Last 3 months headlines – Page 1713
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News
Firm puts staff on four day week to avoid redundancies
A well-known City firm has offered fee-earners and other staff four-day working weeks as the economic outlook for its business deteriorates. James Holder, managing partner at Charles Russell, said the scheme aims to keep the team together until the market picks up again. ...
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Firms will need more non-lawyers in post-Legal Services Act world
The evolving market and pressure from clients means law firms will have to employ more non-qualified staff, solicitors have been warned. Professor Stephen Mayson, director of the College of Law’s Legal Services Policy Institute, said current economic conditions mean consolidation among firms is inevitable and the ...
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Civil legal aid proposals slammed by practitioners
Practitioner groups have slammed the Legal Services Commission’s ‘ill-formed’ and ‘illogical’ plans to create a more integrated service for civil legal aid, which they claim will restrict choice. The LSC received 350 responses to its consultation on the new procurement model to replace the current ...
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Phone-recording rule will hit tiny number of firms
Only a tiny number of law firms will be affected by a requirement to record telephone instructions from March, an expert has advised. Ian Muirhead, managing director of Solicitors Independent Financial Advice, said the new rule is aimed at curbing insider dealing and will affect around ...
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Privy Council must go, says civil liberty group
The ‘dysfunctional’ and anachronistic Privy Council has no place in a parliamentary democracy and should be abolished, civil rights group Justice has said. In a report published this week, Patrick O’Connor QC of Doughty Street Chambers said the Privy Council (pictured with the Queen, in ...
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Practising fees for in-house lawyers could be cut
In-house lawyers could pay less for practising certificates once the Solicitors Regulation Authority decides how it will fund itself in the new era ushered in by the Legal Services Act. The Gazette has learned that the SRA is about to consult the entire profession ...
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Community legal advice helpline could go offshore
Members of the public calling the Community Legal Advice helpline run by the Legal Services Commission could in future be answered outside the UK, it has emerged. The Legal Services Commission is to issue tenders for five-year contracts to provide a contact centre and telephone services ...
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Mediation will come to the fore for personal injury
Personal injury mediation will gain in popularity as a result of the credit crunch, according to a leading provider. Maurice Nichols, mediator and consultant to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution’s personal injury unit (PIU), said: ‘There are always two important drivers to personal injury litigation ...
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Lasting powers of attorney bureaucracy condemned
Probate solicitors have accused the Office of the Public Guardian of discriminating against the elderly through delays, high prices and excessive bureaucracy. The OPG’s function is to safeguard the interests of vulnerable people, including those who have lost mental capacity through old age or illness. ...
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SRA to revisit equality strategy
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to ‘revisit’ its equality and diversity strategy after criticism from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The strategy was published this month following Lord Ouseley’s report on the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic solicitors facing disciplinary hearings. It ...
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Chair of 'supercase' review clarifies precedence rule
The chair of a judicial working party on ‘supercases’ has clarified the status of the list of issues submitted to a judge at the start of Commercial Court cases. The list does not take legal precedence over the full pleadings, despite consensus among many City ...
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Music store purchase, nightclub licence and football sponsorship
Indian club: City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse advised nightclub Chinawhite on a licensing agreement to open another club in the Lalit Hotel in New Delhi, India. It will be run and operated by Bharat Hotels, which was advised by its in-house team. ...
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Tri and tri again
Staff from healthcare law firm Capsticks take their own health very seriously. This lycra-clad foursome will be participating in triathlons (running, swimming and cycling) throughout the year. We’re talking world class: solicitor Emma Smith is the World Xterra Champion for her age group (something to do with cycling up volcanoes), ...
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Linklaters announces London job cuts
Magic circle firm Linklaters will cut between 100 and 120 lawyers and 130 to 150 business services employees as it enters into a redundancy consultation with all UK staff. In a statement today (29 January), Simon Davies, Linklaters managing partner, said: ‘There have been significant changes ...
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Hard choices: software patents, open source
This summer the Court of Appeal handed down its latest decision on the patentability of software in the UK, while a new standard licence was published for open source developers.
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Legal profession
Barristers’ fees – Comparators – Funding arrangements Lord Chancellor v John Charles Rees & ors: QBD (Sir Charles Gray): 19 December 2008 The appellant Lord Chancellor appealed against the ...
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Legal advice
Breach of contract – Conditional fee arrangements – Costs – Retainers (1) Bray Walker Solicitors (a firm) (2) Bevans Bray Walkers Ltd (t/a Bevans) v Carlo Moise Silvera: QBD (Mr Justice Blake): 18 December 2008 ...
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Insolvency specialists - high demand, short supply
The UK has nosedived into recession – but for some this financial cloud has a silver lining. After a relatively lean decade, the downturn is potentially lucrative for insolvency specialists. The current skills shortage in this practice area, though, is a corollary of the perception by ...
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Accountancy/legal mega-firms will expose conflicts of interest
I read your opinion ‘A Level Playing Field’ (see [2008] Gazette, 15 January, 10) about proposed reforms of the Scottish legal profession with great concern. I recognise that the implementation ...