Last 3 months headlines – Page 1563
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You’re not fired
They often say that lawyers do not make good businesspeople, but now we have evidence to the contrary. A not-remotely-disgusted solicitor from Tunbridge Wells has become the town’s entrepreneur of the year. Pam Loch, name partner at employment law firm Loch Associates, emerged as the winner from a gruelling four-stage ...
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Jurassic lark
Believe it or not, parliamentary committee meetings are not always enthralling. But when dealing with the less riveting matters that must fall under parliamentary scrutiny, such as a recent Justice Committee session on the appointment of a new chief of HM CPS Inspectorate, at least MPs occasionally make an effort ...
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Memory lane
Entries Competitors were asked for ‘the head notes of a law report… based on the facts of any one nursery rhyme’. Law Society’s Gazette, February 1960 ...
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False comparison
I read with interest Christopher Digby-Bell’s comments that solicitors should be able to factor in the likely additional costs to be incurred by incompetent solicitors on the other side when dealing with any transaction.
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Judgement call
Christopher Digby-Bell is missing an important distinction in the debate about time-based charging. The heart surgeon is in a position to judge...
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Touch of hypocrisy?
The Gazette carried a front-page article on 28 January under the headline ‘Blacklisted solicitors site plans growth’. The site facilitator says (with alarming frankness) ‘I don’t have the time or the resources to look at the argument from both sides’, so instead a flat fee is paid by solicitors to ...
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A licence to die
Sir Terry Pratchett’s proposals for a tribunal to license assisted dying will add a welcome and significant boost an idea we have long advocated.
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MPs have performed a valuable service for legal aid
This has hardly been a vintage session for the dignity of parliament, with politicians of all major parties bundled into the stocks for claiming expenses for duck houses and the like. However, the Public Accounts Committee’s damning report on legal aid procurement does at least suggest that our elected representatives ...
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Solicitors can be vital in preventing the abuse and neglect of elderly people
Caroline Bielanska the chair of Solicitors for the Elderly, the national association of specialist lawyers who advise older and vulnerable adults, their families and carers On 7 ...
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Restaurant sales, education buyout and pension plans
Ringing off: City firm Herbert Smith advised accountants Ernst & Young as administrators to the Europe, Middle East and Africa entities of telecoms manufacturer Nortel Networks, on selling off Nortel businesses worth $2bn (£1.26bn).
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Commercial property triggers recruitment surge for litigators
High-end commercial property litigators will be the most in-demand breed of lawyer in London over the coming year, recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark predicted this week. Banks that have already refinanced commercial property loans are beginning to call in specialist litigators to try and recover massive ...
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MoJ and City firms test new business model for law centres
The Ministry of Justice has launched a pilot initiative in partnership with City law firms and charitable trusts to test a new business model for law centres. The project will harness City firms’ know-how to ensure law centres across the country are run in the most ...
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Local government lawyers make PC fee plea to the SRA
Local government lawyers are pressing the Solicitors Regulation Authority to concede more ground in its proposals to lower the practising certificate fee payable by employed solicitors. The SRA has proposed that the PC fee be split into two elements, with 40% of the costs to ...
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JAC and Chancery Lane launch training package for aspiring judges
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Law Society today launched a training and information package to encourage more solicitors to apply for judicial posts. The two organisations have designed a courtroom training video and commentary specifically targeted at solicitors to assist them in the part ...
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Solicitors face professional indemnity challenge from insurers
Insurers are beginning to challenge solicitors over the terms of their professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies amid early signs that the profession is facing a wave of negligence claims. Some 82% of major insurers predict that the number of claims on solicitors’ PII policies this year ...
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DLA Piper denies lawyer’s discrimination claim
National firm DLA Piper has appeared before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) this week to deny a lawyer’s claim that it discriminated against her on the grounds of her ‘perceived’ disability.
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Public Accounts Committee publishes damning report on LSC
The Ministry of Justice has announced measures to save £6m a year from the legal aid budget by ‘tightening the rules for civil legal aid’. The announcement came as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a ...
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Is the pope right to speak out about the Equality Bill?
You have to hand it to the Equality Bill – its detractors come from every walk of life. At one end of the spectrum there’s the white working class British guy who thinks the bill is all about giving his job to women or black people.
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MoJ restricts civil legal aid
The Ministry of Justice has announced it is to press ahead with proposals to restrict civil legal aid for people not resident in the UK, tighten the funding rules for judicial review and limit funding for public interest cases, despite strong opposition from lawyers. The consultation ...
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The Law Society and SRA will rise to the challenge of regulatory change
A favourite quote of mine often used at this time of the year comes from a poem written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins: I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."