Last 3 months headlines – Page 1561
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Employment tribunal claims soar
Employment tribunal claims soared by 56% in 2009/10 compared to the previous year, according to Tribunal Service statistics. Actions brought by multiple claimants, mostly unions, rocketed by nearly 90%. These included 10,600 claims brought on behalf of airline pilots in relation to the working time ...
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Lord chief justice calls for shorter cases
The lord chief justice has called for family and criminal cases to be shortened. Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s dinner for the judiciary last week, Sir Igor Judge said the processes for resolving family and criminal cases need to be improved to deliver justice, particularly ...
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Zurich to cut new PII business ‘significantly’
One of the top three solicitors’ professional indemnity insurers will ‘significantly’ cut the number of new law firms it takes on this year, the Gazette can reveal. Zurich, which had a 13% share of the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) market last year, said that it ...
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Private equity to target legal process outsourcing
Private equity investment is set to transform legal process outsourcing in a trend that will see many commercial firms miss out on work and could affect the training of future solicitors, leading experts have predicted. David Hawley, partner in the consulting strategy department at Deloitte, said ...
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EC plans could mean greater protection for client money
Client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts could be given far greater protection in the event of a bank collapse, under European Commission proposals unveiled last week. The commission proposed an EU-wide €100,000 (£83,200) cap on the compensation available for deposits that are lost in the ...
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Do corporate law and human rights mix?
‘Corporate and securities law directly shapes what companies do and how they do it. Yet its implications for human rights remain poorly understood. The two are often viewed as distinct legal and policy spheres, populated by different communities of practice.’ Discuss.
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The bar – ready to compete with solicitors?
Participating in the IBC Conference in Manchester recently, I heard Nick Green QC speak in person about his vision for the bar, and came away with a copy of his excellently clear paper The Future of The Bar.
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CPS case preparation ‘neglected’, chief inspector’s report finds
‘Initiative overload’ has caused case preparation at the Crown Prosecution Service to be ‘neglected to an acceptable degree’, according to the annual report from the organisation’s chief inspector. Published this week, the report covers the performance of the CPS from April 2009 to March 2010. ...
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Justice Committee announces inquiry into family law
The House of Commons Justice Committee has announced an inquiry into the operation of the family courts. It has called for written evidence addressing four issues: the effect of CAFCASS’s (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) operations on court proceedings; the impact on court ...
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The role of coaching in law firms
How do we get the best performance from our lawyers? By using a coaching style of leadership and management. I do not set out a complete argument for choosing coaching below, but I proceed on the assumption that you are not happy with your present management style and feel something ...
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Butler-Sloss calls for focus on children
A former president of the Family Division has called on the government to cut the number of children in custody and safeguard access to justice in child welfare cases. Delivering the Law Society’s first Henry Hodge memorial lecture last night, Lady Butler-Sloss said too many children ...
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How to cross the TUPE minefield
The transfer of undertakings minefield should not be allowed to obliterate new business opportunities. Gordon Turner offers guidance how to cross it safely
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Contract law: this summer’s essential beach reading from the EC
A sure sign of the beginning of the summer, as fixed as hot weather and crowded airports, is the publication by the European Commission of an important consultation document. They clear their desks before packing their bags, and woe to the rest of us who want to enjoy the summer. ...
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Legal aid budget to be slashed by half a billion
Justice secretary Ken Clarke is expected to submit plans to the Treasury today that will slash the £2.1bn legal aid budget by a quarter. The huge cut of half a billion pounds is a response to chancellor George Osborne’s demands for sweeping cuts to be made ...
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Firms that fail to pay ARP premium will face closure
Firms in the assigned risks pool that have not paid their premiums by October will be closed down, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said today as it unveiled a tough new enforcement programme to clamp down on ‘financially unstable’ firms in the pool. The SRA said that ...
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Morale has never been lower in legal aid
Over the last couple of years covering legal aid for the Gazette, I have got used to writing stories of the doom and gloom facing lawyers and their clients, as fees are cut and bureaucracy increased.
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Family law: Barder appeals – recent developments
There has recently been a series of Barder appeals, all based upon a significant change in the value of an asset soon after the final order was made. None of them have succeeded. As Thorpe LJ stated in Myerson v Myerson [2009] EWCA Civ 282, ‘very few successful applications have ...
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Sentencing
Penology and criminology – commencement provisions – concurrent sentences – custody plus orders R (on the application of Noone) (FC) v Governor of Drake Hall Prison and Anor: SC (Lords Phillips, Saville, Brown, Mance, Judge): 30 June 2010 ...
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Human rights
Administration of justice – armed forces – inquests – jurisdiction R (on the application of Smith) (respondent) v Secretary of State for Defence (appellant): SC (Lords Phillips (president), Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Walker, Brown, Mance, Collins, Kerr, Lady Hale): ...
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PII – why a large number of firms will be seeking a new insurer
When the profession ditched the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF), a compelling reason for the move was that many good firms were paying for the failures of the few. Now, a decade later, solicitors are back in exactly the same position. Only, the ‘few’ could become substantially more over the next ...