Last 3 months headlines – Page 1597
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VHCC panel for criminal work to be suspended
The Legal Services Commission has announced that the very high cost cases (VHCC) panel for criminal work will be suspended when the current contracts expire in July, because of a lack of time to run a new tendering exercise. From July 2010 the LSC said it ...
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City firms in the dark
Founding firms in the Legal Sector Alliance including Allen & Overy and Lovells have pledged to take part in the symbolic ‘Earth Hour’ lights-out event on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm, in which they will switch off their lights for an hour. ...
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Lord Neuberger calls for single appeals tribunal
The master of the rolls has recommended that a single body should be responsible for hearing appeals brought by lawyers or legal businesses found to have breached licensing and ownership rules. Lord Neuberger said it is essential that common standards are applicable across the profession.
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Environmental search data breakthrough for conveyancing solicitors
Conveyancing solicitors could get free access to more environmental search information from local authorities following an Information Tribunal ruling. In a case concerning East Riding of Yorkshire, the tribunal ruled that the local authority should have allowed a representative from a private search company to inspect ...
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O2 slams letters sent out by lawyers to alleged internet file-sharers
Mobile phone company O2 has waded into the row over controversial letters sent by lawyers to alleged internet file-sharers. O2 broadband customers are among the thousands who have received letters from London firm ACS Law, which acts on behalf of DigiProtect, an anti-piracy firm, and ...
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Tories rule out ban on PI referral fees
A Conservative government would not enforce a blanket ban on personal injury referral fees, shadow justice minister Henry Bellingham told the Gazette this week. The remarks appear to signal a softening in Tory policy, and go against one of Lord Justice Jackson’s key proposals in his ...
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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.