Last 3 months headlines – Page 1698
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Up to standard
In his recent letter, David Pearl suggests that failure to carry out local authority searches is evidence of a lowering of standards (see [2008] Gazette, 31 July, 7).
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Search right
The matter of personal searches has always been controversial, but many firms – both solicitors and licensed conveyancers – rely on searches carried out by an agency and have done for many years. A survey carried out by STL in March 2007, before home information packs became compulsory, indicated that ...
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Double indemnity
I should point out a significant difference between the arrangements for compulsory indemnity insurance for solicitors and those applying to some other professions (see [2008] Gazette, 31 July, 1). The fact that an indemnity insurer has been removed from another profession’s list of preferred providers does not imply that it ...
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Care applications fall sparks safety fears
Applications for child care and supervision orders have plummeted by 25% since councils were forced to bear the full cost of court fees, prompting fears that vulnerable children are being inappropriately placed with relatives instead, the Gazette can reveal. Just 1,611 applications were made by councils ...
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Lawyer kicks off FA insurance battle
A sports lawyer is threatening to sue the Football Association (FA) for failing to insure club footballers against loss of earnings arising from injuries, the Gazette can exclusively reveal. The FA requires all clubs to have at least £5m of public liability insurance. However, it leaves ...
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MP warns courts not to 'jump queue'
A UK bill of rights and freedoms should not enable the courts to help individuals ‘jump the queue’ when pursuing proposed new ‘rights such as healthcare and education, the chairman of the joint committee on human rights has told the Gazette.
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Medical costs on the up
The legal cost of defending doctors and other medical professionals against fitness-to-practice investigations by the General Medical Council has increased fifteen-fold, or 31% annually, over the last decade, according to the Medical Defence Union (MDU). In its annual report, the MDU, a charity founded in 1885 ...
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Legal aid recovery threat
A six-figure claim lodged against a solicitor seven years after he gave up practice has raised the spectre of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) aggressively recouping historic legal aid funding, despite a partial amnesty agreed earlier this year. The commission has launched a High Court ...
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British female rowers win bronze at Olympics
Olympic rower Elise Laverick (right), who is set to join City firm Ashurst as a trainee solicitor, powered home to win bronze for Great Britain in the women’s double sculls in Beijing on Saturday alongside Anna Bebington. Laverick fought her way back to fitness after being the victim of a ...
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AWS to canvass members over pay gap
The Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) is to survey all 17,700 of its members in an attempt to identify why female solicitors are paid less than their male counterparts, the Gazette has learned. The Law Society’s Strategic Research Unit pay survey, published in May, revealed that ...
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Cartel case approaches
An innovative model for funding ‘risk-free’ group actions against business cartels could have its first court blooding this autumn, the scheme’s originators said this week. ‘Cartel Key’, launched by collective claimant specialist Cohen Milstein Hausfeld Toll and insurers FirstAssist Legal Protection, will remove a deterrent ...
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MoJ on alert over unregulated firm
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is seeking help in tracking down a claims-handling company that may have based itself overseas in a bid to avoid regulation, amid warnings that solicitors who take referrals from the company could face sanctions.
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SRA 'open to racism charge'
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has left itself ‘open to the charge of institutional racism’ because of its failure to address concerns that it investigates a disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic solicitors (BME), according to a report by former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, Lord Ouseley.
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Mosley’s win: a slightly larger private world
The implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated into UK law article 8, guaranteeing the right to respect for private and family life, and its arch rival article 10, protecting the right to freedom of expression. Max Mosley’s hotly contested privacy action was the battlefield for the latest high-profile ...
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Employment
Automatically unfair dismissal – Completion – Delay - Disability discrimination - Completion of statutory procedure M Selvarajan v S Wilmot & Ors: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Mummery, Wilson, Stanley Burnton): 23 July 2008 ...
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Family law
Allocation of jurisdiction – Consent - Habitual residence - Parental responsibility Mark Ian Bush v Neena Bush: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Thorpe, Lawrence Collins, Rimer): 24 July 2008 ...
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Sentencing
Human rights – Penology and Criminology – Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – Life imprisonment R v David Francis Bieber (AKA Coleman): CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Mr Justice Pitchford, Mrs Justice ...
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The rise in equine law
With riding an increasingly popular pastime there is a growing demand for equine lawyers to advise horse owners, both private and commercial. Around £4bn a year is spent on horses in Britain, according ...
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Challenging times
The new President of the Law Society looks at what lies ahead for the profession The presidency of the Law Society of England and Wales is a great privilege, and I consider myself particularly fortunate in having Robert Heslett as Vice-President and Linda Lee as Deputy ...