Last 3 months headlines – Page 1619
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A tribute: Lord Bingham’s passion for justice and history
For me, last Thursday was Bingham day. I spent the morning interviewing the former senior law lord about a centre for the study of the rule of law to be established in his name. In the afternoon I dipped into a book of essays written in his honour by more ...
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Reforms to practising certificate fee to hit private practice firms
Sweeping reforms to the practising certificate fee that will ‘shift the fee burden onto private practice’ were published for consultation this week. The changes would benefit solicitors in local government, commerce and industry and the Crown Prosecution Service at the expense of those working in private ...
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Insurers claim referral fees push lawyers’ costs out of control
Solicitors have hit out at a report claiming the market in personal injury claims is failing because legal fees are out of control. Arguing that fees could be reduced without restricting access to justice, a study commissioned by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said there ...
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Prejudice against solicitor-advocates is a ‘fact of life’, says solicitor QC
Prejudice from the bar and bench against solicitor higher court advocates (HCAs) is ‘a fact of life’, the first female solicitor QC has alleged. June Venters, who was made a QC in 2007, told the Gazette that as a solicitor HCA she has experienced hostility and ...
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Solicitors take advantage of LDP rules while the bar still lags behind
Three months after Legal Services Act 2007 reforms took effect, solicitors have gained the ‘upper hand’ over the bar, with 61 firms becoming legal disciplinary practices (LDPs). While the number of solicitors’ firms becoming approved LDPs has doubled in the past month, barristers remain unable to ...
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Legal Services Commission publishes new timetable for civil bids
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has published the timetable for the new civil bid rounds and details of its amended contracting proposals, after consultation with providers. Following concerns about the criteria for consortium arrangements, under which firms can join together to provide the package of debt, ...
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Employment solicitors exploit client ignorance over contingency fees
Some employment solicitors may be ‘exploiting client ignorance’ of their funding options for their own gain, research has claimed. However, it was found that generally claimants were happy with the services provided and with the fairness of their fee arrangements.
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Jean-Michel Darrois proposes Clementi-style reforms in France
The architect of Clementi-style reforms of France’s legal landscape visited Chancery Lane this week for a seminar organised by the Law Society’s international division. Jean-Michel Darrois (pictured left), a company law specialist, headed a commission of academics, business people and other non-lawyers which published a ...
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Crown Prosecution Service saves £11.5m by using in-house advocates
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) saved £11.5m last year by using in-house advocates in the Crown court instead of instructing external counsel, its chief said last week. Keir Starmer QC, director of public prosecutions, also announced that Crown prosecutors across England and Wales are to undergo ...
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SRA takes on new powers to issue £2,000 fine for low-level misconduct
Solicitors could face a fine of up to £2,000 and a published rebuke for low-level professional misconduct under new rules which will come into force in August. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has adopted powers to issue written rebukes and impose a fine where it considers there ...
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Parents in child care cases are receiving poor representation
Law firms acting for parents in care proceedings are exploiting the fixed-fee system by using unqualified staff – in one case a receptionist and another a secretary – to do legal work, prominent family lawyers warned this week. Solicitors acting for children warned that the court ...
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Exploiting the goodwill of children’s lawyers
Solicitors acting for children have spoken out this week about the dire quality of representation that some – by no means all – firms acting for parents are offering. I’ve been told stories of parents’ cases being handled by staff who are clearly not qualified for the job – in ...
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Sentencing policy attacked by MPs for being incoherent and inconsistent
MPs have branded current sentencing policy incoherent and inconsistent, and warned that it risks being driven by a misguided view of what the public want. In a report on parliamentary scrutiny of sentencing guidelines published today, the justice committee says the five aims of sentencing set ...
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Freshfields overtakes CC as top UK firm by size
Freshfields has overtaken magic circle rival Clifford Chance as the biggest UK firm by revenue, posting a 9% rise in turnover to £1.29bn for the year ended 30 April. Profits per equity partner (PEP) were static at £1.44m. Clifford Chance, which was the largest firm ...
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Ronnie Biggs was doing time, till he done a bunk
I have in my somewhat exotic record collection a curious disc cut by The Sex Pistols in 1978 entitled No one is innocent. It features a guest appearance by Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, and though I have not listened to it for 30 years I can still remember the ...
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Linklaters pushes ahead with revenues increase
Magic circle firm Linklaters today reported a slight increase in revenues to £1.30bn, placing it ahead of fellow magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Freshfields. Linklaters profits per equity partner (PEP) stood at £1.30m for the year to 30 April 2009, a fall of 9.6% on ...
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Increased competition for trainee jobs at top firms
Competition for traineeships with the UK’s biggest law firms has reached a new intensity, with an average of 130 graduates applying for each trainee job, new research suggests today. As many as 78 more applications per place are being made this year than in 2007/08, when ...
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Your client database is worth a lot more than you think
Client databases are often seen as a dull subject – complex to manage and just getting in the way of fee-earning. But databases are necessary for every legal services practice that wants a future.
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Shoosmiths profits fall by more than half
National firm Shoosmiths today reported profits down by more than half, with a slight reduction in turnover. Profits at the firm tumbled to £5.6m in 2008/09, down 54% on 2007/08. Profits per equity partner dropped from £318,000 to £150,000 over the same period. Turnover fell 4% ...
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Deals or no deals?
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to detect that mergers and acquisitions are a little on the sparse side at the moment, but for those in need of statistics to back this up, Thomson Reuters has obliged.