Last 3 months headlines – Page 1630
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Revenues tumble at City giant Ashurst
Ashurst became the latest major firm to register the impact of the recession on its finances today, reporting a 7% fall in revenues to £301m for the year to April 30. The top 10 City firm did not release information on total profits or profit per ...
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Another nail in the billable hour’s coffin
A recent article in the Economist outlined a move away from the ‘billable hour’ toward a ‘value-based system’ that has been happening in the global advertising agency sector. A sceptical note was raised by a commentator in the Economist article, pointing out that the benefits of an advertising agency’s work ...
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Michael Napier steps down from Legal Services Board
Michael Napier QC today resigned from the Legal Services Board in the wake of last week’s high-profile Court of Appeal decision to allow magazine Private Eye to publish details of a complaint against him. The Irwin Mitchell senior partner said he would no longer be able to devote the ...
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Warning on the cards for 11,000 law firms
Solicitors in England and Wales are to be issued with warning cards to help prevent them becoming involved in fraudulent activity. The cards highlight four risk areas - property fraud, undertakings, fraudulent financial affairs and money laundering. They will be issued to 11,000 firms by the ...
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SRA appoints 16-strong panel to work on its actions
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today appointed 16 law firms and solicitor-advocates to work on its disciplinary and regulatory actions.
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The reporting season has started - but only up to a point
At the dawn of this year’s financial reporting season, it appears that the UK’s top corporate law firms have become a little coy. Of the four major firms that have announced results so far, not one has released figures for all three key financial performance indicators: revenue, profit, and profit ...
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Virtual courts – justice on the cheap?
Since 2006, ‘simple, speedy, summary’ justice has been the mantra of successive justice secretaries and at the heart of the government’s reforms to ‘rebalance the criminal justice system and increase public confidence’.
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Speak out on best value tendering, solicitors urged
The Law Society has called on members to respond to the government’s consultation on the introduction of best value tendering (BVT). Chancery Lane has warned that the Legal Services Commission’s plans, which will require firms to bid against each other to win contracts for legal aid ...
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Posting the case for email
Post has a reassuring quality. You can see it before you sign it, think about it a bit more before approving it, and have a printed copy on your file for ease of reference.
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Compensation fund
I see from your story ‘Compensation fund levy set to treble?’ that the SRA is trying to justify a large increase on the basis that, if the Law Society had accepted their advice last year, the rise would have been less this year (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).
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Justice before costs
I am writing in response to the preliminary report of Lord Justice Jackson concerning civil costs reform. I act exclusively for claimants, mostly injured in work accidents.
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Soft targets
Here we go again. A couple of years ago, it was ‘fat cat’ legal aid lawyers. Now our justice secretary is setting his sights on ‘irresponsible’ employment lawyers (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).
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Radical changes on costs will transform many aspects of civil litigation
by Peter Smith, managing director of FirstAssist Legal Protection Whatever the outcome of the final report, due at the end of the year, there is little doubt that the review of the civil justice costs regime being conducted by Lord Justice Jackson will transform many aspects ...
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Internet is ever more powerful when finding a solicitor
Newly published ComRes research on how the public perceives solicitors has much to tell the SRA about its communication priorities. Most people still haven’t a clue who regulates solicitors and even those who think they know are more likely than not to be wrong. Some 19% think it’s the government ...
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Battle for legal aid's future is not about the profession
Last month, Law Society president Paul Marsh opened a debate entitled ‘Legal aid: a vision for the next 60 years’. The panel included the legal aid minister, Lord Bach. There was plenty of talk about the parlous state of legal aid. Vision, however, was in short supply.
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MPs launch all-party legal aid group
MPs came together last night to launch an all-party parliamentary group on legal aid. The group's aim is to promote parliamentary and public understanding of the role of publicly funded legal services as a pillar of the welfare state and in reducing inequalities in society. ...
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Government undervalues professions, says study
The contribution of the professions to the UK is ‘comprehensively undervalued’, according to a new study commissioned by the Law Society and other professional bodies. The public interest in peril?, published this week, estimates that roughly 8% of ...
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Kids are kids, even when they come from abroad
It happened without fanfare, but in September 2008 the UK finally agreed to protect and promote the wellbeing of every child on British soil – irrespective of their immigration or asylum status.
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Lovells reports decline in partner profit take
City firm Lovells has become the latest major firm to report a fall in profit per equity partner (PEP). The 11% dip, to £585,000 in 2008/09 from £661,000 in the previous 12 months, came after national firm Eversheds reported a 27% fall in PEP ...