Last 3 months headlines – Page 1566

  • News

    Website for blacklisted solicitors plans expansion

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    A website that blacklists solicitors and law firms is set to expand its capacity, with the number of visitors to the site now exceeding 1,000 a day, its owner claimed this week. Rick Kordowski, who runs solicitorsfromhell.co.uk, told the Gazette that he plans to expand the ...

  • News

    Firms feel the burden of SRA regulation

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    More than three-quarters of firms think the regulatory burden imposed on them by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority is excessive, research commissioned by the Law Society has shown. However, the study showed a high level of satisfaction with the SRA’s ethics helpline, and an understanding ...

  • News

    Is media access to the family courts endangering children?

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Ministry of Justice research published this week found that since access by the media to the family courts was widened last April, relatively few journalists had taken the opportunity to attend hearings.

  • News

    Unpalatable answer

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    If referral fees are such a smart idea, why don’t barristers, accountants or chartered tax advisers permit them? The answer is unpalatable. Collectively, they have integrity and intelligence. Solicitors do not.

  • News

    Conflicting interests

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority is consulting upon relaxing the rules on conflicts of interest for solicitors (see [2010] Gazette, 21 January).

  • News

    Unlevel playing field

    2010-01-28T00:00:00Z

    Lord Justice Jackson is to be applauded for bringing forward proposals which will so clearly reduce the cost of litigation by providing a cap on success fees, non-recoverability of after-the-event insurance premiums, and fixed fees across the fast-track.

  • News

    Law firm ‘disarray’ over retirement proposals

    2010-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Proposed changes to the mandatory retirement age would pose management challenges for law firms and throw succession plans into ‘disarray’, employment lawyers have warned. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published a series of proposals this week to allow people, including solicitors, ...

  • News

    Clampdown on mortgage fraud by lawyers saves lenders £15m

    2010-01-27T00:00:00Z

    A campaign by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to target solicitors involved in property fraud has saved lenders £15-20m over the past nine months, the SRA claimed this week. Its inspectors have made emergency inspections of firms where property fraud was suspected and the SRA has given ...

  • News

    Love is in the air

    2010-01-27T00:00:00Z

    As the worst night of the year for going out for dinner, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day, approaches on 14 February, lawyers might be interested to hear this little tale:

  • News

    Septuagenarian associates – coming to an office near you

    2010-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Imagine you have won £6.5m. Even if you just tuck it under your mattress, that’s a cool £100,000 a year tax free for the next 65 years. You have an exquisite choice. You can kiss goodbye to the commute, the dark winter mornings...

  • News

    Law firms set up terror victim compensation scheme

    2010-01-26T00:00:00Z

    The pro bono work of lawyers at two City firms has played a key role in the establishment of a new scheme to compensate British victims of terrorism abroad. Over the last three years, Lovells and Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) have been working on a scheme, ...

  • News

    Should we fear a European contract law?

    2010-01-25T00:00:00Z

    The phrase ‘European contract law’ often sets alarm bells ringing in common law circles. Those bells will have begun shrieking in the relevant brains after the hearing before the parliament of the new EU commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding.

  • News

    Don’t stereotype your support staff

    2010-01-25T00:00:00Z

    Tube journeys in London are a wonderfully varied experience. One minute you are chatting to a friendly tourist about where Harrods is, the next you are wondering if the enormous person who has parked themselves next to you has bought two tickets, to cater for the fact that they are ...

  • News

    Estate agents not influenced by referral fees, survey reports

    2010-01-25T00:00:00Z

    Referral payments made by solicitors are ‘the least important consideration’ for estate agents when deciding which law firm to recommend, research has suggested. In a survey of more than 100 estate agents carried out by conveyancer and home information pack provider The Partnership, only 3% ...

  • News

    Will clients accept new conflicts rules?

    2010-01-22T00:00:00Z

    The SRA’s latest, fast-tracked consultation on conflicts of interest is expected to receive a warm welcome in the City.Indeed, it is the City of London Law Society that has been pressing for the reform, which will allow law firms to act for ‘sophisticated’ clients in any situation in which there ...

  • News

    Government unveils strategy to tackle overseas bribery

    2010-01-22T00:00:00Z

    The government has today announced a four-pronged strategy to tackle overseas bribery. The strategy aims to strengthen the UK’s bribery laws through the new bribery bill; encourage UK companies to apply appropriate ethical standards; support law enforcement agencies in the detection of corruption; and reduce the ...

  • News

    Charities may be in for a difficult year, but there remains cause for hope

    2010-01-21T00:00:00Z

    Charities may still be facing the worst effects of the recession after suffering mixed fortunes during 2009, say practitioners looking ahead to the coming year.

  • News

    Media law: protecting informants

    2010-01-21T00:00:00Z

    Financial Times Limited and others v United Kingdom (application number 821/03), 15 December 2009.From time to time, an anonymous brown paper envelope finds its way mysteriously onto a reporter’s desk. That envelope contains leaked confidential documents telling a hell of a good story. ...

  • News

    Negligence

    2010-01-21T00:00:00Z

    Breach of duty of care – Negligent misrepresentation – Solicitors Cabvision Ltd v (1) Leonard Paul Feetum (2) Stephen Richard Marsden (3) Simon Alan Smith (4) Dean & Dean: ChD (Mr Justice Norris): 21 December 2009 ...

  • News

    Mediation success

    2010-01-21T00:00:00Z

    The story ‘Family mediation pilot achieves mixed results’ (news, 7 January) suggested that court-based mediation in the pilot scheme had disappointing results.