Last 3 months headlines – Page 1580
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Why newspapers lack interest in court reporting
The name Mike Taylor is not one that many lawyers will recognise, even though he has spent his entire working life writing about the law. In an extraordinary 42 years at the Press Association law courts news service, he reported countless cases in the High Court, ...
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Bog standard
Legal aid lawyers may recall – with no particular fondness – the speech justice secretary Jack Straw gave back in March advising them to reconsider their earnings expectations. ‘There is certainly nothing ordained by the Almighty which says that of those paid for by the ...
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COMPETITION: Legally Blonde
A blowsy, feelgood musical is coming to London’s West End next week that’s guaranteed to lift your spirits amid the recessionary gloom. Based on the hit movie of the same name, Legally Blonde is the award-winning Broadway sensation created by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier Award-nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray). ...
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Don't tie our hands on referral fees
John Hawks has seven years on me as a solicitor and will, I suspect, remember charging scale fees for conveyancing (see letters, 19 November). By the time I qualified in 1980, changes were afoot. I now look back along the road we have travelled.
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Hand of Gaul
Obiter reckons Ireland’s justice minister is interpreting his remit rather loosely. Dermot Ahern intervened to demand a replay last week after Ireland were cruelly denied a place at next year’s World Cup following a blatant handball by Thierry Henry which set up a ...
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Clear guidance
I write in response to Andrew Hopper and Greg Treverton-Jones’ letter Amending the Code by the back door (see letters, 19 November) on the new guidance to rule 9 (referrals of business).
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Heir hunting
Calling all probate solicitors. Do you recall acting for a ‘somewhat eccentric and secretive’ millionairess called Judy Maude Keele, some time in the past century? To refresh your memory, she owned a flat in Mayfair, drove a classic sports car, and reputedly built up a large collection of fine art ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, November 1969 The lot of the 5 year articled clerk [letter to the editor] ...
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Clear guidance
I write in response to Andrew Hopper and Greg Treverton-Jones’ letter ‘Amending the Code by the back door’ (see letters, 19 November) on the new guidance to rule 9 (referrals of business).
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Lacking confidence in Lord Bach
Further to your news item ‘Compulsory pro bono’ (see letters, 12 November) I must express my amusement at Lord Bach’s views on pro bono work and the ‘concern’ he has about the lack of confidence in our profession. Perhaps he should address the lack of confidence the publicly funded members ...
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New PC charges to benefit in-house lawyers
Changes to the practising certificate (PC) fee charging system will see around £16m transferred onto private practice solicitors, to the benefit of in-house and local government lawyers, under plans due to be unveiled by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Under the new charging regime, 40% of ...
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Cafcass judicial review threat
A Somerset solicitor is set to launch a judicial review action against the Children and Family Courts Advice and Support Service (Cafcass) because of its ‘unacceptable delays’ in appointing children’s guardians and family court advisers. Martin Davis, director of the family department at Somerset firm Battens, ...
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Bar Standards Board sanctions legal disciplinary practices
The Bar Standards Board gave the green light for barristers to go into practice with solicitors last week, but proposed an extension of the cab-rank rule to all advocates including solicitors. At a meeting last week the BSB decided that barristers could join legal disciplinary partnerships ...
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Talks on fixed fees for fast-track cases fail
A bid to fix the level of legal fees paid for all ‘fast-track’ cases has failed, the Gazette can reveal. The deadline for a mediation process conducted by the Civil Justice Council, which attempted to reach a deal between insurers and solicitors representing claimants and defendants, ...
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African lawyers complete training at top City firms
Ten leading African lawyers completed a three-month training and relationship-building programme at top City firms this week, in a scheme designed to improve UK links at a time when there is high demand for English-qualified lawyers on the African continent. The International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA) ...
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LawNet to strengthen solicitor ‘brand’ with new website
A national network of independent law firms has launched an online consumer marketing initiative to help secure work referrals and give the firms a strong internet presence. The 65 firms that make up LawNet have banded together to launch a legal referral and advice website, called ...
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Think twice about abolishing assigned risks pool
t’s easy to see why the SRA wants to scrap the assigned risks pool. Many firms that enter do not survive, killed off by punitive premiums (and, of course, many never pay up anyway). It is loathed by insurers, who pay huge sums to underpin firms ...
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Scrapping assigned risks pool ‘dangerous’
Abolishing the assigned risks pool (ARP) would place solicitors at the ‘whims and fancies’ of the insurance market, a leading solicitor has warned, as the profession voiced concerns over the proposals put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority last week. Sundeep Bhatia, chairman of the Society ...
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New matter starts shortage reaching ‘crisis level’
Lawyers’ groups have warned that firms will be forced out of business and vulnerable clients turned away as the shortage of new matter starts for social welfare work hits ‘crisis level’. Carol Storer (pictured), director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG), has called on the ...
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Cole dismisses FSA prosecution concerns
The Financial Services Authority has dismissed mounting concern about its broadening remit as a criminal prosecutor, following a surge in the number of cases brought by the regulator.