to grant extended rights of audience to associate prosecutors (APs) in the magistrates' court.
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Justice secretary announces court closures
Justice secretary Jack Straw has announced the closure of 20 ‘under-used’ magistrates' courts. The following courts will close: Bourne; Bridport; Cheshunt; Cullompton; Dorking; Eastleigh; Gainsborough; Havant, Launceston; Louth; Mildenhall; Linehead; Sherborne; Sleaford; Stamford; Wantage; Wareham; Wells; Whitby and Widnes. The majority, ...
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Criminal law: sentencing, costs and confiscation
On 26 October 2009, the sentencing guideline for statutory offences of fraud came into force. The guideline does not deal with the offences of conspiracy to defraud or cheating the public revenue, where case law will continue to apply. Since many fraud offences are broadly defined, some types of activity ...